John Kerry on ISIS: ‘radical, extremist philosophy, cultish, but ‘not a religious outlook’
Secretary of State John Kerry spoke with Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski and Willie Geist on “Morning Joe” about Islamic State, who they are as an enemy and fueled a ton of backlash from right wing critics.
WILLIE GEIST: Let’s go back to the beginning why we’re even having this conversation, Secretary Kerry, is the question of ISIS and the question of how dangerous a threat it really is to the United States and there’s been some question. Some have said there is no imminent or direct threat to the United States. How dangerous is this group and have you all seen direct threats to the United States?
JOHN KERRY: This is one of the most dangerous groups that I have seen in my time in public life. Why? Because they have a radical, extremist philosophy cultish attitude. It’s not a religious outlook, it’s a self-described cult that is evil. They are avowed genocidists. They have already set out to kill Yazidis, to kill Christians, to kill Shia. They have declared enemy anybody who isn’t them and who doesn’t adopt their way of life [ed.: AKA Sharia]. (Emphasis added, The Dispatch)
UPDATE: Following this discussion on ISIS, Kerry then compared global warning to ISIS.
Secretary of State John Kerry said the threats posed by climate change should be addressed with as much “immediacy” as confronting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and the Ebola outbreak.
During a meeting with foreign ministers on Sunday, Kerry said global warming is creating “climate refugees.”
“We see people fighting over water in some places. There are huge challenges to food security and challenges to the ecosystem, our fisheries and … the acidification of the ocean is a challenge for all of us,” Kerry said.
“And when you accrue all of this, while we are confronting ISIL and we are confronting terrorism and we are confronting Ebola and other things, those are immediate,” he added, using an alternate acronym for the terrorist group.
“This also has an immediacy that people need to come to understand, but it has even greater longer-term consequences that can cost hundreds of billions, trillions of dollars, lives, and the security of the world,” Kerry continued.