The terrorist group ISIS — the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria — which continues to gain territory through brutal attacks, resembles a "death cult" unlike anything the world has seen in modern times, said retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Ralph Peters.
"This is something that goes beyond radical Islam. We are dealing with a death cult," Peters told Fox News' "America's Newsroom." "This is the most destructive force I've seen in my lifetime."
Peters said human blood became like an addiction as ISIS militants got "attenuated to these massacres, crucifixions, beheadings."
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He said the United States is crippled in its response to the threat of such militants because the administration of President Barack Obama and its "elite East Coast, West Coast supporters don't understand the fundamental brutality in so much of the world."
Obama launched limited and targeted airstrikes against ISIS beginning Aug. 8 as part of a humanitarian effort directed to aid Yazidi refugees in Iraq threatened by the militant group.
Peters said if the U.S. military was used, it should be for more than a "dribs and drabs" response to the threat ISIS poses.
"If we must send the military into harm's way, the only correct way to use it is like a sledgehammer coming down on a carton of eggs," Peters said Wednesday. "The Islamic State's not going to collapse from within. We have got to respond now, or the cancer spreads."
Peters said it is time to "stop playing politics," and called upon lawmakers to push for a more definitive strategy to combat the threat ISIS poses to the world.
"The Democrats and Republicans need to unite against a direct threat, not just in the Middle East, but to the United States of America, our values, and our citizens.
"Islamic State [ISIS] is the most brutal organization in my lifetime, in your lifetime, and even in the lifetime of World War II vets. There is nothing like this before," Peters said.
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