Obama Vows U.S. ‘Will Destroy’ ISIS, Other Terrorist Groups

The United States “will destroy” the Islamic State “and any other terrorist organization that tries to harm us,” President Barack Obama said in a televised speech to the nation on Sunday night.

Speaking from the Oval Office, the president said the country faces new challenges in its 14-year war on terrorism but remains equipped to overcome the threat the ideology poses to America.

The speech came days after the husband-and-wife team of Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik killed 14 people and wounded 21 others in a mass shooting at San Bernardino, California. The brazen attack occurred during a holiday party for Farook’s coworkers on Wednesday.

“This was an act of terrorism designed to kill innocent people,” Obama declared in the speech.

Obama went on to say that other shootings at military installations in Fort Hood, Texas, and Chattanooga, Tennessee, were also acts of terrorism. The president said the nature of these attacks represent a fundamental shift in the face of terrorism, and the challenge it presents.

He said the country has been at war with terrorists since 9/11, when terrorists hijacked four airplanes in an elaborate plot that ultimately killed nearly 3,000 people. America has beefed up its security and intelligence operations and disrupted a host of terrorist plots in the years since.

“Over the last few years, however, the terrorist threat has evolved into a new phase,” Obama said. “As we’ve become better at preventing complex, multi-faceted attacks like 9/11, terrorists turn to less-complicated acts of violence like the mass shootings that are all too common in our society.”

While noting there was no evidence that Farook and Malik were directed by a terrorist group or that they were part of a broader conspiracy in planning and executing Wednesday’s shootings, Obama said “it is clear that the two of them had gone down the dark path of radicalization, a perverted interpretation of Islam that calls for war against America and the West.”

The FBI echoed that statement on Monday, with an official saying at a news conference that the bureau had evidence that Farook and Malik had been radicalized “for quite some time.” The probe into the shootings and the circumstances around them continued Monday afternoon.

In his Sunday night speech, Obama reaffirmed the country’s commitment to fighting terrorism.

He said “our military will continue to hunt down terrorist plotters in any country where it is necessary,” and noted that 65 countries have joined an American-led coalition that is carrying out airstrikes against ISIS interests. The United States is also providing training to forces in Iraq and Syria that are fighting ISIS militants on the ground, and deploying special ops in both countries. Coalition forces are working to disrupt ISIS in other ways, like cutting off its money supply (largely obtained through oil smuggling) and preventing it from adding manpower.

Obama noted global efforts to combat ISIS have increased since Nov. 13, when gunmen and suicide bombers linked to the group killed 130 people in multiple terrorist attacks in Paris. In particular, he said the exchange of intelligence between allies has surged since those attacks.

The president said technology has made it easier for groups like the Islamic State to corrupt the minds of people around the world. The terrorists are frequently able to use social media and the Internet to share their radical messages. Obama called for technology companies and law enforcement officials to make it more difficult for terrorists to hide behind computer screens.

He also called for the departments of State and Homeland Security to review the ‘fiancee visa’ waiver program that Malik, a Pakistani native who was living in Saudi Arabia, used to enter the United States. It’s been widely reported that she met Farook, a U.S. citizen, on an online dating site.

Obama also called for stricter gun laws, like making it more difficult to purchase assault weapons like the ones used in San Bernardino. He noted authorities simply can’t identify every potential mass shooter, but “what we can do — and must do — is make it harder for them to kill.”

While Obama outlined the steps America is taking against ISIS and to prevent future terrorist attacks at home, he also laid out a list of things that America should not do. Those included entering a ground war in the Middle East, which could be lengthy and ultimately play into the Islamic State’s hand. He also said the country shouldn’t fear or discriminate against Muslims, noting that the Islamic State “doesn’t speak for Islam” and was “part of a cult of death.”

“The threat from terrorism is real, but we will overcome it,” Obama said in his televised comments. “We will destroy (ISIS) and any other organization that tries to harm us.”

FBI Investigating California Mass Shooting as Terrorist Act

The FBI is investigating the mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, “as an act of terrorism.”

David Bowdich, the assistant FBI director at the bureau’s Los Angeles office, made the announcement at a news conference on Friday, saying the bureau had taken over the investigation’s lead from local authorities.

The revelation came two days after the husband-and-wife team of Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik killed 14 people and injured 21 others when they opened fire during a holiday party at the Inland Regional Center. They were later killed in a shootout with police.

Bowdich told reporters that investigators found evidence that indicated “extensive planning,” as well as mentioning the couple’s extensive stockpile of ammunition and explosive devices.

Speaking at a later news conference in Washington, FBI Director James Comey told reporters there was evidence that suggested the Muslim suspects became radicalized, but no evidence had surfaced that suggested that the shooters were part of a terrorist group. However, Comey did say there were indications that the couple might have been inspired by foreign terrorist organizations.

“There’s a lot of evidence in this case that doesn’t quite make sense,” Comey told reporters, adding that investigators were still wading through a large amount of electronic evidence.

Neither Bowdich nor Comey publicly confirmed multiple published reports that said Malik pledged allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State through a post on social media on the morning of the attack.

CNN, FoxNews, The New York Times and The Washington Post were among the media outlets reporting that sources familiar with the investigation told them about the Facebook post.

