President Barack Obama blamed critics on Tuesday of playing into the hands of Islamic State by making comparison on the fight contrary to the militant group to the World War III, in an address intended at laying out an idealistic vision of America's future.
Obama, who is delivering his last State of the Union speech to Congress before leaving office one year from now, said it was fiction to pronounce the United States was in financial decline or getting weaker on the global stage, regardless of the words from Republican presidential hopefuls competing to replace him in the Nov. 8 election.
'Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks and twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages pose an enormous danger to civilians and must be stopped. But they do not threaten our national existence,' Obama said.
'That's the story Isil wants to tell; that's the kind of propaganda they use to recruit. 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,' he added, talking about Islamic State by an acronym.
The comments were a repudiation of Republican feedback of his strategy against Islamic State of Republican leader Donald Trump's call to briefly prohibit Muslims from entering the United States.
Obama's address comes as 10 sailors on board and two U.S. Navy boats were taken into Iranian custody. Iran told the United States that the crew would be immediately returned, U.S. authorities said. The event gave Republicans further fodder to censure Obama's nuclear deal with Tehran.
Obama did not address the issue at the top of his speech.
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