United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron delivered a major address Monday about defeating the "poison" of radical Islamic terrorist groups like the Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIS or ISIL).
"I want to explain what I believe we need to do as a country to defeat this extremism, and help to strengthen our multi-racial, multi-faith democracy," he said. "It begins—it must begin—by understanding the threat we face and why we face it. What we are fighting, in Islamist extremism, is an ideology. It is an extreme doctrine. And like any extreme doctrine, it is subversive. At its furthest end it seeks to destroy nation-states to invent its own barbaric realm. And it often backs violence to achieve this aim—mostly violence against fellow Muslims—who don’t subscribe to its sick worldview."
He had strong words for any citizens who, like others before them, would consider joining the movement.
"You won’t be some valued member of a movement," he said. "You are cannon fodder for them. They will use you. If you are a boy, they will brainwash you, strap bombs to your body and blow you up. If you are a girl, they will enslave and abuse you. That is the sick and brutal reality of ISIL."
Cameron addressed the draw of IS to young people and how to combat the extreme ideology's hold over people, and he emphasized painting a clear distinction between their values and those of free societies.
"We should contrast their bigotry, aggression and theocracy with our values," he said. "We have, in our country, a very clear creed and we need to promote it much more confidently. Wherever we are from, whatever our background, whatever our religion, there are things we share together."
Cameron repeatedly referred to "Islamic extremism" in the lengthy address.
"We must also de-glamourize the extremist cause, especially ISIL," he said. "This is a group that throws people off buildings, that burns them alive, and as Channel 4’s documentary last week showed, its men rape underage girls, and stone innocent women to death. This isn’t a pioneering movement. It is vicious, brutal, and a fundamentally abhorrent existence."
The speech in the video above begins at 37:30.