A political independent, Peters criticized the last two U.S. administrations.
“Obama prefers to focus on domestic politics. He doesn’t know these [foreign policy] things, and those around him don’t,” he said.
The George W. Bush administration, Peters said, was “also awfully naïve about the Middle East situation.”
Washington must understand the power of religion, he said.
“Think of the empires that have risen and fallen, the people who have disappeared from the face of the world but the religions are still there,” Peters said. “The problem in Washington is willful ignorance.”
While hard-core al Qaeda types view death “as a promotion,” Washington officials dismiss their talk as merely a power trip, Peters said.
“But religion has power,” he said. “[Osama] bin Laden was well educated. The greatest al Qaeda affiliates are brainy. Yet people from Harvard don’t blow themselves up for God’s will.”
Karen Epstein, director of events for CAMERA, said Peters in his talk “brought a rich historical overview and fresh insight into the daunting challenges facing the West and Israel.
“There are few analysts anywhere who can pull back and see the global tides the way he can, from the legacy of fallen empires and arbitrary colonial borders to the collapse of Arab regimes today,” she said.
(JNS)