Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton appeared on Thursday’s Breitbart News Daily with host Stephen K. Bannon to discuss the Brussels bombings and their aftermath, which includes an evident loss of faith by Europeans in the ability of their governments to protect them from terrorism.
“Brussels really outlines, sadly and very dramatically, some of the problems Europe has, and which are emerging in this country too,” said Bolton. “Number one, the Belgian authorities are obviously completely overwhelmed by the threat of this kind of terrorism. It’s just beyond their capacity. And what that says is, you’re gonna see more of it, because they’re not able or willing to deal with it.”
He argued that the underlying reason for this security deficiency is that “too many people in Europe simply do not see this as a threat,” an attitude that is also very much evident in the current President of the United States.
Bolton dismissed rhetoric about “being at war with ISIS” from leaders such as President Francois Hollande of France, as hollow because they lack the “political will” to be truly at war, and found that will lacking in Barack Obama as well. Instead, Obama is fighting a “quasi-war.”
“For most Americans today, looking at ISIS, the emphasis would be on the word ‘war.’ But for Barack Obama, the emphasis is on the word ‘quasi,’” he said. “And he demonstrated that again, going to a baseball game in Havana while Americans are being wounded and at risk in Brussels.”
“I think he wants to take American on spring break permanently,” he said of Obama’s carefree attitude while the Brussels horror unfolded. “He believes that it’s America’s assertiveness, and American strength in the world, that are a big cause of the problem, and if we just sit back, that actually international peace and security will be enhanced. I think that’s 180 degrees backward, but I think that’s what he believes: that we’re the trouble. So if he’s ‘no drama Obama,’ people will say, ‘Well, I guess we don’t need to engage in terrorism.’ I mean, I think it’s hard to rationalize, but that’s what he thinks.”
Bolton took it as an alarming sign that an EU official would say, even after the Brussels atrocity, that “political Islam” has a “legitimate role in Europe.”
“To me, ‘political Islam’ is the Islamicist radical philosophy that manifests in terrorist acts,” said Bolton. “That’s like saying, very calmly: ‘Well, I think Communism has a legitimate role to play in American political life.’ I just simply don’t agree with that. I think anybody who’s committed to armed struggle, and killing innocent civilians, is outside the sphere of legitimate political discourse.”
However, since European authorities evidently do not believe “political Islam” is beyond the pale, Bolton maintained they were incapable of taking effective law enforcement action against Islamist radicalism. He advised Britons to take this inherent security flaw seriously as they consider exiting from the EU.
“I think it’s clear evidence that European security structures are not up to the job,” he said. “If I were in Britain, for multiple reasons I would be supporting British exit from the European Union.”
Unfortunately, Bolton foresaw the chaos in Europe as “inevitably coming to the United States” — not just because of trained operatives walked through America’s porous borders, but because ISIS would be able to recruit effectively from the existing population, especially Muslim immigrants and their descendants, along with refugees.
“As the British found in the subway bombings of 2004, and as we saw in San Bernardino and elsewhere, the threat can come from people coming into the country, or from people who are already here,” he warned. “And if we don’t get serious about it, it will take crisis, and it will take death and destruction, to wake us up.”
Breitbart News Daily airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 weekdays from 6:00AM to 9:00AM EST.
Listen to the full interview with John Bolton below:
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