Fighting Terrorism

Fighting Fire With Fire

As we are all aware, in September 2001, over 3,000 Americans were killed in the World Trade Center and Pentagon terrorist attacks. These attacks were organized and carried out by Osama Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda organization.

The Muslim suicide bombers who commandeered the airplanes honestly believed that after they died 72 virgins in Heaven would greet them. The American government needs to acquire a much more in-depth understanding of the Islamic faith and specifically the beliefs of the Muslim fanatics. We need to learn about their religious fanaticism and use it against them. Then and only then can we defeat these people in their quest to murder innocent peoples of the world. As an example, Islam teaches that if you are buried facedown with any pig product you are marked as unclean and you will not see Allah in the next life.

Many historians have disputed the following story, but the logic of this approach is undeniable. According to the American Sand Association:

“Once in U.S. history an episode of Islamic terrorism was very quickly stopped. It happened in the Philippines in about 1911, when Gen. John J. Pershing was in command of the garrison. There had been numerous Islamic terrorist attacks, so “Black Jack” told his boys to catch the perpetrators and teach them a lesson.

Forced to dig their own graves, the terrorists were all tied to posts, execution style. The U.S. soldiers then brought in pigs and slaughtered them, rubbing their bullets in the blood and fat. Thus, the terrorists were terrorized; they saw that they would be contaminated with hogs’ blood. This would mean that they could not enter Heaven, even if they died as terrorist martyrs.

All but one was shot, their bodies dumped into the grave, and the hog guts dumped atop the bodies. The lone survivor was allowed to escape back to the terrorist camp and tell his brethren what happened to the others. This brought a stop to terrorism in the Philippines for the next 50 years.”

The fanatics welcome the chance to die for Allah, if for no other reason, the thought of having their way with 72 virgins, as inconceivable as that belief may seem to Americans who have been raised according to the Christian-Judeo philosophy. As with Pershing, we must demonstrate to these fanatics that they won’t get to Muslim heaven, but instead will die an unclean death.

Now there may be quite a few fools who argue that use of that technique is not “politically correct,” that it’s stooping to the level of the lowest, and that there must be a better way. The ancient proverb says it best, “Fight fire with fire!” I could care less if it offends anyone’s sensibilities in this one instance if it saves future American lives.

As I was writing this book, the United States has conquered the nations of Afghanistan and Iraq, ridding the world of a despotic regime and a tyrannical ruler, respectively. However, imposing democratic ideals on these peoples has proven to be a overwhelming task, as these countries are comprised of many disparate peoples and Islamic religious sects. Why should we be surprised? To-date, not one Arab country has attempted the slightest move towards democracy. They believe they have their form of government – the Koran. I ask a simple question – “to simplify the process, why not break these countries up into separate nations loosely united along the lines of the ethnicity or religious sect?” Afghanistan can conveniently be divided by Muslim sect or by warlord, while Iraq can be divided into Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites. Perhaps then if the various Muslim sects can’t get along, let them fight amongst themselves, but maybe with the infighting they’ll lose interest in us.

Get Out of the Mid East

One of the best ways we can stop the process of giving birth to Muslim terrorists is to stop interfering in the affairs of other sovereign nations by walking away from the terrorist’s strongholds, the Arab countries. Stop the war in Iraq, stop supporting the tyrannical regime in Saudi Arabia, leave Iran alone, and let the Jews fight their own war in the Mid East – besides the Jews are a lot better at fighting the violence than we will ever be. Yes, I am advocating withdrawal from the Mid East to a safer distance. Put a plan in place to extricate us from that region within a maximum of 10 years. Remember Winston Churchill’s famous quote regarding the post-World War II Soviet Union occupation of Eastern Europe, “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent.” Instead of an iron curtain, perhaps we could construct a non-penetrable space-age curtain using lasers to keep out the fanatical followers of Mohammed. I say it again, “We are not the world’s policemen!”

