Posted on 03/05/2002 11:41:35 PM PST by JohnHuang2
The Washington Post revealed the creation of a federal "shadow government" in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks – some 100 senior civilian managers who live and work in fortified bunkers in the event of a catastrophic event in Washington.
Some are alarmed by this development. It may surprise readers of this column to learn I am not.
There is a threat. It is considerable. The possibility of a nuclear attack, a biological attack or a chemical attack on Washington, New York or some other U.S. city is real. We should all recognize that after Sept. 11. There are bad guys in this world. They are out to get us. They have real resources and real capabilities.
What bothers me is not what the government is doing to prepare for the worst. What bothers me is what the government is not doing to prepare for the worst.
In January, the editors of WorldNetDaily produced, if I do say so myself, a remarkable special edition of Whistleblower magazine titled "America Defenseless," which laid out the threat – and the obvious solution – in great detail.
I truly believed that when ordinary Americans, public officials and the media saw this report that it would set off a firestorm of debate about a forgotten issue in this country – how to protect U.S. civilians from future attacks.
I'm sorry to say it has not.
Oh, sure, we've been busy doing radio interviews on the subject ever since. We've been invited to speak at conferences on the subject. And WorldNetDaily readers have responded enthusiastically to the warnings and the common-sense advice offered in the special report.
But most Americans, most politicians, most pundits still don't get it.
They don't comprehend that America truly is defenseless – despite all the billions of dollars we spend on "defense."
In America, the very word "defense" has come to mean military spending. Just like in George Orwell's "1984," the word has come to mean the opposite of what it really means. In the U.S. today, defense means "offense." It means projecting military power around the world. It does not mean defending American civilians.
Let me ask you a few questions: If it makes sense to provide the federal government with bunkers and shelters, why doesn't it make sense to provide them for civilians? If they will serve the purpose of ensuring survival of the federal government, why won't they work to ensure that millions of Americans survive a cataclysmic attack? If civil defense makes sense for China and other countries that, supposedly, don't value human life as highly as we do in the West, why doesn't it make sense for us?
There is only one way to defend Americans from nuclear, biological and chemical attack – to provide them with shelters.
It's not a new idea. It's an old idea. It works. It is feasible. It is not outrageously expensive. But, more importantly, it is vitally necessary. It should be the highest priority of the Defense Department. Yet it is not on anyone's radar screen.
President Bush has done something right in developing the classified "Continuity of Operations Plan." Now it's time to take the next logical step and create an unclassified "Continuity of America Plan."
This is a threat that won't go away if and when we ever capture or kill Osama bin Laden. There will always be enemies like him. There will always be external threats to our nation. There will always be the threat of nuclear detonations and weapons of mass destruction. There is no substitute for a shelter system. None. Zip. Zero. Nada.
How do we pay for it? Out of an increased Defense Department budget. Defense of the nation is the main reason we have a federal government under the Constitution. Protecting lives should be the first priority of the federal government. Ask yourself, instead, how and why we should pay for all the other nonsense Washington supports – with little – if any – constitutional authority.
So, don't worry about this new "shadow government." Worry about how America will be reduced to a shadow if it is ever attacked with weapons of mass destruction.
Let's get busy and wake up Washington officials not only to the threat posed to them, but to the one posed to the rest of us.
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