Obama after Nice attack: We will destroy this "vile" terrorist organization
President Obama repeated his goal to destroy the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) after Thursday's terror attack in Nice, France and said that people can't be deterred from living their lives.
"We will not be deterred, we will not relent, we will keep working together to prevent attacks to our homeland," Mr. Obama said from the East Room in remarks during the Diplomatic Corps reception. "We are going to destroy this vile terrorist organization."
The president said that the fight against ISIS and other terrorist groups will require the U.S. to not give up on diplomacy to end the Syrian civil war, for example, and to work with Muslims around the world.
These were his first on-camera remarks since the terror attack in Nice on Thursday evening that has left 84 people dead and some 50 people "between life and death." Chief Prosecutor Francois Molins said that 202 people were wounded in the attack. The attack began when a Tunisian man living in France drove a large truck through crowds who were celebrating Bastille Day along Nice's beachfront. The attack ended after police killed the armed attacker in a hail of bullets.
Mr. Obama said he spoke to French President Francois Hollande on Friday and reminded him that France is the U.S.'s "oldest ally and one of its strongest."
"These individuals and these networks are an affront to all of our humanity," he said. "The divide that exists is not between races and ethnicities and religions; It is between people who recognize the common humanity of all people who are willing to build institutions to promote that common humanity and those who do not."
The president added that the suggestion that Muslims in the U.S. should be tested for their beliefs is "repugnant and an affront to everything we stand for as Americans." He didn't name Newt Gingrich, who proposed Thursday that the U.S. should test Muslims in the U.S. to see if they believe in Sharia law and deport those who do.