The United States should stop going out of its way to avoid calling the military initiative against the Islamic State (ISIS) a war, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Mark Wallace says.
"We're clearly at war. This is absolutely a war, but we're too defensive on that. Why should we shy away?" Wallace said Monday on "The Steve Malzberg Show" on
Newsmax TV.
"It's a threat to the United States national security, global peace and security, and I don't think we should be defensive about it."
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Wallace said he has spent a lot of time in the Middle East speaking with Arab and Muslim allies of the United States, and their feelings about ISIS are clear.
"They are more indignant than even you and I are about this. They're saying these are groups that are taking our religion and using it against us and they are just as offended as we are," he said.
"I don't think we should be defensive about that at all. We want to be thoughtful, we want to be inclusive, but at the same time, call it what it is."
Wallace, who is now CEO of Tigris Financial, said extremists have a cunning knack for raising money to fund their diabolical attacks.
"What extremists have been able to do better is, they've been able to harvest sophisticated financial techniques both lawful and unlawful, from modern robbery to sophisticated financial dealings," he said.
"[They] have promoted an ideology using mass communication, social media; and there hasn't really been a counterpoint to that.
"As a result of that, the extremism bubble has percolated up and really burst onto the scene of what we've seen with ISIS. But it's something that we all have to push back on. We all have to compete."
Wallace — who is also CEO of the nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran — urged the White House to make its relationship with Iran crystal clear.
"You've heard them talk that they want to be collaborative with Iran and other times they push back aggressively on it and said, 'no, we can't deal with Iran,'" he said.
"The administration should make clear its position and I fully support not engaging in Iran. They have some cleaning up to do there."
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