Joe Biden: US is 'a lot more experienced' countering violent extremism

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/17/joe-biden-white-house-anti-terror-summit

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​Vice-president Joe Biden opened a three-day White House conference on countering violent extremism by highlighting America’s history of assimilating immigrants, a tradition which may help it avoid the terrorist attacks that have hit Europe.

“I am not suggesting that America has all of the answers here; we are just a lot more experienced,” ​Biden told a roundtable in the executive office building. “We are a nation of immigrants and our strength is that we are a melting pot.”

Some 45 community leaders from Los Angeles, Boston and Minneapolis-Saint Paul – which have been trialling initiatives to counter violent extremism – were joined at the event by Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb of Rotterdam, Netherlands, and Mayor Hans Bonte of Vilvoorde, Belgium.

Related: Anti-terrorism summit reinforces 'fear and hate' towards Muslims, critics warn

Biden said he had private meetings with European leaders on Tuesday before wider discussions with 70 countries on Wednesday and Thursday at which President Obama will speak.

“I just had a chance to meet with the European Council, the European parliament ... and the topic of discussion in our closed meetings was about what is to be done in Europe now,” said Biden. “They are asking what we have done.

“I know from my discussions in Belgium, all of Europe is trying to figure this out,” he added. “There has been a significant amount of immigration into Europe from all over the world; it is a newer phenomenon.”

“Today’s summit is urgent and essential,” said Alejandro Mayorkas, deputy secretary at the Department of Homeland Security in opening remarks that introduced Biden. “Events in Australia, Canada and most recently in France, Belgium and Denmark underscore the significance of the challenges we face in countering violent extremism.”

Biden said the US also wanted to learn lessons from ​anti-terror efforts in Europe.

Earlier, the White House downplayed calls to focus more on Islamist terrorism during the three-day summit, insisting that recent attacks should not lead to stereotyping of certain communities as higher risk.

Republicans had criticised the summit for failing to single out Islamist extremism for particular scrutiny despite having been convened by Barack Obama in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris and coming amid concern over radicalisation by the Islamic State militant group​.

White House officials said the pilot programs in Boston, Los Angeles and Minneapolis-St Paul were ​designed to “bring together community representatives, public safety officials and religious leaders to counter violent extremism”.

“The pilot cities have each developed a framework to implement whole of community approaches for prevention and intervention,” said one official. “Representatives will discuss their programs and lessons learned during the summit, with the intent to then take their frameworks nationwide,” added the official.

The summit is also expected to address perceived weaknesses in the response to social media messaging used by ​Isis to promote its brand of violent extremism.