New York, NY, September 11, 2014 … On the 13th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today praised President Obama for his commitment to combating the threat posed by ISIS to Iraq, Syria, the wider region and potentially to the United States itself.
Barry Curtiss-Lusher, ADL National Chair, and Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director issued the following statement:
The specter of terrorism targeting the United States has once again cast a dark shadow in the form of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. The beheadings of American journalists, the unmitigated violence against non-Muslim and Muslim minority groups, and the brutality and aggression of fighters for this group have shocked the world. Fortunately, the U.S. has not yet faced a direct attack from this terrorist organization.
As we recall and memorialize the events leading up to the 9/11 terrorist attacks against America 13 years ago, we must re-commit ourselves to defeating the terrorist elements and movements who are now finding a safe haven in the power vacuum in areas of Iraq and Syria and other parts of the Middle East as a result of civil war and the instability in the wake of the Arab uprisings.
In President Obama’s announcement of a wider campaign to stop the growing threat from ISIS, he set down a marker to all terrorist organizations: Threaten the United States, and the United States will take action. While this operation will be complex and difficult, U.S. leadership in countering this force for terror and instability is essential.