In a rare live speech from the Oval Office Sunday night, President Obama called Wednesday’s mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, an act of terrorism. The shooting killed 14 people at the Inland Regional Center, a facility that provides services to people with disabilities. Obama said, in response, he would increase airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, even though he acknowledged there was “no evidence” that ISIS had directed the attack.
President Obama: “So far, we have no evidence that the killers were directed by a terrorist organization overseas or that they were part of a broader conspiracy here at home.”
Obama also cautioned against Islamophobia and vowed not to get pulled into a ground war in Iraq or Syria.
President Obama: “We should not be drawn once more into a long and costly ground war in Iraq or Syria. That’s what groups like ISIL want.”
We’ll get response from Nicolas Hénin, a French journalist who was held hostage by ISIS for 10 months, later in the broadcast.