This article is several days old, so it may be that the White House’s insistence that Islamic jihad terrorism not be mentioned at the “Countering Violent Extremism” summit comes at the behest of these groups, to whom Obama always responds, “How high?” when they say, “Jump!” However, the fact that it is a “Countering Violent Extremism” summit instead of a “Countering Islamic Jihad” summit shows that the denial was already in place. In fact, it has been since 2011, when the Obama Administration scrubbed all mention of Islam and jihad from counter-terror training materials. These groups were simply engaging in pre-emptive victimhood so as to wring even more concessions from the Administration — probably mainly the dismantling of whatever vestiges may remain of any attempts to counter jihad terror.
“Obama’s Anti-Extremist Strategy Criticized As Wrongly Singling Out Muslims,” by Jaweed Kaleem, Huffington Post, February 13, 2015:
As the White House prepares to host a three-day summit next week on countering violent extremism, many high-profile Muslim and religious groups argue that the administration’s efforts have unfairly singled out Muslims and the Islamic faith.
In the days leading up to the summit, Muslim Advocates said it has “serious concerns about the government’s track record of treating extremist violence as though it were an exclusively Muslim problem.” The prominent civil rights and legal advocacy group, which will be represented at the White House event, said the government’s efforts on extremism send “a dangerous signal to members of the public that their Muslim neighbors are a threat.”
The Summit on Countering Violent Extremism, which has been in the works since last fall, will begin on Feb. 17. The White House press release last month said the summit would focus on “domestic and international efforts to prevent violent extremists and their supporters from radicalizing, recruiting, or inspiring individuals or groups in the United States and abroad to commit acts of violence.” The statement pointed to recent attacks by radicalized Muslims in Ottawa, Sydney and Paris.
The National Security Council will host the first two days of the event, which are supposed to shine light on American efforts — including pilot programs in Boston, Minneapolis and Los Angeles that aim to improve relations between Muslim communities, police and the Department of Homeland Security. On the third day, the summit will move to the State Department to look at international programs, with security experts and government officials coming from United Kingdom and dozens of other nations.
According to a press release, Vice President Joe Biden is scheduled to “participate in a roundtable discussion with representatives from cities working to address the spread of violent extremism” on Tuesday, while President Barack Obama will deliver remarks on Wednesday and Thursday. The White House has not released a full schedule of events or a list of attendees.
But leaders of the largest Muslim organizations in the U.S. have said they are disappointed they weren’t invited to attend. Top officials from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Islamic Society of North America and the Islamic Circle of North America won’t be at the table next week. Several attendees of a high-profile meeting the president held with Muslims last week — including Kameelah Rashad, Muslim chaplain at the University of Pennsylvania — have also not been invited.
“We recognize there are people of ill intent trying to recruit American Muslims into their cause. But I think the community needs to be the one that leads on that front,” said Corey Saylor, director of the Department to Monitor and Combat Islamophobia at CAIR.
The organization, which has chapters in nearly every state and dozens of cities, released a five-page paper criticizing the White House’s strategy for countering extremist violence on Friday.
“Stop treating us like suspects and start treating us like assets,” said Saylor, who added that public revelations about government surveillance and informant programs in their communities have made American Muslims suspicious of authorities’ anti-extremism efforts….