From The Emails 022208
Hey folks,
I love this one. Link on the bottom.
US Military Commanders Bemoan Lack of Concern About Terror Threat
By Julie Stahl
CNSNews.com Jerusalem Bureau Chief
February 20, 2008
Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - While Islamic fundamentalist terrorists are seeking to destroy the Western way of life, Americans are more concerned about the life of movie stars and going out for a hamburger than issues crucial to their freedom, several senior retired American military officers said here.
"We know far more in the United States about what Britney Spears is doing than we know about the issues," said retired U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. Norman Saunders.
Speaking to a small group of reporters on the sidelines of the fifth annual Jerusalem Conference, Saunders said that the U.S. faces a "very serious challenge from the fanatical Muslim population that would seek to do away with the way of life of the Western World as we know it."
"We listen to our presidential candidates - [in] what is probably a very critical election for our country if not the world - talk constantly about change without any definition of what that represents. What would they change? How would they confront the threats? Are there new ideas that they would bring forward?" Saunders asked.
Saunders, a former commanding officer of the U.S. Coast Guard who is responsible for a number of Homeland Defense and Security matters, said that Americans need to understand the issues.
"I'd like them to take their minds off whatever it is that keeps them occupied today and pay attention to what really is going on in the world and understand that and evaluate it for themselves," Saunders said.
Saunders said he did not believe that the media even understood the issues or reports on them.
"I'd like a fairly good assessment of what really the world situation is, what the intention of some of these forces that we see out there are with regard to our population, the size of the threat, some of the options that face us," he said.
But Saunders is not the only senior military official that is concerned that Americans aren't paying attention to things that really matter.
It's not clear if Americans even understand "how serious this adversary is," said retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Harley Davis. "I think our very freedom is at stake and our way of life.
"Too many times we have forgotten or seem to have forgotten about 9/11 and the fact that it did happen," said Davis, who served in a number of command and staff assignments, including the 2nd Armored Division, 1st Cavalry Division, 101st Airborne Division and 5th and 10th Special Forces Groups.
"Because of sacrifices of a lot of people across the U.S. as well as overseas, I think we've staved off any further attacks, but you never know when it's going to come," Davis added.
"We go about being happy, driving our cars. We're going to get hamburgers or whatever it is," Davis said. The threat of terrorism is not in front of Americans all the time as it is in front of Israelis, he said.
The press could help the situation "by reporting the facts without opinions, of the liberal side," Davis said.
"I'm perhaps a little biased in that, but I spent over 33 years in the service of our country, and it just pains me to no end to see our courageous folks giving their lives up to protect our way of life, and some people take for granted what we have," Davis said. "There are some really bad folks that would like to take away our way of life in the U.S. and here [Israel.]
The presidential candidates are not offering any clue as to how they would lead the nation and are instead focusing on superficial issues, said retired U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Bradley M. Lott.
"Those running for president haven't talked very much about leadership. How will they lead the nation? How will they lead the people? How will they convince people of a better way or a right way to go? Instead we talk about things that tend to be too superficial," Lott told journalists.
Lott said he would like to see presidential candidates address issues like how would they lead the nation in a confrontation after another serious act of terrorism. He wondered if "he or she" would be willing to seek out and attack terror bases or be willing to seek out those who traffic drugs and "interrupt their lines of communication" coming into the U.S.
"Do we have the will to do that? Are we looking at a leader that has the will to do that? That's important," Lott said. There are issues worth going to war over, he said, and those include "any threat to our way of life."
Link - CNS NEWS
Out of time, got to go. Have a great Weekend. See you Sunday.
Peter
Hey folks,
I love this one. Link on the bottom.US Military Commanders Bemoan Lack of Concern About Terror Threat
By Julie Stahl
CNSNews.com Jerusalem Bureau Chief
February 20, 2008
Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - While Islamic fundamentalist terrorists are seeking to destroy the Western way of life, Americans are more concerned about the life of movie stars and going out for a hamburger than issues crucial to their freedom, several senior retired American military officers said here.
"We know far more in the United States about what Britney Spears is doing than we know about the issues," said retired U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. Norman Saunders.
Speaking to a small group of reporters on the sidelines of the fifth annual Jerusalem Conference, Saunders said that the U.S. faces a "very serious challenge from the fanatical Muslim population that would seek to do away with the way of life of the Western World as we know it."
"We listen to our presidential candidates - [in] what is probably a very critical election for our country if not the world - talk constantly about change without any definition of what that represents. What would they change? How would they confront the threats? Are there new ideas that they would bring forward?" Saunders asked.
Saunders, a former commanding officer of the U.S. Coast Guard who is responsible for a number of Homeland Defense and Security matters, said that Americans need to understand the issues.
"I'd like them to take their minds off whatever it is that keeps them occupied today and pay attention to what really is going on in the world and understand that and evaluate it for themselves," Saunders said.
Saunders said he did not believe that the media even understood the issues or reports on them.
"I'd like a fairly good assessment of what really the world situation is, what the intention of some of these forces that we see out there are with regard to our population, the size of the threat, some of the options that face us," he said.
But Saunders is not the only senior military official that is concerned that Americans aren't paying attention to things that really matter.
It's not clear if Americans even understand "how serious this adversary is," said retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Harley Davis. "I think our very freedom is at stake and our way of life.
"Too many times we have forgotten or seem to have forgotten about 9/11 and the fact that it did happen," said Davis, who served in a number of command and staff assignments, including the 2nd Armored Division, 1st Cavalry Division, 101st Airborne Division and 5th and 10th Special Forces Groups.
"Because of sacrifices of a lot of people across the U.S. as well as overseas, I think we've staved off any further attacks, but you never know when it's going to come," Davis added.
"We go about being happy, driving our cars. We're going to get hamburgers or whatever it is," Davis said. The threat of terrorism is not in front of Americans all the time as it is in front of Israelis, he said.
The press could help the situation "by reporting the facts without opinions, of the liberal side," Davis said.
"I'm perhaps a little biased in that, but I spent over 33 years in the service of our country, and it just pains me to no end to see our courageous folks giving their lives up to protect our way of life, and some people take for granted what we have," Davis said. "There are some really bad folks that would like to take away our way of life in the U.S. and here [Israel.]
The presidential candidates are not offering any clue as to how they would lead the nation and are instead focusing on superficial issues, said retired U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Bradley M. Lott.
"Those running for president haven't talked very much about leadership. How will they lead the nation? How will they lead the people? How will they convince people of a better way or a right way to go? Instead we talk about things that tend to be too superficial," Lott told journalists.
Lott said he would like to see presidential candidates address issues like how would they lead the nation in a confrontation after another serious act of terrorism. He wondered if "he or she" would be willing to seek out and attack terror bases or be willing to seek out those who traffic drugs and "interrupt their lines of communication" coming into the U.S.
"Do we have the will to do that? Are we looking at a leader that has the will to do that? That's important," Lott said. There are issues worth going to war over, he said, and those include "any threat to our way of life."
Link - CNS NEWS
Out of time, got to go. Have a great Weekend. See you Sunday.
Peter
Note: "From The Emails" is a weekly segment in the Friday edition of the OPNtalk Blog. If you care to send in News Articles, Comments, Stories, or anything else you may wish to share, please feel free to send it to opntalk@netscape.net As always, you never know what you are going to see here.
No comments:
Post a Comment