The head of an activist law firm that works with threatened Christians overseas said Tuesday the latest death of an American hostage held by ISIS exposes President Obama's failed foreign policy.
"His pledge to 'bring to justice' the terrorists who are responsible for Kayla's captivity and death is misplaced and misguided," said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice.
His organization has figured prominently in efforts to free American Christian pastor Saeed Abedini, who is imprisoned in Iran for his ministry to children.
ACLJ said the death of Kayla Mueller, which was confirmed Tuesday, underscores the need for Obama to adopt a strategy to pursue and destroy Islamists.
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"President Obama's response is woefully inadequate," said Sekulow.
"President Obama needs to understand that battling ISIS is not confined to a courtroom, but instead requires a well-coordinated and aggressive strategy to pursue and destroy the radical jihadists," he said. "Mr. President, stop telling America we will bring these terrorists to justice. Mr. President, it's time to confront and destroy the enemy, not take them to court."
Sekulow said the "one thing we have learned about ISIS: their barbaric acts of terrorism only embolden them further and serve to inspire and recruit more radical Islamists to join their global war."
Mueller's death drew shock from many.
"Her heartfelt drive was in direct contrast with the monstrous lack of humanity displayed by terrorists," said an editorial in the Daily Courier, her hometown paper in Prescott, Arizona.
Mueller's family issued a statement.
"Kayla was a compassionate and devoted humanitarian," the family said. "She dedicated the whole of her young life to helping those in need of freedom, justice, and peace."
Obama expressed his condolences in a statement.
"No matter how long it takes, the United States will find and bring to justice the terrorists who are responsible for Kayla's captivity and death," he said. "On this day, we take comfort in the fact that the future belongs not to those who destroy, but rather to the irrepressible force of human goodness that Kayla Mueller shall forever represent."
Mueller was an aid worker who previously volunteered with organizations in India, Israel and the Palestinian territories. She had been working in Turkey assisting refugees and traveled to Syria to assist people affected by the war.
"Syrians are dying by the thousands, and they're fighting just to talk about the rights we have," she told the Daily Courier in a 2013 interview. "For as long as I live, I will not let this suffering be normal."
She was instrumental in reuniting several refugee families torn apart by bombings.
"When Syrians hear I'm an American," she said in the interview, "they ask, 'Where is the world?' All I can do is cry with them, because I don't know."
Mueller was taken hostage on Aug. 4, 2013, just before her 25th birthday, by ISIS while leaving a Spanish Doctors Without Borders hospital in Aleppo, Syria.
In a handwritten letter to her family in the spring of 2014, she said her family should not be responsible for negotiating her release, saying it "should never have become your burden."
Her parents and a few closer friends kept Mueller's situation a closely guarded secret to ensure her safety.
But on Friday, ISIS claimed Mueller had been killed in a Jordanian airstrike on Raqqa, the jihadist army's de facto capital in Syria.
At the time, ISIS offered no proof to back up its claim, other than an image of a building in rubble.
However, National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said over the weekend that ISIS sent the family a private message containing additional information.
"Once this information was authenticated by the intelligence community, they concluded that Kayla was deceased," Meehan said.