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Obama Addresses the United Nations

Aired September 24, 2014 -   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: And it is no exaggeration to say that humanity's future depends on us uniting against those who would divide us along the fault lines of tribe or sect, race or religion.

But this is not simply a matter of words. Collectively, we must take concrete steps to address the danger posed by religiously motivated fanatics and the trends that fuel their recruitment. Moreover, this campaign against extremism goes beyond a narrow security challenge. For while we've degraded methodically core Al Qaida and supported a transition to a sovereign Afghan government, extremist ideology has shifted to other places, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa, where a quarter of young people have no job; where food and water could grow scarce; where corruption is rampant; and sectarian conflicts have become increasingly hard to contain.

As an international community, we must meet this challenge with a focus on four areas. First, the terrorist group known as ISIL must be degraded and ultimately destroyed.

This group has terrorized all who they come across in Iraq and Syria. Mothers, sisters, and daughters have been subjected to rape as a weapon of war. Innocent children have been gunned down. Bodies have been dumped in mass graves. Religious minorities have been starved to death. In the most horrific crimes imaginable, innocent human beings have been beheaded, with videos of the atrocity distributed to shock the conscience of the world.

No God condones this terror. No grievance justifies these actions. There can be no reasoning, no negotiation, with this brand of evil. The only language understood by killers like this is the language of force. So the United States of America will work with a broad coalition to dismantle this network of death.

In this effort, we do not act alone. Nor do we intend to send U.S. troops to occupy foreign lands. Instead, we will support Iraqis and Syrians fighting to reclaim their communities. We will use our military might in a campaign of air strikes to roll back ISIL. We will train and equip forces fighting against these terrorists on the ground. We will work to cut off their financing, and to stop the flow of fighters into and out of the region. And already, over 40 nations have offered to join this coalition.

Today, I ask the world to join in this effort. Those who have joined ISIL should leave the battlefield while they can. Those who continue to fight for a hateful cause will find they are increasingly alone. For we will not succumb to threats, and we will demonstrate that the future belongs to those who build, not those who destroy. So that's an immediate challenge, a first challenge that we must meet.

The second, it is time for the world, especially in Muslim communities, to explicitly, forcefully, and consistently reject the ideology of organizations like Al Qaida and ISIL.

It is one of the tasks of all great religions to accommodate devout faith with a modern, multicultural world. No children are born hating, and no children anywhere should be educated to hate other people.

There should be no more tolerance of so-called clerics who call upon people to harm innocents because they're Jewish, or because they're Christian or because they're Muslim.

It is time for a new compact among civilized peoples of this world to eradicate war at its most fundamental source, and that is the corruption of young minds by violent ideology.

That means cutting off the funding that fuels this hate. It's time to end the hypocrisy of those who accumulate wealth through the global economy and then siphon funds to those who teach children to tear it down.

That means contesting the space that terrorists occupy, including the Internet and social media. Their propaganda has coerced young people to travel abroad to fight their wars and turned students, young people full of potential, into suicide bombers. We must offer an alternative vision.

That means bringing people of different faiths together. All religions have been attacked by extremists from within at some point, and all people of faith have a responsibility to lift up the value at the heart of all great religions: do unto thy neighbor as you would do -- you would have done unto yourself.

The ideology of ISIL or Al Qaida or Boko Haram will wilt and die if it is consistently exposed and confronted and refuted in the light of day. Look at the new Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies. Sheikh bin Bayyah described its purpose: "We must declare war on war, so the outcome will be peace upon peace."

Look at the young British Muslims who responded to terrorist propaganda by starting the "notinmyname" campaign, declaring -- "ISIS is hiding behind a false Islam."

Look at the Christian and Muslim leaders who came together in the Central African Republic to reject violence. Listen to the imam who said, "Politics try to divide the religious in our country, but religion shouldn't be a cause of hate, war or strife."

Later today, the Security Council will adopt a resolution that underscores the responsibility of states to counter violent extremism. But resolutions must be followed by tangible commitments, so we're accountable when we fall short.

Next year, we should all be prepared to announce the concrete steps that we have taken to counter extremist ideologies in our own countries, by getting intolerance out of schools, stopping radicalization before it spreads, and promoting institutions and programs that build new bridges of understanding.

