POST SCRIPTS

"We have been dramatically under-funding an important area of natural American expertise and capability: multimedia communications aimed at foreign audiences," Gaffney said. He added that the goal would be to "de-legitimize Islamist extremism in the eyes of Muslims, and especially its potential supporters. The plan:

1. Know the enemy
2. Really support the troops
3. Provide for US energy security
4. Stop investing in terror
5. Equip the homefront
6. Counter the mega threat: EMP Attack
7. Secure our borders, Secure our country
8. Wage political Warfare
9. Regional Initiatives
10. Wield effective diplomacy

Number four intrigued me:

"On average, America's leading public pension systems - representing firefighters, police officers, military personnel and veterans and other government employees - invest between 15% and 23% of their portfolio in
companies that do business with state-sponsors of terror.

Most public pension systems and university endowments are unable to quantify their resulting exposure to what the Securities and Exchange Commission calls "Global Security Risk."

Few of these funds have taken any steps to inform their beneficiaries about such exposure, let alone taken steps to reduce it by divesting the stocks of companies that partner with America's enemies or through other
means.

The Center for Security Policy's study showed that the American pension funds examined had approximately $188 billion invested in companies that partner with terrorist-sponsoring regimes. Of that amount, roughly $73 billion was actually invested in the countries in question. Since money is fungible, it is reasonable to conclude that at
least some of these staggering amounts are being used to underwrite terror, ballistic missile, weapons of mass destruction or other threatening activities."

Number six caught my eye since I had NO IDEA what an EMP was:

"A massive current of EMP (electro-magnetic pulse) could be unleashed with catastrophic effect on the United States if a nuclear weapon is detonated high above the earth's atmosphere. The energy of this pulse would interact with the Earth's magnetic field, affecting - and possibly destroying - every piece of unshielded electronic gear and power grids in line-of-sight of the detonation, all at the speed of light.

What is more, the higher the altitude of the weapon's detonation, the larger the affected area would be. At a height of 300 miles, the entire continental United States would be exposed to EMP attack, along with parts of Canada and Mexico.

As a result, America could be transformed from a 21st Century superpower into a pre-industrial society almost instantaneously."

This sounds unbelievable. But a blue-ribbon commission created by Congress confirmed this danger in a report submitted in August 2004."

I'll remember this the next time anyone from Congress starts yammering about pulling out of Iraq. No more excuses and denials. They should be well aware by now of the enemy as described in number 1:

"Little lasting progress in the war on terror can be expected if we fail to grasp two important realities:

1. Islamofascism is a totalitarian ideology, not a religion. It is about power, not faith.

2. In virtually all cases, Islamism and its terrorist manifestations have been - and continue to be - state-sponsored. Strategies for defeating Islamofascism must address its wellsprings, not just its symptoms."

It's hard to look at this type of information without feeling a sense of helplessness and doom, but look at it we must. It may be that what we must face is worse than anything the world has ever known. If so it's important that each of us do all we can to maximize our chances. We need the help, the energy, and support of all peace and freedom loving people in the world. Working together we will become a formidable enemy to those who prefer to embrace death and destruction in a quest for domination and control.