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http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=/ForeignBureaus/archive/200802/FOR20080220b.html

“US Military Commanders Bemoan Lack of Concern About Terror Threat”
By Julie Stahl
CNSNews.com Jerusalem Bureau Chief
February 20, 2008

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “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.”