President Barack Obama denied that the Islamic State terrorist group poses an imminent danger to the United States in Tuesday’s State of the Union address, saying “they do not threaten our national existence.”
Obama acknowledged that “protecting the American people and going after terrorist networks” were the country’s top national security priorities, but cautioned against feeding into the end-times propaganda groups like ISIL propagate.
“Over-the-top claims that this is World War III just play into their hands,” Obama said, recalling a talking point used by some GOP presidential candidates in recent Republican debates.
“That’s the story ISIL wants to tell; that’s the kind of propaganda they use to recruit,” he added. “We don’t need to build them up to show that we’re serious, nor do we need to push away vital allies in this fight by echoing the lie that ISIL is representative of one of the world’s largest religions. We just need to call them what they are – killers and fanatics who have to be rooted out, hunted down, and destroyed.”
The President said that that is “exactly what we are doing” as a country already, pointing to the U.S.-led coalition working to cut off financial funding to ISIL and train local armed forces to fight terrorism on the ground.
