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Obama security agenda urges ‘strategic patience,’ drawing criticism amid ISIS threat

President Obama unveiled a national security strategy on Friday that called for "strategic patience" and warned against American "overreach" -- an approach that drew criticism as some lawmakers say the rising threat from the Islamic State demands a more urgent response. 
The 29-page document is meant to serve as a blueprint for Obama's final two years in office. The strategy cast the U.S. as an indispensable force in combating global challenges -- including terrorism, climate change and cyber threats. 
"American leadership remains essential," National Security Adviser Susan Rice said at a Brookings Institution event where she detailed the plan. 
Yet the long-awaited security agenda included no major course changes in the military campaign against Islamic State militants or in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The document acknowledged serious threats abroad - and reiterated that, for the Islamic State, the goal is to "ultimately defeat" the terror group - but was imbued with a sense of restraint.   
"America leads from a position of strength. But, this does not mean we can or should attempt to dictate the trajectory of all unfolding events around the world," the document said. "As powerful as we are and will remain, our resources and influence are not infinite. And in a complex world, many of the security problems we face do not lend themselves to quick and easy fixes." 
The strategy said the U.S. has to make "hard choices" and "resist the over-reach that comes when we make decisions based upon fear." 
"The challenges we face require strategic patience and persistence," the document said. 
That line drew a rebuke from Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who suggested the approach will only embolden America's rivals. 
"I doubt ISIL, the Iranian mullahs, or Vladmir Putin will be intimidated by President Obama's strategy of 'strategic patience.' From their point of view, the more 'patience' President Obama practices the stronger they become," he said in a statement. "The Obama Doctrine, or 'strategic patience,' has led to a world in chaos.  ... Applying more 'patience' to President Obama's failed foreign policy just prolongs failure." 
The National Security Strategy was released a day after Obama made controversial remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast appearing to draw comparisons between Islamic State atrocities and bloody acts committed by Christians - hundreds of years ago. 
"Lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ," Obama said. "In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ. ...So this is not unique to one group or one religion." 
The administration faced a storm of criticism for the comments. Louisiana Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal on Friday ripped the president's "history lesson," saying the issue today "is the terrorism of radical Islam, the assassination of journalists, the beheading and burning alive of captives." 
Jindal said: "We will be happy to keep an eye out for runaway Christians, but it would be nice if he would face the reality of the situation today. The Medieval Christian threat is under control Mr. President. Please deal with the Radical Islamic threat today." 
White House spokesman Eric Schultz defended the comments on Friday, saying the president believes in American exceptionalism but also believes "we need to be honest with ourselves" when America falls short on holding to its values. 
Some are concerned Obama's rhetoric does not match the urgency of the challenge at hand, as the Islamic State holds a wide swath of territory across Iraq and Syria while seeking to attract followers from around the world. Its brutal execution by fire of a captured Jordanian pilot rallied the Jordan government this week to launch a new wave of airstrikes against the terror group. 
In the National Security Strategy, the administration said the U.S. would continue to support Iraq's government against ISIS, while working to train and equip a "moderate Syrian opposition" to battle terrorists in their country. 
The document acknowledged that the terror threat "persists" and has spread to a range of countries and continents. At the same time, it claimed "the threat of catastrophic attacks against our homeland by terrorists has diminished." 
To that end, Rice said Friday that the danger does not rise to the level of past challenges America has faced. 
"While the dangers we face may be more numerous and varied, they are not of the existential nature we confronted during World War II or during the Cold War. We cannot afford to be buffeted by alarmism and a nearly instantaneous news cycle," Rice said. 
She spoke to how the terror threat has spread into a network of Al Qaeda affiliates, local militias and groups like ISIS. "This diffusion may for now reduce the risk of a spectacular attack like 9/11 but it raises the probability of the types of attacks that we have seen in Boston, and Ottawa, Sydney, and Paris," she said. 
The president is required by law to send Congress a national security strategy annually. However, most presidents, including Obama, have done so only sporadically. Obama's only previous memo to lawmakers came in 2010 and formalized his desire to broaden U.S. national security posture beyond anti-terror campaigns. 
Obama's critics have accused the president of putting his desire to keep the U.S. out of overseas conflicts ahead of the need for more robust action against the world's bad actors. Some members of Congress have called for Obama to send more American ground troops to the Middle East to combat the Islamic State group, while also pushing for the White House to authorize shipments of defensive weapons to Ukraine to help its beleaguered military in the fight against Russian-backed separatists. 
Administration officials have said that Obama is reconsidering his opposition to giving Ukraine lethal aid, though he continues to have concerns about the effectiveness of that step. 
For much of his presidency, Obama has sought to recalibrate the focus of U.S. foreign policy away from the Middle East and toward fast-growing regions like Asia and Africa. He's made numerous trips to Asia, in particular, and Rice announced Friday that Obama would be hosting state visits this year for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping. 
In one area where Obama has overlap with Republicans, he reaffirmed his support for free trade agreements with Asia, as well as Europe. 
The president also addressed the risks of climate change and infectious diseases like the recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

