Warning that parts of the world including Pakistan may become safe havens for new terrorist networks, President Barack Obama made protecting the American people and going after them his top priority. But in a powerful speech Tuesday night he rejected Republicans' suggestion that the spread of the Islamic State across much of the Middle East and the group's apparent widening of its target list to Europe and the United States posed a threat to America itself. He mocked the contention that fighters on "on the back of pickup trucks and twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages" represented an existential threat to America. "As we focus on destroying ISIL, over-the-top claims that this is World War III just play into their hands," Obama said delivering the last State of the Union address of his presidency to the US Congress. "They do not threaten our national existence. That's the story ISIL wants to tell; that's the kind of propaganda they use to recruit," Obama said, warning against pushing away vital Americans allies in the Middle East by "echoing the lie" that the group represents Islam. "Our foreign policy must be focused on the threat from ISIL and Al Qaeda, but it can't stop there," he said. "For even without ISIL, instability will continue for decades in many parts of the world - in the Middle East, in Afghanistan and Pakistan, in parts of Central America, Africa and Asia.
