Posted by
peripheral on Tuesday, March 31, 2009 7:18:47 AM
From My Perspective - - -
Question: Does the UNFAMILIAR equal the IMPROBABLE? FOX NEWS has
developed a new interactive Website – www.foxnation.com – where the
public can respond to different topics and news events. On that Webpage
today, Newt Gingrich, former House Speaker and now a FOX News
Contributor, has written: America at Risk: Two Novels President Obama Should Read.
He writes, “Alex Berenson and William R. Forstchen have written two
bold new novels which warn us that America is threatened by new weapons
and new threats which seem unthinkable to our national leadership.
Berenson’s THE SILENT MAN and Forstchen’s ONE SECOND AFTER
describe truly catastrophic threats to America. These are not threats
of suicide bombers, snipers, or even airplanes hitting buildings and
killing thousands. We have two new novels which warn us of the
catastrophic dangers which face America…Before you dismiss such writing
as overblown or exaggerated, remember all the people who wondered after
9/11 why no one had thought of it — or even those who wondered after
Pearl Harbor why we were taken by surprise. These are threats that
could destroy American freedom as we have known it and possibly even
destroy America as an organized productive civilization. Berenson
writes about an Islamist suicide bombing group trying to use a nuclear
weapon to destroy the Capitol during a State of the Union speech.
Forstchen writes about an Electromagnetic Pulse attack which could come
today from North Korea, Pakistan, Iran, Russia or China.” The questions
are (a) What would an enemy use? And (b) How would they be able to make
it happen?
“Berenson demonstrates convincingly that a crude Hiroshima-level atomic
bomb is potentially attainable by terrorists for detonation within the
United States. This would create an impossible security problem for a
State of the Union scenario. Recent urban nuclear attack simulations
run by William Bell and Cham Dallas and published in the International
Journal of Health Geographics show thermal and fallout impacts from
surface detonations of “primitive” 20 kiloton atomic bombs with
horrific fatality plumes and mass casualties for urban cities.
Forstchen accurately captures the horrendous implications of an
electromagnetic pulse attack. EMP can be the product of a relatively
low yield nuclear weapon if it is designed correctly. EMP effects have
been known for at least 50 years. High altitude tests in the Johnston
Atoll in 1962 resulted in electrical disruptions and equipment failures
in Honolulu nearly a thousand miles away. A serious EMP attack would
wipe out most-if-not-all electricity generation-&-transmission
capabilities within its effective range (which could extend across the
North American continent) and could incapacitate all electricity
using-equipments including automobiles, radios and TVs, refrigerators,
etc…most all American equipment is…very vulnerable…As Nobelist Tom
Schelling memorably remarked long ago: There
is a tendency in our planning to confuse the unfamiliar with the
improbable. The contingency we have not considered looks strange; what
looks strange is thought improbable; what is improbable need not be
taken seriously.”
Consider these things with me - - - In Matthew 24:37-44, Jesus Christ
says: “For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son
of Man…” In that day, something “unfamiliar” was about to occur –
prolonged and heavy rainfall, and unprecedented flooding. Since it was
“unfamiliar”, it became easy for the people of that day to consider it
as “improbable”! This allowed them to scoff, ridicule, demean and
disbelieve the unfamiliar. However, they did so to their peril. Jesus
uses that event to make the following application: “For as in those
days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and
giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they
were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be
the coming of the Son of Man…” The people in Noah’s day experienced
both the unfamiliar and the improbable in a drastic way. Jesus goes on
to say: “Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your
Lord is coming…you must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an
hour you do not expect…” Do you want to be among those who choose to
ignore the warnings and indications of real and present dangers? Will
you risk the looming peril by relegating it to the unfamiliar and the
improbable? When ways and means of escape are available, is it wise to
ignore, disregard and refuse to accept them? Don’t wait until it is too
late!