Samantha Jones: Why I defended 'Pledge of Allegiance'

When I heard about a group of atheists suing to silence every New Jersey school kid who wished to say the Pledge of Allegiance in its entirety, including the words “under God,” I knew I had to do something.
That’s why my family and I decided to defend the Pledge in court. We believe in doing so we are not only standing for the Pledge but also protecting our freedoms as Americans, and our ability to celebrate those freedoms everywhere including in school. And the judge just agreed with us. He dismissed the American Humanist Association’s lawsuit because our legal system doesn’t force kids into silence just because some others take offense at timeless American values.
Judging by what is being said by the atheists who are suing, you probably imagine that students in New Jersey are obligated to say the Pledge, even if they don’t want to. But that’s not true. In New Jersey, as in every other state, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance is entirely optional. No one has to participate. In fact, if a student declines to participate, he or she is even allowed to remain seated—students don’t have to stand up, salute the flag, or say anything.
I defend the right of kids to sit out the Pledge. In fact, I am proud to live in a country that is so respectful of everyone’s beliefs. We are a diverse country and we celebrate that diversity in many ways.

The same laws that protect the atheists’ world view, protect mine. I will not let them silence me.

However, the same laws that protect the atheists’ world view, protect mine. I will not let them silence me. I’ve been reciting the Pledge since preschool, and to me, the phrase “one nation under God” sums up the history and values that have made our country great. “Under God” acknowledges that our rights don’t come from the government but from a higher power. The government cannot be allowed to take away the basic human rights it did not create.
In history class I have learned that oppressive governments like Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union said that people only have rights given by the state. Under those regimes, every person lived at the mercy of the state. The state could even declare some people “unpersons” without any rights at all. But the United States has always been very different.
American history is filled with references to “God.” When Martin Luther King Jr. called on Americans to heal the pains of segregation, he did so by emphasizing that all men are “created equal:”
“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”
Created equal—everyone has equal rights because those rights come from a power above and beyond the state. The state cannot segregate people
God created equal.
If the American Humanist Association wants to eliminate every mention of “God,” teachers would have to remain silent about the values held by the American Revolutionaries, the Constitution, and leaders in the civil rights movement. And why would they advocate that kind of censorship anyway? I think it’s empowering to know that, no matter what happens, I have some rights the government can never take away.
By suing to censor ideas they don’t like in the classroom, the American Humanist Association moved from dissent to hostile bullying. It is an honor to have the opportunity to stand up to those bullies, and I’m delighted that a court has stood up for what’s right. I will continue to work with our attorneys at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty to make sure school children across New Jersey are free to say the Pledge of Allegiance in full.
Samantha Jones is a high school senior at Highland Regional High School.

Benghazi panel plans to interview key figures in Obama, Clinton inner circles

The special congressional committee investigating the response to the 2012 Benghazi terror attacks plans to interview a host of current and former officials from President Obama's and Hillary Clinton's inner circles, according to a letter obtained Friday by Fox News. 
Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., chairman of the committee, made the names public in a letter to Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., top Democrat on the Benghazi panel. 
He said that as early as April, he plans to start interviewing a range of figures including former White House Press Secretary Jay Carney and current Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey. 
The list also includes: National Security Adviser Susan Rice; Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes; former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta; former CIA Director David Petraeus; former National Security Adviser Tom Donilon; former CIA Deputy Director Mike Morell; and key State Department officials. 
"I am announcing an ambitious timeline for interviews consistent with my plan to speed-up the pace of the investigation" Gowdy said in a statement. "I intend to stay with this schedule and will issue subpoenas if necessary." 
The interviews show the committee ramping up its investigation, which so far has focused on speaking with lower-profile individuals. Between February and April, the committee plans to interview Americans who survived the 2012 attacks, including State Department and CIA personnel. 
Gowdy said in his letter the witnesses can "provide indispensable firsthand accounts of what happened before, during, and after the attacks." After that, the committee will interview the higher-level administration officials. 
Gowdy said he and the Democratic side still want to bring in former Secretary of State Clinton to answer questions as well. 
Four Americans, including ambassador Christopher Stevens, were killed in the 2012 attacks. The Obama administration has faced criticism for the security posture at the main compound in Benghazi, as well as for the response the night of the attack and the initial efforts to describe the attack as an out-of-control protest.

CIA probes ISIS claim Jordanian airstrikes killed US aid worker

U.S. intelligence officials are investigating a claim by ISIS that its sole known remaining American hostage, an aid worker held for nearly a year and a half, has been killed, and the terrorist group's claim that her death came in a Jordanian airstrike, sources told Fox News.
Kayla Mueller, 26, whose identity had previously not been revealed at the request of the U.S. government and her family as the Pentagon worked to secure her, is believed to be the last American hostage the terrorist army is holding, since the beheading of Peter Kassig, a 26-year-old American aid worker, killed in November. In its statement, ISIS also claimed Mueller was the only person killed in the airstrike, claiming none of its fighters injured or killed.
“We are obviously deeply concerned by these reports," said National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan. "We have not at this time seen any evidence that corroborates ISIL’s claim.”
Late Friday night, the Mueller family released a statement saying "we are still hopeful that Kayla is alive." Addressing those who held Kayla, her family said,"We have sent you a private message and ask that you respond to us privately. We know that you have read our previous communications."

