'Muslims are our friends, neighbors and sports heroes': Obama interrupts Sunday night TV to preach tolerance and gun control but pledges no ground war against the 'thugs' of ISIS 'death cult'
Obama addressed the nation from the Oval Office for only the third time
He spoke about the investigation into the San Bernardino killings as well as the threat to America from terrorism and his plan to defeat ISIS
Obama declared the killings an 'act of terrorism' and said the perpetrators went down the 'dark path of radicalization'
He called on Congress to pass legislation barring individuals on the no-fly list from purchasing guns, saying it was a matter of national security
He also called for laws that make it harder for people to buy 'powerful assault weapons'
Full news coverage of US President Obama at
www.dailymail.co.uk/obama By Francesca Chambers, White House Correspondent For Dailymail.com
Published: 20:09 EST, 6 December 2015 | Updated: 01:22 EST, 7 December 2015
President Barack Obama used his Sunday night address on terrorism to reassure the American people that the San Bernardino shootings last week appear to be an isolated incident, despite one of the killers pledging allegiance to ISIS.
The president firmly dismissed a change in strategy in the war against the extremists that would require combat troops on the ground in Iraq and Syria.
And while the terrorist group is made up of 'thugs and killers' and is part of a 'cult of death', he again refused to call them 'radical Islamic terrorists'.
Americans must not take out their grievances with the fanatics on followers of Islam, he said.
'Muslim Americans are our friends and our neighbors are coworkers, our sports heroes. And yes, they are our men and women in uniform who are willing to die in defense of our country,' the president said, speaking from the Oval Office. 'We have to remember that.'
He also called on Congress to pass legislation barring individuals on the no-fly list from purchasing guns.
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President Barack Obama used his Sunday night address on terrorism to assure the American people that the California shootings last week appear to be an isolated incident and urged them to treat followers of Islam with tolerance
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President Barack Obama used his Sunday night address on terrorism to assure the American people that the California shootings last week appear to be an isolated incident and urged them to treat followers of Islam with tolerance
Tashfeen Malik
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Syed Farook
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Tashfeen Malik (left) met husband and fellow San Bernardino attacker Syed Farook (right), 28, through a dating website. He flew to Saudi Arabia to meet her and brought her back to the US on a fiancée visa
Obama also pressed for gun control measures after the shooters' stockpile of weapons and ammunition were found. Above, the remains of an SUV involved in Farook and Malik's shootout with police
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Obama also pressed for gun control measures after the shooters' stockpile of weapons and ammunition were found. Above, the remains of an SUV involved in Farook and Malik's shootout with police
The symbolic use of the Oval Office was an attempt by Obama to set a tone of political gravitas equal to the moment after repeated accusations that he underestimated the threat from ISIS and was too slow to identify the San Bernardino mass murder as domestic terrorism.
In only the third Oval address, Obama declared the killings an 'act of terrorism' and said the perpetrators went down the 'dark path of radicalization'.
But there is 'no evidence' they were directed to commit the murders by a specific terrorist group nor is the United States under threat of an imminent attack, he said.
The FBI is still 'gathering the facts', Obama declared, but that much is known.
Syed Farook, a 28-year-old American, and Tashfeen Malik, his 29-year-old wife born in Pakistan - both Muslims - carried out the massacre which left 14 dead and 21 injured. The duo were killed in a police stand-off.
Malik is said to have pledged allegiance to ISIS on Facebook at the time of the rampage.
The FBI is investigating the shooting spree as a terrorist attack, it said Friday.
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