President Barack Obama's response to the terrorist attacks in Denmark demonstrated a lack of urgency in the struggle against Islamist extremism, which only inspires further aggression against the West, retired Army Lt. Col. Ralph Peters said on
"Fox and Friends Weekend."
Reacting to Obama's decision to go ahead with his Sunday golf game, the Fox News Channel analyst said that Obama liked the perks of being president but shirked away from the hard work. Obama played with friends at the private California course owned by billionaire Larry Ellison, owner of Oracle software, according to press reports.
Describing the president as psychologically "complex," Peters said, "The only religion this president is willing to come out and publicly defend is Islam."
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While Peters said that he was not suggesting that Obama is a Muslim, the president nonetheless "clearly romanticizes Islam and treats it as if Islam is above all criticism."
He said that the
back-to-back terrorist attacks in Denmark, at a free speech event in a cafe and on a Copenhagen synagogue on Sunday, were fundamental assaults on the values of Western civilization, including freedom of expression and religious tolerance.
The analyst said, "We've got this problem where everybody on the left in the United States romanticizes Islam. They're always scolding us, 'Beware of Islamophobia, you can't indulge in Islamophobia,'" Peters said.
"We do not have an Islamophobia problem in the United States, we have an Islamophilia problem — which places Islam above all criticism. And until we hold Islam to the same standards as every other religion, ethically and behaviorally, terrorism wins."
Peters added, "when you indulge in false tolerance you enable the terrorists."
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