DAVOS, Switzerland
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry outlined a comprehensive international strategy against terrorism Friday.
In a speech to the World Economic Forum, Kerry said that the fight against terror must involve work at all levels -- including military action, but also governance, economic inclusion, and education.
"The civilized world will not cower in the face of this violence. We are all threatened," Kerry said.
Kerry named the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant as the most dangerous of terrorist threats today. He also castigated the Assad regime in Syria, "Daesh wouldn't exist if this so-called president wasn't attracting terrorists," Kerry said, using the Arabic acronym for ISIL.
He also called for an end to religious hatred. "There is no room for Islamophobia or anti-Semitism," Kerry said.
ISIL is particularly dangerous, Kerry said, because it is governing land and trying to expand. It also commits ever more macabre crimes as a form of recruitment.
He insisted that all forms of terror must be stopped. "We must eliminate Daesh, strengthen Somalia, stop violence in Nigeria, and strike at al-Qaeda in Yemen," Kerry said.
He called on all nations to participate in the anti-terror summit to be held at the White House on Feb. 18.
But the military actions against terrorism are only part of the solution, Kerry said. What is also needed is to eliminate economic exclusion, to improve governance where it is weak, and to increase education so that young people will see through the false publicity of terror, he added.
"We must avoid an endless cycle of terrorism," Kerry said. "If we do not attack terrorism at its roots, by transforming the environment from which it emerges, we will be back here 10 years from now making another inventory of terrorist threats."
Kerry said that the cost of these efforts should not deter nations from making this effort. "We can find the money, just as we have always found the money when threatened," he said.
"You fight terror not only on the battlefield but in classrooms, places of worship and urban street corners: You have to change individual perceptions and thoughts," Kerry said.
Addressing a group of economic actors at Davos, Kerry reminded them that increases in GDP only matter when prosperity is widely shared and when economic growth provides opportunities for a fair chance.
"There are countries, even in Europe, where as much as 60 percent of the young people are unemployed. This is sure to foster extremism in some young people," Kerry said.
We also need accountable and accessible justice systems, and we have to ensure that we reduce the number of places where governance is weak. Poor governance fails to protect citizens and leaves them prey to extremists, Kerry said.
Many blame the failure of the international system for terrorism, saying it is unraveling, he said.
"I see the opposite; nations working together to negotiate trade pacts, stop the Ebola epidemic, find a peaceful resolution to the Iranian nuclear program. I see nations working together to reach ambitious and global agreements on climate change," Kerry said.
"We have faced more significant threats in the past and prevailed," he said. "We aren’t content to settle for the status quo. We are the descendants of innovators and doers who survived plagues, fascism and the Holocaust," Kerry said.
"We have an activist tradition unafraid of great challenges, and we are at our best when put to the test," he continued.
"Our collective future will be uncompromised by the paranoid and primitive ideas of terrorists. We will rather stand with knowledge, reason and the rule of law. No one should doubt that we will stand together," Kerry said.