Third, we must address the cycle of conflict, especially sectarian conflict, that creates the conditions that terrorists prey upon.

There's nothing new about wars within religions. Christianity endured centuries of vicious sectarian conflict. Today, it is violence within Muslim communities that has become the source of so much human misery.

It is time to acknowledge the destruction wrought by proxy wars and terror campaigns between Sunni and Shia across the Middle East, and it is time that political, civic and religious leaders reject sectarian strife.

Let's be clear. This is a fight that no one is winning.

A brutal civil war in Syria has already killed nearly 200,000 people, displaced millions. Iraq has come perilously close to plunging back into the abyss. The conflict has created a fertile recruiting ground for terrorists who inevitably export this violence.

The good news is we also see signs that this tide could be reversed.

We have a new, inclusive government in Baghdad, a new Iraqi prime minister welcomed by his neighbors, Lebanese factions rejecting those who try to provoke war.

These steps must be followed by a broader truce. Nowhere is this more necessary than Syria.

Together with our partners, America is training and equipping the Syrian opposition to be a counterweight to the terrorists of ISIL and the brutality of the Assad regime.

But the only lasting solution to Syria's civil war is political, an inclusive political transition that responds to the legitimate aspirations of all Syrian citizens, regardless of ethnicity, regardless of creed.

Cynics may argue that such an outcome can never come to pass, but there is no other way for this madness to end, whether one year from now or ten.

And it points to the fact that it's time for a broader negotiation in the region in which major powers address their differences directly, honestly and peacefully across the table from one another, rather than through gun-wielding proxies.

I can promise you America will remain engaged in the region, and we are prepared to engage in that effort.

My fourth and final point is a simple one. The countries in the Arab and Muslim world must focus on the extraordinary potential of their people, especially the youth.

And here, I'd like to speak directly to young people across the Muslim world.

You come from a great tradition that stands for education, not ignorance, innovation, not destruction, the dignity of life, not murder. Those who call you away from this path are betraying this tradition, not defending it.

You have demonstrated that when young people have the tools to succeed -- good schools, education in math and science, an economy that nurtures creativity and entrepreneurship -- then societies will flourish. So America will partner with those who promote that vision.

Where women are full participants in a country's politics or economy, societies are more likely to succeed. That's why we support the participation of women in parliaments and peace processes, schools and the economy.

If young people live in places where the only option is between the dictates of a state or the lure of an extremist underground, then no counterterrorism strategy can succeed. But where a genuine civil society is allowed to flourish, where people can express their views and organize peacefully for a better life, then you dramatically expand the alternatives to terror.

Such positive change need not come at the expense of tradition and faith. We see this in Iraq, where a young man started a library for his peers. "We link Iraq's heritage to their hearts," he said, and "give them a reason to stay." We see it in Tunisia, where secular and Islamist parties worked together through a political process to produce a new constitution. We see it in Senegal where civil society thrives alongside a strong, democratic government. We see it in Malaysia where vibrant entrepreneurship is propelling a former colony into the ranks of advanced economies. And we see it in Indonesia where what began as a violent transition has evolved into a genuine democracy.

Ultimately, the task of rejecting sectarianism and rejecting extremism is a generational task, and a task for the people of the Middle East themselves. No external power can bring about a transformation of hearts and minds. But America will be a respectful and constructive partner. We will neither tolerate terrorist safe- havens, nor act as an occupying power.

We will take action against threats to our security and our allies, while building an architecture of counterterrorism cooperation. We will increase efforts to lift up those who counter extremist ideologies, and who seek to resolve sectarian conflict. And we will expand our programs to support entrepreneurship and civil society, education and youth because ultimately these investments are the best antidote to violence.

We recognize as well that leadership will be necessary to address the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis. As bleak as the landscape appears, America will not give up on the pursuit of peace. Understand, the situation in Iraq, Syria and Libya should cure anybody of the illusion that the Arab-Israeli conflict is the main source of problems in the region. For far too long, that's been used as an excuse to distract people from problems at home.

