David Hunt, a retired U.S. army colonel, gave a lecture on the War on Terror on Tuesday night in Kresge Auditorium, prompting protest from a small group of students who chanted, “Bowdoin students are not used to hearing racist rhetoric like this man has just presented. Our problem is not terrorism from Islamic extremists but racism and fear-mongering dividing our country.”

Hunt is a military analyst who regularly appears on Fox News. He lives in Scarborough and often uses the College’s broadcast studio in Coles Tower.

During his lecture, Hunt said that the counter-terrorism strategy used by four presidents over the course of 26 years has not worked and offered a fresh take on the matter.

“We have to go after state sponsorship,” said Hunt, who believes that the United States cannot continue to bomb nations in the Middle East like Syria. He said that the best approach to fighting terrorism is “multi-operational.”

During the question and answer portion of the presentation, Christopher Wedeman ’15 challenged Hunt’s view that Islam is closely tied to terrorism.

“To suggest that the Muslim faith is not a part of the fight on terrorism is ignorance. It is absolutely a part of it,” Hunt said in response.

Wedeman is one of the founding members of Bowdoin’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), a student group that, according to its Facebook page, “promotes the self-determination of Palestinian people and their liberation from Occupation.”

“It’s interesting that Bowdoin gave him a platform to speak like this,” said Wedeman. “In a speech about the War on Terror, not a single word was spoken about the biggest state sponsor of terror in the Middle East. Which would maybe be a tie between Israel and the United States.”

Other audience members questioned Hunt on the definition of terrorism and whether America was a terrorist nation, a point that Hunt emphatically denied.

Hunt shared his thoughts on ISIS during the question and answer portion of the talk. Members of the audience wanted to know what would become of Iraq and the Middle East if the United States left the region and let ISIS take over.

Hunt acknowledged that the Middle East would not be in good shape, but said the U.S. should let Iraq and Syria burn. He expressed a similar sentiment on Fox News in June.

Hunt said he believes that “we have done enough” in the Middle East and does not want any more American soldiers killed in the region.

Vice President for Communications and Public Affairs Scott Hood said that Hunt delivered the presentation free of charge in the hope that students would take more of an interest in politics and government.

Hood said that the College welcomed Hunt as a speaker because his viewpoint is not often heard at Bowdoin, and because foreign policy in the Middle East is so important.

“Terrorism is clearly an important topic, and Colonel Hunt offers a perspective based on a long and distinguished career in the military,” he said. “His point of view is one that we don’t often hear firsthand at Bowdoin.”