America must criminalize associations with terror groups like the Islamic State to combat the kind of mass slaughter that occurred in Paris this week, former Navy SEAL Carl Higbie said Friday on
Newsmax TV.
"What we need to understand is whether we choose to be at war with radical Islam, whatever they want to call it, or terrorism, they are at war with us," Higbie told "The Steve Malzberg Show."
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"They are at war with everybody who is not extreme like them, and the fact of the matter is, at some point, we're going to have to criminalize this.
"I know under our First Amendment, we'll make no law [against] the exercise of religion or anything like that, but we need to understand that at some point we have to criminalize any association to ISIS."
That would include people who support terrorism over the Internet on forums such as Twitter, according to Higbie.
"Start prosecuting people and … push farther forward and say, America, we are an armed citizenry. The Japanese didn't invade us after Pearl Harbor because they were afraid that every American owned a gun," he said.
"So, we need to perceive that same image. I know the president has really dumbed us down to be somewhat spineless, but as an American citizenry, we will defend ourselves."
Higbie — author of
"Battle on the Home Front: A Patriot's Mission to Save the American Dream", published by Amazon Digital Services — said the French let Islamic extremism advance too far — a factor that led to the slaughter of 12 at a satirical magazine in Paris.
"They've allowed this Muslim stronghold to take foot there, and America's not far behind if we don't start looking up," he said.
"I mean, through the PC war, they've managed to push our own laws and customs aside and rule in Sharia elements in certain places in the country."
Higbie said the U.S. must take a much firmer stance on terrorism.
"I would start calling it what it is. This is a radicalized version of Islam, and Islam as a whole," he said.
"How many Muslims are speaking out against this? We need to put pressure on the Muslim community to start pressuring this extreme wing, as they want to call it, because they're not speaking out about it, and if they don't speak out against it, they're part of the problem."