OBAMA: The violence engulfing the region today has made too many Israelis ready to abandon the hard work of peace and that's something worthy of reflection within Israel. Because let's be clear: The status quo in the West Bank and Gaza is not sustainable. We cannot afford to turn away from this effort, not when rockets are fired at innocent Israelis, or the lives of so many Palestinian children are taken from us in Gaza. And so long as I am president, we will stand up for the principle that Israelis, Palestinians, the region, and the world will be more just and more safe with two states living side by side in peace and security.

So this is what America's prepared to do: taking action against immediate threats, while pursuing a world in which the need for such action is diminished. The United States will never shy away from defending our interests, but we will also not shy away from the promise of this institution and its Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the notion that peace is not merely the absence of war, but the presence of a better life.

I realize that America's critics will be quick to point out that at times we too have failed to live up to our ideals; that America has plenty of problems within our own borders. This is true.

In a summer marked by instability in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, I know the world also took notice of the small American city of Ferguson, Missouri, where a young man was killed, and a community was divided.

So yes, we have our own racial and ethnic tensions. And like every country, we continually wrestle with how to reconcile the vast changes wrought by globalization and greater diversity with the traditions that we hold dear.

But we welcome the scrutiny of the world, because what you see in America is a country that has steadily worked to address our problems, to make our union more perfect, to bridge the divides that existed at the founding of this nation.

America is not the same as it was 100 years ago or 50 years ago or even a decade ago. Because we fight for our ideals and are willing to criticize ourselves when we fall short. Because we hold our leaders accountable and insist on a free press, an independent judiciary. Because we address our differences in the open space of democracy with respect for the rule of law, with a place for people of every race and religion, and with an unyielding belief in the ability of individual men and women to change their communities and their circumstances and their countries for the better. After nearly six years as president, I believe that this promise can help light the world. Because I have seen a longing for positive change, for peace and freedom and opportunity and for the end to bigotry, in the eyes of young people who I've met around the globe. They remind me that no matter who you are or where you come from or what you look like or what God you pray to or who you love, there's something fundamental that we all share.

Eleanor Roosevelt, a champion of the U.N. and America's role in it, once asked, "Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places," she said, "close to home, so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world, yet they are the world of the individual person, the neighborhood he lives in, the school or college he attends, the factory, farm or office where he works."

Around the world, young people are moving forward hungry for a better world. Around the world in small places, they're overcoming hatred and bigotry and sectarianism, and they're learning to respect each other despite differences.

The people of the world now look to us, here, to be as decent and as dignified and as courageous as they are trying to be in their daily lives.

And at this crossroads, I can promise you that the United States of America will not be distracted or deterred from what must be done. We are heirs to a proud legacy of freedom, and we're prepared to do what is necessary to secure that legacy for generations to come.

I ask that you join us in this common mission for today's children and tomorrow's.

Thank you very much.

(APPLAUSE)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: A very strong speech by the President of the United States before the United Nations General Assembly. The President making it clear there could be no negotiations, no accommodation at all with the terrorist group called ISIS. The President saying that no grievances that can justify what ISIS has done to the people of Iraq and Syria. And the United States will move forward not only to degrade ISIS he said but ultimately to destroy ISIS.

Here's a little clip of the gist of the President's message when it came to what ISIS is doing in Iraq and Syria.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: No God condones this terror. No grievance justifies these actions. There can be no reasoning, no negotiation with this brand of evil. The only language understood by killers like this is the language of force. So the United States of America will work a broad coalition to dismantle this network of death.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: And that's why this president has now gone to war against ISIS in Iraq and now in Syria as well putting together a coalition to go ahead and target ISIS locations in both of those countries.

Our senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta is joining us now. Jim I think it's fair to say this was a president with a very, very deliberate message that the U.S. now is at war.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. And you just played the bite of the day right there where the President said the only language understood by killers like this is the language of force. And then he went to say and I thought this was pretty striking during his speech at the United Nations that those who fight on the battlefields with ISIS now should go ahead and leave those battlefields while they can.

That is a message that this air campaign that began on the offensive side last week in Iraq and really in earnest in Syria in the last 48 hours is going to continue. It is going to be heavy. It is going to be severe. And the President was making no bones about it and offering no apologies for it.

