U.S. President Barack Obama will conclude a three-day conference on countering violent radicalism Thursday with a speech before representatives of more than 60 nations at the U.S. State Department.
During an address Wednesday before a group of community and religious leaders, Mr. Obama called on them to help fight "false promises of extremism" and reject the notion that "terrorist" groups represent Islam.
The Obama administration has been careful not to put the focus of this week's summit solely on Islamic extremism, but on all forms of extremism.
"They try to portray themselves as religious leaders, holy warriors," Mr. Obama said Wednesday at the White House. "They are not religious leaders, they are terrorists. We are not at war with Islam. We are at war with people who have perverted Islam.”
He also appealed directly to prominent Muslims to do more to distance themselves from brutal ideologies.