Ignore the Iraqis, the Saudis, the Iranians, and all of the other countries that practice their austere form of Islam, Wahhabism. Iraq has become the magnet to attract fundamental Islamic fighters from around the globe. The sooner we extricate ourselves from that region the better off and safer Americans will become. Hopefully, the terrorists will find a new target to replace the Great Satan. The Saudi Royal family seems to fit that bill very nicely. We should not care if the entire Mid East comes under the domination of Islamic fundamentalists, provided, that is, that they choose not to interfere with our way of life. If they continue to support terrorism, we have our very expensive weapons systems whereby we can bomb them back into the Stone Age without one soldier setting foot on their soil.

Concurrently with our withdrawal, we must eliminate or reduce our reliance on oil from these Arab countries, by increasing our oil purchases from Russia, Nigeria and other countries. Over the next 20 years, slowly reduce our purchases from the Arabs. To reduce our reliance, this also depends to a great extent on selfish Americans pulling in their horns. It isn’t simply a question of paying $2 or $3 or $4 for a gallon of gas. It’s an issue of our survival. Take fewer trips to the store. Take long walks with your partner. Maybe we’ll lose a few pounds around the middle, too. Let the kids walk to school more often. Dump the SUVs and buy a Volkswagen Beetle. Or better yet, buy one of the hybrid cars (electric and gasoline) THAT ARE AVAILABLE TODAY. We need to take a hard look at ourselves and overcome the label of gluttons that portray us to the world.

Simultaneously with our decrease in oil consumption, commercial ventures must put vast sums of money into alternative fuel sources such as natural gas, hydroelectric, solar and wind power, combined with massive tax breaks for these companies.

Other techniques we can strive for to reduce our dependency on oil will also greatly improve our relationship with nature.

Open Up Known Sources of Oil: Open up the known sources of oil such as in Alaska to reduce our dependence on the Oil Producing Exporting Countries (OPEC). Environmentalists have too much power in determining where and how we can find the sources of fossil fuels to run the country until alternate sources can mature. There’s no reason why a “reasonable” balance cannot be found to protect wildlife and also get the fuels we need. Note the use of the word “reasonable” – a word that does not exist in the vocabulary of many extreme environmentalists. The impact on Mother Nature in Alaska, with new oil drilling technology, is virtually insignificant.

Continue exploring for oil in the Gulf of Mexico. Although the cost of extracting oil in this region is somewhat higher than land-based acquisitions, oil will still be cheaper in the long run compared to what OPEC will eventually charge us over the years.

Windmills: If you have the opportunity once in your lifetime drive through Palm Springs, California to behold the hundreds of windmills that are harnessing energy 365 days per year. At first glance, the sight can be intimidating. As you enter Palm Springs, there before your eyes are hundreds of Star Wars-like structures thrusting out of the desert. Yes, you can claim that these giant structures are an eyesore, but since they are located in the desert few people complain, besides personally I could care less. Since the 1980s, California has built over 15,000 windmills. Even if we place the windmills in the heart of a metropolitan area and it will reduce our dependency on oil and also perhaps save a few lives, the uglier the better. Finally, apparently, a few people have been motivated. 450 windmills are being constructed between Oregon and Washington to provide power for 70,000 homes.

Proposals are being debated to construct a series of windmills a few miles off the coast of New Jersey to harness the strong Atlantic Ocean winds. It appears unlikely that a revolutionary concept of that magnitude will bear fruit, as the selfish and greedy citizens of New Jersey are fighting that prospect claiming that their view will be harmed. Recognize that we are talking about the view of an empty ocean. Here we have another example of the wisdom demonstrated by the shortsighted Neanderthals of the east coast. I’ll bet they all drive gas-guzzling SUVs to boot.

Ignoring this minority of stupid people, we need to find all of the locations in the country where the winds blow heartily. How about erecting a dozen windmills on the two wind-blown back holes at the Pebble Beach Golf Links in Monterey, California? I can just see golfers trying to hit a 9-iron over the 200-foot windmills now. What a challenge! It will really make your $395 golf fee (that fee does include the cart) an experience of a lifetime.

Solar Heating: Even though we have nearly 300 million people in the country, there are many vast areas in the southwest that consist of little more than barren desert, where the sun shines 365 days a year. We could allocate thousands of acres of desert to solar panels, much like wheat fields, to harness the sun’s rays. We would also need to build the electrical transmission system to and from these farms to distribute the electricity.