But I think also, Wolf, the other interesting thing about all of this and I think there was an acknowledgment there on the part of this president that he knows that he's not going to be able to wind down these wars in the Middle East during his time in office, but he can at least as part of his legacy leave this idea of multilateralism behind, whether it's dealing with Russia and he really went after Vladimir Putin -- didn't name him, but went after him -- with respect to the crisis in Ukraine during this speech with respect to Ebola and other world challenges that multilateralism is the way to deal with all of this and that's why he's building this coalition to deal with ISIS.

But I think what was also striking in this speech, Wolf, is that the President was really trying to go to the underlying causes of violent extremism. We know from talking to senior administration officials that the President is going to be hosting a summit on violent extremism and countering that threat at the White House later on this year.

But Wolf, when the President was saying to Middle Eastern countries, Arab and Muslim countries that no God condones this terror, he was really calling on communities in these nations to look within. And then to basically say he's not throwing stones in glass houses Wolf. He did mention -- and I thought it was quite striking -- the civil unrest that took place in Ferguson back in August. The President saying that, yes, the United States even has its own examples of racial and ethnic unrest and that that is also a problem that the United States has to deal with -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, that was striking that at the end of his speech making that reference to what happened in Ferguson, Missouri.

Jim -- standby. Our chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour was listening very carefully. Christiane at one point the President said that any progress in the world could be derailed by what he called the cancer of violent extremism that has ravaged so many parts of the Muslim world. A very different speech today from what normally we would have expected from the President especially Christiane, you and I remember the speeches he gave in Cairo and in Turkey early on when he was president speaking to the Muslim and Arab world -- a very different tone today.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Indeed Wolf. He called this a cross roads and absolutely put out the United States' determination to lead the way at this terrible time and called on all Muslim leaders, Imams and others around the world -- community leaders -- to take away this hateful ideology. Not just on the battlefield, but just in general.

And to that end, many Muslim leaders, Arab leaders who have taken part in the coalition, for instance, keep on saying that King Abdullah of Jordan, the Bahraini leaders. The others have said we will not associate ourselves with any Islam that has those ISIS in the same sentence. They do not represent Islam. We're very clear about that.

Many have gone so far as to refuse to use the acronyms ISIS, ISIL, IS, which all have Islamic in them and call them Daesh (ph) now which is the Arabic word and it's something that the terrorist do not like because of the connotation in the Arabic language. So, even that they are doing to show the world that they have no trust with this group.

I think the last part of the speech was really interesting because maybe unlike previous he's reasserted American leadership. And that is what has been incredibly lacking and incredibly wanted around the world. He has said that we will not shy from this. We will stay with this to the very end. And, you know, some people might say well, the United States is the only non Arab member of the coalition. No, the United States is the leader of this fight against ISIS and very fortunately has coalition partners from the Arab world.

And of course, it comes at a time when many commentators have suggested that it might be better to still lead from behind. This was an incredibly unfortunate policy statement that came out perhaps accidentally, but was real. And what happened was that leading from behind allowed this vacuum and now the United States, its allies have to doubly work, triply and ten times as hard to combat what might have been done more easily a few years ago. So this is an important crossroads as he said himself.

BLITZER: Christiane, standby.

David Gergen -- you've worked before American presidents. How did this president do today?

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I thought he did very well, generally speaking and was a broad sweeping speech, complex speech; more complex than most because the world has become so complex. I thought he put some truths on the table about the nature of the hatred and where it comes from, the teaching of hatred in some of these very Sunni countries that are by our sides now.

And I thought that he very, very importantly reasserted that America was going to lead from the front that on a broad variety of things. I think the issue, Wolf, in many respects is, do his solutions match the size of the problems or not. When it comes to what's going on and why we have so many young terrorists, he talked about the fact there's massive unemployment among young people across the Middle East and in North Africa.

There was very little in this speech, very little in the strategy to actually grow jobs or start trying to grow drugs here in America. It's a huge problem to grow jobs there. I didn't hear much economics in here that is ultimately going to be very, very helpful and getting these people out of poverty and into decent jobs.

BLITZER: And Jake Tapper, it sounded like the President had a very long-term agenda he was laying out today. This is not a short-term strategy, if you will.