An expert on Islam said even with a huge military force, America cannot defeat radical Islam if it does not assert its Christian values and will to fight.
In a recent CBN News interview, Harold Rhode said if the West wants to crush radical Islam, its people need to embrace their Christian roots.
"The Christian world is a very powerful world if it chooses to be. It has enormous abilities," said Rhode, a religious Jew who lived and studied in universities in the Islamic world for years and advised the U.S. Defense Department on Islamic affairs for nearly three decades.
He said America's traditional Middle East allies feel betrayed by Washington even as they blame President Barack Obama's weak policies for the current chaos and violence in the region.
Historically, when Muslims see weakness they pounce. America, the leader of the West, is showing weakness, Rhode said.
He pointed out that Muslims and the West view peace differently.
"Peace in the West is let bygones be bygones," Rhode explained. "Let's say you and I had terrible problems in the past. We sit down, you give a little. I give a little. We shake hands. We don't forget what happened, but we work together toward our new goals."
But he said Islam is different.
"Revenge is the basis of everything," he explained. "If you don't avenge something, you lose personal honour. You are shamed. I am in a lower social position because of it. So there's never peace. You do not let bygones be bygones."
Moreover, what the West calls terrorism, Muslims see as classic Islamic warfare.
"Islamic warfare comes basically from the time of the Quran. They were tribes fighting tribes out in the desert...You raid the other side," he said. "You take its property; you take its women, you take its children. Your goal is to make the other side afraid. You raid and withdraw. Now eventually, by making the other side afraid, they withdraw and you take their territory. That's what terrorism is."
Nevertheless, Rhode said America can still win the fight against radical Islam.
"America and Europe have unbelievable reserves of awesome power, but we don't seem to have to stomach now to use it," he said. "Power, without the will to use it, is irrelevant and that's how the West is acting now."
He cited one recent example. When Iran captured American sailors after accusing them of breaching its territorial waters, "America did nothing," he said.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry even thanked the Iranians after releasing the sailors the next day. "This was shameful on the American part," Rhode said.
If the U.S. would stand tough to adversaries like Iran, many Muslims would cheer, he said.
Rhode said Americans need also to return to their roots and truly believe in the power of Jesus.
"I don't believe in Jesus. I'm a Jew, but I want Christians to believe in Jesus. I want them to observe Christian values. With that, our America is safe. Europe is safe. Israel is safe," he said.
"The world will be safe because America will stand up for the values of the founding fathers of the United States," he said.
