The world must brace for more bloodshed by maniacal copycats inspired by Tuesday's massacre in which Hamas killers slaughtered five rabbis at a Jerusalem synagogue, retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Ralph Peters says.
And Peters adds the only way to combat such ruthless terrorists is to hunt down and kill every last one of them.
"You’re going to see copycats around much of the world … all these lone wolves and small, self-starter groups are inspired by the violence they see online," Peters said Tuesday on "The Steve Malzberg Show" on
Newsmax TV.
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"The one thing we, in the U.S. and in Israel, have to face up to is that our enemies have mastered the use of our technologies. Just look at what Islamic State offers and the other terrorist organizations offer.
"These young, disaffected, aimless men who have no prospects. They say look, join us. You’ll be a brother, you’ll belong, you’ll get respect. You’ll be able to take revenge on the people that have been dissing you. You’ll be able to kill."
To those pulled into the terrorists' hard sell, Peters said, the appeal is greater than a video game, according to Peters.
"You can chop heads off. You can rape women as long as they’re Christian or Jewish or heretics or Shia. You can do all this stuff and oh, by the way, if you can kill, you go to paradise and get 72 virgins," Peters said.
That contrasts greatly with the legalistic, non-confrontational approach of the United States, he said.
"What’s our message offering these people in return when you get down to the nitty gritty? We’re telling them, well, you should obey the law and if you do, maybe you can get a job at Walmart," Peters said.
"If you were a young thug in Anbar Province or Albuquerque New Mexico, which sounds like the better deal?"
"[We have to] get the lawyers out of it, get the bureaucracy out of it. It has to be much more aggressive … They will do anything to win. They will rape, torture, behead. What do we do? We ask the lawyers what we have permission to do. What can we do that won’t get us in trouble?"
As far as the future terror-fighting strategy of the United States?
"This is a zero sum game and as I said before, the only way you deal with Islamic State, and the same goes for Hamas, is you kill them," Peters said.
"And you keep on killing them, and when you kill the last one you kill his pet goat and if you’re in special ops you cook it and eat it."