The Dangers We Face

By Arnold Keiser, President, OIC

I met someone not long ago who works at the National Security Council at the White House. He works with people who are working very hard on countering the efforts of terrorist groups who are seeking Weapons of Mass Destruction. Can you imagine what will happen if they get them? They do have the money to get these types of weapons. For all we know, they may have them now.

If they execute another 9-11 attack or something similar using such weapons, US retaliation won’t be just another armed invasion like Afghanistan. It could be something with globally catastrophic consequences, nuclear or otherwise. I don’t want to think about what that will lead to.

We should remember that tactics of ISIL and Al Qaeda include suicide. 9-11 was not executed by idiots. It was meticulously planned, executed with precision and was 90% successful.

Consider also the fact that less than 5% of cargo entering our ports are inspected. A ship even 25 to 50 miles out to sea could detonate a nuclear weapon that could destroy New York if planned properly. We have over 5,000 miles of coast lines largely unprotected.

Our many security and intelligence services are insufficiently coordinated. Thus, we almost had detonations in Times Square, over Detroit and in cargo arriving at airports. I am not saying they haven’t interdicted important terrorist plots. They tell us they have. I am saying that given our massive vulnerabilities what they are doing is just not enough.

Our many rail systems in cities and between cities are mostly unprotected too. We remain grossly unprotected, while Al Qaeda and friends grow in numbers. There are now terrorist groups in 60 countries.

While all this is going on, millions of Americans are mainly focusing on the job market, their kid’s education, their next vacation, their jobs, their businesses, where they are going for dinner and the courses they take.

While the media, political watchers and politicians are so obsessed with the elections, few seem to get the fact that no matter who was or will be President the dangers we face have continued to expand. And, the expansion has accelerated over time with terrorism and now 9 nuclear armed states. Some led by very dysfunctional and erratic government leaders.

Beyond our security threats millions are suffering because of human rights abuse, starvation, being displaced, 26 regional wars, the Arab Spring, etc.

The bottom line….Most people I know including those who claim to be very conscious or enlightened do not get that we and most of humanity are all standing on the edge of a cliff with the ground crumbling under us while we are talking about Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, the Tea Party, the Bahamas, Hybrid cars, the price of gas, etc ad nauseum.

It is this kind of denial and a mass lack of security attention by the public in general that got us 9-11, Pearl Harbor, the London and Madrid subway bombings, the massacre in Mumbai, etc.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, most Americans were highly mobilized, They joined the military in large numbers, they went to work in military industries building ships, planes and other needed equipment. They worked in local city and neighborhood watch groups and did many other things.   

I have 3 awesome adult kids and 3 super grandkids too. Their lives and future are not just in the hands of government officials, they are in my hands and your hands.  

It is certainly high time that we all face reality, stop complaining about the world and our petty problems and start taking action. We are living on borrowed time watching our global security go down the drain and too many are suffering needlessly while others plan their vacations and spend their time on things that do not really matter.