Bowdich told reporters at the news conference that Farook and Malik “attempted to destroy their digital fingerprints,” and investigators discovered two “crushed” cell phones in trash cans near the crime scene. He said authorities were working to extract data from those cell phones.

“We do hope that the digital fingerprints that were left by these two individuals will take us towards their motivation,” Bowdich told reporters. “That evidence is incredibly important.”

Comey told reporters neither Farook nor Malik was on the FBI’s radar at the time of the shooting.

It was widely reported that Farook worked at the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health, which was holding a holiday party at the Inland Regional Center at the time of the attack. Police said Farook left the party angrily, then returned with his wife and opened fire.

Farook was born to Pakistani parents in Illinois and met Malik, a Pakistan native who was living in Saudi Arabia, on an online dating site, the New York Times has reported. The couple had a six-month-old daughter who they left with her grandmother on the morning of the attack.

Police have said they found at least 4,500 additional rounds of ammunition and a dozen “pipe-bomb-type devices” at the Redlands, California, residence of the suspects.

The FBI released the crime scene and the couple’s landlord somewhat bizarrely opened it up to the media on Friday morning, leading to several news organizations to take cameras through the residence and broadcast live images of reporters examining the suspects’ personal belongings.

California shooting the latest in a long list of deadly U.S. rampages

REUTERS – Fourteen people were killed and 14 were wounded on Wednesday when at least one person opened fire at a social services agency in the Southern California city of San Bernardino, the latest of many deadly rampages in the United States.

Below are some of the worst shooting incidents in recent years, ranked by the number of dead, including the gunman:

Virginia Tech

April 16, 2007 – A gunman slaughters 32 people and kills himself at Virginia Tech, a university in Blacksburg, Virginia.

Sandy Hook

Dec. 14, 2012 – A gunman kills 20 children and six adults and himself at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

Columbine

April 20, 1999 – Two heavily armed teenagers go on a rampage at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, shooting 12 students and a teacher to death and wounding more than 20 others before taking their own lives.

Immigration center

April 3, 2009 – A Vietnamese immigrant opens fire at an immigrant services center in Binghamton, New York, killing 13 people and wounding four. He then kills himself.

Fort Hood

Nov. 5, 2009 – A gunman opens fire at Fort Hood, a U.S. Army base in Texas, killing 13 people and wounding 32. The gunman, an Army major and psychiatrist, was sentenced to death for the rampage.

Washington Navy Yard

Sept. 16, 2013 – A former Navy reservist working as a government contractor kills 12 people at the Washington Navy Yard. Eight people are injured. The gunman was killed by police.

Colorado movie theater

July 20, 2012 – A masked gunman kills 12 people and wounds 70 when he opens fire on moviegoers at a midnight premiere of the Batman film “The Dark Knight Rises” in Aurora, a Denver suburb. A former graduate student is sentenced to life in prison for the rampage.

Washington, D.C., snipers

October 2002 – Two men ambush 13 people, killing 10 of them, in a string of sniper-style shootings that terrorize the Washington area.

Oregon College

Oct. 1, 2015 – A gunman bursts into Umpqua Community College in southwest Oregon and opens fire, killing nine people and wounding seven others before police shoot him to death.

Charleston church

June 17, 2015 – A white supremacist gunman kills nine black churchgoers during a Bible study session at a historic, predominantly black church in Charleston, South Carolina. The suspect is awaiting trial.

Waco bikers

May 17, 2015 – Rival motorcycle gangs kill nine at a restaurant in Waco, Texas. More than 170 people are arrested.

Grandfather kills family

Sept. 18, 2014 – Man kills his daughter and six grandchildren in Bell, Florida, and then kills himself.

Oikos University

April 2, 2012 – A former student kills seven students at Oikos University, a small Christian school in Oakland, California. The suspect is awaiting trial.

Sikh temple

Aug. 5, 2012 – A white supremacist walks into a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, shoots six worshippers and wounds four others, including a policeman. The gunman kills himself after being shot by a police officer.

Florida apartment

July 26, 2013 – A man goes on a shooting spree at an apartment complex in Hialeah, Florida, killing six people. The shooter is killed by police.

Congresswoman assassination attempt

Jan. 8, 2011 – Then-U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords is the target of an assassination attempt by a gunman in Tucson, Arizona, in which six people are killed and 13, including Giffords, are wounded.

Planned Parenthood

Nov. 27, 2015 – A gunman storms a Planned Parenthood health clinic in Colorado Springs, Colorado, killing three people and wounding nine. Police arrest the gunman.

Television journalists

Aug. 26, 2015 – A reporter and a cameraman are fatally ambushed by a former employee of their Roanoke, Virginia, television station while they are interviewing a woman on live TV. The woman is wounded. The gunman later kills himself as police pursue him on a highway hours after the shooting.

(Compiled by Lisa Shumaker in Chicago; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)

California Cities Could Disappear Due To Debts

California cities are increasingly considering filing for bankruptcy or even folding after San Bernardino became the third California city in the last month to seek bankruptcy protection. Multiple cities have been slashing budgets and employee salaries in an attempt to reign in debts.

Michael Coleman, fiscal policy advisor for the California League of Cities, warns that bankruptcy might not be the only thing happening in the near future. Continue reading