[NATION.PK] President Barack ObamaIf you have a small business, you didn't build that...
has rejected demands for labelling the US fight against terrorism as a war on radical Islam or any kind of "religious war," insisting that such labels hurt efforts to root out radical ideologies in Moslem communities.
"I think that the way to understand this is there is an element growing out of Moslem communities in certain parts of the world that have perverted the religion, have embraced a nihilistic, violent, almost medieval interpretation of Islam. And they're doing damage in a lot of countries around the world," he said in an interview with CNN aired Sunday.
"But it is absolutely true that I reject a notion that somehow that creates a religious war because the overwhelming majority of Moslems reject that interpretation of Islam. They don't even recognise it as being Islam," the president told CNN's Fareed Zakaria. The interview was taped in New Delhi during Obama's visit to India.
Obama also cautioned against the risk of overplaying the threat of terror groups and said the US should instead align itself with the overwhelming majority of Moslems who reject the radical ideology and tactics of terrorist groups like ISIS and Al-Qaeda.
"I don't quibble with labels. I think we all recognise that this is a particular problem that has roots in Moslem communities," Obama said. "But I think we do ourselves a disservice in this fight if we are not taking into account the fact that the overwhelming majority of Moslems reject this ideology.
