Obama: ‘Sometimes Accurate’ that ‘Muslim World Has Suffered Historic Grievances’

BARACK OBAMA: "And to their credit, there are represented Muslim clerics and scholars not just in the United States, but around the world who push back this twisted interpretation of their faith. They want to make very clear Islam stands for, and we're joined by some of those leaders today. These religious leaders and scholars preach that Islam calls for peace and justice and tolerance towards others, that terrorism is prohibited. That the Koran says whoever kills an innocent it is as if he has killed all mankind. Those voices represent over a billion people around the world. But if we are going to effectively isolate terrorists, if we're going to address the challenge of their efforts to recruit our young people, if we're going to lift up the voices of tolerance and pluralism within the Muslim community, then we've got to acknowledge that their job is made harder by a broader narrative that it does exist in many Muslim communities around the world that suggests the west is at odds with Islam in some fashion. The reality, which again many Muslim leaders have spoken to, is that there's a strain of thought that doesn't embrace ISIL's tactics, doesn't embrace violence, but does buy into the notion that the Muslim world has suffered historic grievances. Sometimes that's accurate. Does buy into the belief that so many ills in the Middle East flow from a history of colonialism or conspiracy, does buy into the idea that Islam is incompatible with modernity or tolerance, or that it's been polluted by Western values -- and so those beliefs exist."