MANILA (Reuters) - Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte appeared to liken himself to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler on Friday and said he would “be happy” to exterminate 3 million drug users and peddlers in the country. 
 
 Although the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama played down the remark, Duterte’s comments triggered shock and anger among Jewish groups in the United States, which could create pressure on the U.S. government to take a tougher line with the Philippines leader. 
 
 U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter told a news conference following a meeting Southeast Asian defense chiefs in Hawaii that he personally found Duterte’s comments “deeply troubling”, though the matter wasn’t discussed at the meeting. 
 
 State Department spokesman Mark Toner had earlier described Duterte’s remarks, made in a rambling speech in Davao City, as “a significant departure” from America’s partnership with the Philippines “and we find them troubling.” 
 
 Duterte told reporters that he had been “portrayed to be a cousin of Hitler” by critics. 
 
 Noting that Hitler had murdered millions of Jews, Duterte said, “There are 3 million drug addicts (in the Philippines). I’d be happy to slaughter them. 
 
 “If Germany had Hitler, the Philippines would have ...,” he said, pausing and pointing to himself. 
 
 “You know my victims. I would like (them) to be all criminals to finish the problem of my country and save the next generation from perdition.” 
 
 U.N. special adviser on the prevention of genocide, Adama Dieng, expressed alarm and urged the Philippines leader to exercise restraint in his use of language, a U.N. statement said. 
 
 Dieng also called on Duterte to support an investigation into the reported rise in killings resulting from his anti-drug campaign, the statement said. 
 
 In August, Duterte threatened to withdraw the Philippines from the United Nations after it called for an end to the killings. 
 
 In Washington, a State Department spokeswoman, Anna Richey-Allen, had repeated concerns about reports of extrajudicial killings but offered no response to Duterte’s comment referring to Hitler. 
 
 A White House official on Friday stuck to a strategy of stressing Washington’s long-standing ties with Manila, saying, “We continue to focus on our broad relationship with the Philippines and will work together in the many areas of mutual interest.” 
 
 How relations between the U.S. and the Philippines evolve will depend more on what Duterte does than on what he says, administration officials have said. 
 
 U.S. officials had said they would use the defense chiefs meeting in Hawaii to clarify comments by Duterte that throw into doubt his commitment to military ties with the United States, including joint exercises and patrols. 
 
 While expressing his own unease with Duterte’s comments, Carter described Washington’s partnership with Manila as “an alliance of independent and strong nations.” 
 
 “And like all alliances it depends on the continuation of a sense of shared interests. So far in US-Philippine history we have had that. We would look forward to continuing that but that’s something that we continue to discuss with the Philippine government,” he said. 
 
 ‘TONE-DEAFNESS’ 
 
 Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte gestures during a news conference upon his arrival from a state visit in Vietnam at the International Airport in Davao city, Philippines September 30, 2016. REUTERS/Lean Daval Jr 
 
 Since Duterte took office on June 30, more than 3,100 people have been killed since then, mostly alleged drug users and dealers, in police operations and vigilante killings. 
 
 Duterte, who was elected in May on the back of a vow to end drugs and corruption in the country of 100 million people, has insulted Obama and in a number of remarks he has undermined the relationship between Manila and Washington. 
 
 On Friday, reacting to critical comments on his war on drugs by U.S. Senators Patrick Leahy and Benjamin Cardin, Duterte said: “Do not pretend to be the moral conscience of the world. Do not be the policeman because you do not have the eligibility to do that in my country.” 
 
 Jewish groups quickly condemned Duterte’s Hitler comments. 
 
 Rabbi Abraham Cooper, head of the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Digital Terrorism and Hate project, called them “outrageous”. 
 
 “Duterte owes the victims (of the Holocaust) an apology for his disgusting rhetoric,” Cooper said. 
 
 The Anti-Defamation League, an international Jewish group based in the United States, said Duterte’s comments were “shocking for their tone-deafness”. 
 
