US rules out war on Islam

President Barack Obama's new national security strategy would make clear the United States is not at war with Islam, a top US adviser John Brennan said as the administration prepared for a formal break with Bush-era doctrine. The White House plans to roll out Obama's first formal declaration of national security goals, which are expected to deviate sharply from the go-it-alone approach of his predecessor that included justification for pre-emptive war. Previewing parts of the document, John Brennan, Obama's leading counterterrorism adviser, said: We have never been and will never be at war with Islam. The president's strategy is unequivocal with regard to our posture -- the United States of America is at war. We are at war against al Qaeda and its terrorist affiliates, he said in a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. Brennan's words dovetailed with Obama's outreach to the Muslim world, where former President George W. Bush alienated many with the US-led invasion of Iraq and his use of phrases like war on terror and Islamo-fascism. Obama has been widely credited with improving the tone of US foreign policy but is still struggling with unfinished wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, nuclear standoffs with Iran and North Korea, and sluggish Middle East peace efforts.