This is not a new phenomenon. Thousands of years ago, the Anasazi Indians in Colorado incorporated passive solar design in their cliff dwellings. I can recall 20 years ago when I lived in Southern California and I installed solar panels on the roof of my house to heat the hot water and for the backyard pool. It may not seem like it would make much of a dent, but just picture the savings resulting from 10 million homes with solar heating.

Other recent solar innovations include sunspaces and trombe walls. A sunspace (which is much like a greenhouse) is built on the south side of a building. As sunlight passes through glass or other glazing, it warms the sunspace. Proper ventilation allows the heat to circulate into the building. On the other hand, a trombe wall is a very thick, south-facing wall, which is painted black and made of a material that absorbs a lot of heat. A pane of glass or plastic glazing, installed a few inches in front of the wall, helps hold in the heat. The wall heats up slowly during the day and as it cools gradually during the night, it gives off its heat inside the building.

Buy Hydrogen-Burning Cars: Chrysler-Daimler has invested over $1 billion in a new series of cars that run on hydrogen and leave H²O (water) as the residual. This is heresy! No oil drilling – no smog – no excessive oil company profits – no money for the Arabs! So why are these automobiles not in mass production? Because Chrysler-Daimler has stated it will take another 5 years before they are ready to be sold to the public.

Harness Geothermal and Other Sources of Energy: Probably the most difficult to control energy source that we have at our partial disposal is the tremendous energy beneath the earth’s crust. The center of our planet is composed of molten iron core. This enormous source of thermal energy comes bubbling up to the surface in the form of hot water springs or the super heated steam geysers that erupt like clockwork to our fascination. As an added bonus, geothermal power plants have much lower sulfur-emissions rates than fossil fuels.

Most of the geothermal sources lie on the west coast. California’s geothermal power plants produce about 40 percent of the world’s geothermally generated electricity. The Geysers near San Francisco is the largest geothermal electric plant in the U.S. It is one of only two locations in the world where a high-temperature, dry steam is found that can be directly used to turn turbines and generate electricity.

Mother Nature has other sources of her awesome power that hopefully may be controlled. Powerful electrical storms, if harnessed, could supply the power of whole metropolitan areas. And if we could ever capture the power in hurricanes and tornados, we would have more energy than we would need for hundreds of years.

Build Numerous Mini-Hydroelectric Dams: To-date we have built some enormous and very successful dams to harness hydroelectric power, such as the Hoover Dam to capture the power from the Colorado River, and the Tennessee Valley Authority.

It is acknowledged that there are a number of negative environmental impacts attributable to dams, among them the potential loss of some obscure species of fish that only exist in the chosen habitat. On occasion, fish use the river for migrating upstream to spawning areas. Modern construction can offset these problems through the use of fish ladders. But I’m really fed up with the environmentalist’s stranglehold on progress. They have managed to stop some important projects because a dam MAY cause the demise of a species of fish. Rarely is it mentioned that due to Mother Nature’s continual evolvement, 99% of all species that have existed on this planet are now extinct.

Other negative aspects of hydroelectric power are that large areas behind the dam are flooded much of it forested or used for agriculture. Decaying vegetation may contribute to global warming. On the positive side, hydroelectric power does not emit any pollutants such as carbon dioxide or sulfur dioxide given off by fossil fuels. The reservoirs that are created can be used to ensure adequate water supplies, provide irrigation to grow crops, and for recreation purposes.

Most potential large dams have already been built in the United States, but there are vast opportunities for smaller low head hydro capacity. Commercial companies need to invest more monies in low head turbines and computerized control systems.

Many hydroelectric projects were abandoned in the 1960s and 1970s when the price of oil and coal was much lower. With new “reasonable” environmental impact studies, there is no reason why we cannot dust off many of the plans and add many small dams to harness that energy to provide power for small cities.

Fighting Oil and Gas Power Monoliths

You don’t think that the oil and gas industries are going to take all of my suggestions lying down, do you? There is no doubt in my mind that they will fight any progressive legislature with incredibly strong lobbying and actually resort to sabotage if they see their empire crumbling. We need to resist their pressure, massive brainwashing and false advertising and galvanize our people to change our daily habits.