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US President Barack Obama on Wednesday called for a combined effort to get rid of the “cancer” of extremists in Syria and Iraq, after militants from the Islamic State murdered 40-year-old American journalist James Foley.
Obama also said that the entire world was shocked by the beheading of Foley, which IS videotaped and put on the internet.
“There has to be a common effort to extract this cancer so it does not spread. It has to be a clear rejection of these kind of nihilistic ideologies.The United States of America will continue to do what we must do to protect our people. We will be vigilant and we will be relentless”, Obama said.
He also praised Foley as a courageous reported for working in a dangerous region and “bearing witness to the lives of people a world away”. He, however, did not mention Steven Sotloff, a second US journalist who was alive when the video was shot.
Obama also condemned extremist group Islamic State (IS) as a threat to both non-Muslims and Muslims.
“One thing we can all agree on is that a group like ISIL has no place in the 21st century”, he said, referring to the group’s former acronym.
“They have rampaged across cities and villages, killing innocent, unarmed civilians in cowardly acts of violence. They abduct women and children and subject them to torture and rape and slavery. They have murdered Muslims, both Sunni and Shia, by the thousands.No faith teaches people to massacre innocents. No just god would stand for what they did yesterday and what they do every single day.ISIL has no ideology. Their ideology is bankrupt”, he said.
He also said that he spoke to Foley’s parents on Friday, and “told them we are all heartbroken at their loss”.
“Jim was taken from us in an act of violence that shocks the conscience of the entire world”, Obama said.