 “The comparison of drug users and dealers to Holocaust victims is inappropriate and deeply offensive,” said Todd Gutnick, the group’s director of communications. “It is baffling why any leader would want to model himself after such a monster.” 
 
 Duterte has said there will be no annual war games between the Philippines and the United States until the end of his six-year term, and his hostility may make Washington’s strategy of rebalancing its military focus toward Asia in the face of an increasingly assertive China more difficult to achieve. 
 
 Murray Hiebert, a Southeast Asia expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington, said Obama was “taking the long view” in dealing with Duterte. Obama leaves office in January. 
 
 Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte gestures during a news conference upon his arrival from a state visit in Vietnam at the International Airport in Davao city, Philippines September 30, 2016. REUTERS/Lean Daval Jr 
 
 Malcolm Cook, a senior fellow at Singapore’s ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute, said the U.S-Philippines alliance was not necessarily at risk, but Washington could seek to focus on ties elsewhere in the region. 
 
 “We are all in some sense becoming, by necessity, desensitized to Duterte’s language,” he said. 
 
 “Diplomatically, the U.S. would say they’ll continue to work with him and the alliance is strong. But it’s whether they’ll continue to strengthen that alliance or not.” 

 FILE - In this Aug. 25, 2016, file photo, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte gestures with a fist bump during his visit to the Philippine Army's Camp Mateo Capinpin at Tanay township, Rizal province... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this Aug. 25, 2016, file photo, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte gestures with a fist bump during his visit to the Philippine Army's Camp Mateo Capinpin at Tanay township, Rizal province... (Associated Press) 
 
 MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte raised the rhetoric over his bloody anti-crime war to a new level Friday, comparing it to Hitler and the Holocaust and saying he would be "happy to slaughter" 3 million addicts. 
 
 Duterte issued his latest threat against drug dealers and users early Friday on returning to his home in southern Davao city after visiting Vietnam, where he discussed his anti-drug campaign with Vietnamese leaders and compared notes on battling the problem. 
 
 "Hitler massacred 3 million Jews ... there's 3 million drug addicts. There are. I'd be happy to slaughter them," Duterte said, referring to a Philippine government estimate of the number of drug addicts in the country. Historians say that 6 million Jews were killed by the Nazis under Hitler before and during World War II. 
 
 Duterte has said that his public death threats against drug suspects are designed to scare them into stop selling illegal drugs and to discourage would-be users. Such scare tactics, he has said, are legal. But his remarks Friday took that crime-busting approach to a different level. 
 
 During the presidential election campaign earlier this year and during the three months he had held office, the tough-talking Duterte has threatened to drown drug suspects to fatten the fish in Manila Bay. He also threatened to execute drug traffickers by hanging — because he didn't want to waste electricity on them — until their heads were severed from their bodies. 
 
 While Hitler victims were innocent people, Duterte said his targets are "all criminals" and that getting rid of them would "finish the (drug) problem of my country."
– Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte raised the rhetoric over his bloody anti-crime war to a new level Friday, comparing it to Hitler and the Holocaust and saying he would be "happy to slaughter" 3 million addicts. Duterte issued his latest threat against drug dealers and users early Friday on his return from a visit to Vietnam, where he discussed his anti-drug campaign with Vietnamese leaders and compared notes on battling the problem, the AP reports. "Hitler massacred 3 million Jews ... there's 3 million drug addicts. There are. I'd be happy to slaughter them," Duterte said. The Philippine government estimates there are 3 million drug addicts in the country. Historians say that 6 million Jews were killed by the Nazis under Hitler during World War II. "If Germany had Hitler, the Philippines would have..." Duterte said before pointing to himself, reports Reuters. "You know my victims. I would like (them) to be all criminals to finish the problem of my country and save the next generation from perdition." More than 3,000 suspected drug users and dealers have been killed since Duterte took power June 30, including the daughter of a British lord.