Al-Qaeda and ISIL and groups like it are desperate for legitimacy. They try to portray themselves as religious leaders, holy warriors in defense of Islam. That's why ISIL presumes to declare itself the Islamic state. And they propagate the notion that America and the west, generally, is at war with Islam. That's how they recruit. That's how they tyranicalize (ph) young people.
President Obama discusses the motivations of ISIS and Al-Qaeda in seeking legitimacy and how they manipulate religious narratives to recruit followers.
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