Obama dismisses idea of ISIL as existential threat

US President Barack Obama has wrapped up his final State of the Union address with a forceful statement of confidence in the future of the United States.

"I believe in change because I believe in you," Obama said in his closing remarks, generating a standing ovation.

"That's why I stand here as confident as I have ever been that the State of our Union is strong."

Obama also said the US doesn't need over-the-top claims about the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group to show the US is serious about defeating it.

The president dismissed the idea that ISIL threatens America's existence, saying that's the story ISIL wants to tell and the message it uses in propaganda to recruit.

"Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks and twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages, they pose an enormous danger to civilians and must be stopped. But they do not threaten our national existence," Obama said.

He said references to World War III just play into the group's hands...
 aljazeera.com
13/1/16