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Kayla Mueller went to Syria to help children and refugees displaced by the ongoing civil war. (Courtesy: Mueller family)

Images of children suffering in the early stages of Syria's ongoing civil war prompted Mueller, 26, to leave her home in Prescott, Ariz., in December, 2012,  to work with the Danish Refugee Council and the humanitarian organization Support to Life to help refugees. According to a family spokesperson, Kayla found the work heartbreaking but compelling.
"For as long as I live, I will not let this suffering be normal, something we just accept," Mueller told her hometown newspaper, The Daily Courier, in a 2013 interview during a trip home to her family. "It's important to stop and realize what we have, why we have it and how privileged we are. And from that place, start caring and get a lot done."
She was captured on Aug. 4, 2013, in Aleppo, Syria, while leaving a Spanish hospital staffed by the international humanitarian group Doctors without Borders. 
Unlike other Islamic State captives killed by the group after their ransom demands were spurned, Mueller has not been featured on any hostage videos in which the terror army's prisoners, under obvious duress, denounce the West and plead for their lives. In some cases, intelligence officials have determined the hostages were killed long before the Islamic State militants claimed, raising the possibility that Mueller was already dead.

"For as long as I live, I will not let this suffering be normal, something we just accept."- Kayla Mueller, 2013 interview

Just last Sunday, President Obama said the U.S. is doing everything it can to free Mueller.
"Obviously this is something that is heartbreaking for the family and we want to make sure we do anything we can to make sure that any American citizen is rescued from this situation," Obama told NBC in an interview that aired prior to the Super Bowl.

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In this May 30, 2013, photo, Kayla Mueller is shown after speaking to a group in Prescott, Ariz. (AP/The Daily Courier)

Jordan, which had previously taken part in U.S.-led airstrikes against Islamic State, stepped up its efforts on Wednesday, a day after the Islamic State released a horrifying video of a Jordanian air force pilot being burned to death in a cage. The Arab nation promptly hanged two terror suspects ISIS had sought to free and then, as King Abdullah II vowed to crush the terrorist army that has seized a bloody realm spanning parts of Syria and Iraq, mounted what it called devastating strikes against ISIS targets in Syria Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. It was in one of those strikes that Islamic State claims the woman was killed.
A Jordanian government spokesperson told Fox‎ News it is impossible to verify Mueller's death, but said officials are highly suspicious. The spokesman said he doesn't know what the hostage would have been doing in the location where the airstrike occurred.

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Kayla Mueller, left, is pictured here in an undated photo.

Islamic State militants had demanded a $6 million ransom and the release of terrorist prisoners in exchange for Mueller. Among the prisoners Islamic State sought to trade for the woman was Aafia Siddiqui, a neuroscientist trained at MIT who was convicted of attempting to murder U.S. officials and planning to make dirty bombs for use in terror attacks in 2010.
According to Mueller's family, she graduated from Northern Arizona University in 2009, and planned to devote herself to humanitarian causes. From her college graduation through 2011, she lived and worked with humanitarian aid groups in northern India, Israel and Palestine. She returned home to Arizona in 2011, and worked for one year at an HIV/AIDS clinic while volunteering at a women’s shelter at night.
While her identity had not been reported in the media, friends, loved ones and officials in her home state have been comforting her family in recent months.
“While I have no new information today on Kayla’s current situation, I do know from speaking regularly with her family that she is extremely devoted to the people of Syria, and to doing all she can to alleviate the terrible suffering which has left more than 200,000 people dead and driven millions from homes into refugee status," said Den. John McCain, R-Ariz. "I also know that Kayla is extremely well-loved and dearly missed by her family and friends in Arizona."
If Mueller was indeed killed while held by ISIS, she would be the latest in a growing list of captives held until their deaths by the Islamist terror organization.
In August, an ISIS militant believed to be British and dubbed "Jihadi John" by the UK press, beheaded American freelance journalist James Foley in a video released online. That was followed by the similar, gruesome Sept. 2 murder of Steven Sotloff, another U.S. journalist who had written for Time magazine and other publications. Kassig was the last American known to have been killed by the barbaric group.

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Kayla Mueller (AP/The Daily Courier)

But Islamic State also beheaded two UK aid workers, David Haines, who was killed in September, and Alan Henning, who went to help refugees from Syria's bloody civil war, in October. Late last month, it released videos showing it had slaughtered two Japanese citizens, Haruna Yukawa, a self-employed security contractor, and Kenji Goto, a journalist.