Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, once the third-ranking Republican in the country, spoke Wednesday about Islamic fascism in the 21st century.

The College Republicans invited the former Pennsylvania senator to speak as part of his tour of colleges across the country, and the speech drew a crowd of about 100 people to the Student Learning Center.

Santorum lost his 2006 reelection bid to the U.S. Senate after being elected to the position twice. While in office, he created a national controversy in 2003 with comments about homosexuality during an interview with the Associated Press.

Wednesday, he explained his views on Islamic extremism.

“This is America’s hour. No one else will help us,” he said, drawing parallels between the present war and World War II. “Those who live history rarely recognize the historical moment they’re in.”

Santorum called on the United States to recognize differences between Western civilization and radical Islam. He blamed liberals for downplaying the threat of jihadism, but said conservative leaders – including President George W. Bush – are to blame for not educating the public about the nature of the threat.

“We have to be able to have the courage to define the enemy … and we can’t be politically correct,” Santorum said, noting he views the enemy as a sect of radical Islam, rather than all Muslims.

The key to winning the war, he said, is to engage mainstream Muslims in solving the problem. The United States also should condemn countries, such as Saudi Arabia, that claim to be allies of the United States but undermine its objectives in the Islamic world, he said.

“A non-muslim cannot solve the problem within Islam,” said Santorum, “We have no idea of the complexity of what we’re dealing with.”