British Prime Minister David Cameron and President Barack Obama may use heavy rhetoric in talking about the threat posed by Islamic terrorists, but "forceful statements" won't deter the Islamic State, said Lt. Col. Ralph Peters.
Peters told Fox News' "America's Newsroom" that it's warfare, not words, that brings about change.
"While I'm glad for the forceful statements, forceful statements don't change the world," Peters said Thursday. "Rhetoric is not fundamentally what changes humanity. Throughout history, warfare has been, like it or not — and I don't like it — warfare has been humanity's primary means of forcing massive change."
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Obama has responded to the ISIS threat with targeted airstrikes by the U.S. military in Iraq and humanitarian efforts for Iraqi citizens threatened by terrorist forces. The president is currently at a NATO summit to discuss with other world leaders how to respond to the militants of the group formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
Peters, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, said Obama's desire to assemble a coalition of countries to battle ISIS could be an "excuse not to take action." Building a coalition for the president would be difficult, he maintained, because the leaders of other countries do not trust Obama.
"Obama is not going to be able to build a forceful coalition for the simple reason that nobody trusts him. They can't count on him," Peters said. "He betrayed our east European allies earlier. He let NATO down in Afghanistan. He's let his allies down in Iraq."
As Obama continued to delay developing and announcing a strategy to deal with the threat of ISIS, Peters questioned whether he is capable of making a decision.
"He's terrified of taking action. This man, whom we elected twice, seems incapable of making difficult decisions, as though it's some sort of deep psychological problem," he said.
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