Barack Obama made an impassioned plea to the American people on Tuesday to not give in to fear and stay true to the values enshrined by a gift from France: the Statue of Liberty.
Speaking with French president Francois Hollande at the White House, the US president spoke of his own affinity with France and pledged that the nations would work together to “destroy” Islamic State in the wake of the Paris attacks.
Obama, who will travel on Sunday to join world leaders in Paris for the UN climate change summit, said: “What a powerful rebuke to the terrorists it will be, when the world stands as one and shows that we will not be deterred from building a better future for our children.”
The two leaders put on a show of unity in their attitude to Russia, which Hollande visits later this week, insisting that Vladimir Putin’s forces should focus their military action against Isis.
But it was in urging Americans to respond to the events of Paris by holding fast to their ideals that the president hit back against the mounting hysteria which has grown in the US about the wisdom of receiving refugees from the chaos of the Syrian conflict.
‘This is an important moment for our nation and the world,” Obama told the press conference in the East Room of the White House. “What happened in Paris is truly horrific. I understand that people worry that something similar could happen here.”
He said: “Groups like Isil cannot defeat us on the battlefield, so they try to terrorise us at home – against soft targets, against civilians, against innocent people. Even as we’re vigilant, we cannot, and we will not, succumb to fear. Nor can we allow fear to divide us – for that’s how terrorists win. We cannot give them the victory of changing how we go about living our lives.”
Obama noted that France will keep its commitment to taking in 30,000 refugees from Syria, and said: “Nobody who sets foot in America goes through more screening than refugees.”
The Statue of Liberty, a gift from France, holds a tablet inscribed with the words “Give me your poor, your tired, your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free”, he recalled. “That’s the spirit that makes us Americans. That’s the spirit that binds us to France. That’s spirit we need today.
“Each of us, all of us must show that America is strengthened by people of every faith and every background,” he added.
The US president spoke of Americans’ love of France, its oldest ally. “Sometimes we Americans are too shy to say so, but we’re not feeling shy today,” he continued.
He paid tribute to its culture and joie de vivre. “By my bed in the residence is a picture of me and Michelle in the Luxembourg Gardens [in Paris], kissing,” he said. “Those are the memories we have of France ... So when tragedy struck that evening, our hearts broke too. Nous sommes tous Francais.”
Hollande’s trip to Washington was part of a diplomatic push to get the US and other nations to bolster efforts to destroy the militant group behind for the Paris attacks. Hollande emerged from his meeting with Obama saying that France and the United States had agreed to step up a “joint response”, including new efforts to target terrorists’ financial networks, take back Isis-controlled territory, scale up efforts in Syria and Iraq and increase intelligence sharing.
Obama described the attacks in Paris as an assault on the world itself and claimed that 8,000 airstrikes have pushed back Isis.
Obama repeated his recent criticisms of Moscow, arguing that whereas the US and France are in a coalition of 65 nations, Russia is in a coalition of just two: itself and Iran. “Russia’s strikes against the moderate opposition only bolster the Assad regime,” he said.
He reiterated the need to move away from Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in the Vienna talks. “They can’t defeat us on the battlefield, we cannot allow fear to divide us.” Obama said duties to security and to refugees go hand in hand, citing past threats when the west prevailed. “It’ll be no different this time, we will win and groups like Isil will lose.”
The president called on the European Union to improve its intelligence sharing, in particular on airline passenger information.
Hollande expressed his gratitude to the US, saying Obama was the first leader to call him after the Paris attacks. He said Isis has territory and considerable resources and has hit several different countries, including Russia.
“We have decided to scale up our strikes against Isis in Syria and Iraq,” he added, but ruled out sending in French ground troops, insisting that the coalition would support local forces.
Hollande said he plans to tell Russian president Vladimir Putin that France can work with Russia if Moscow concentrates its military action on fighting Isis. He also said Europe must work with Russia to find solutions so that refugees can stay close to their country of origin.
