@z0z0,
Some more interesting stuff about the book
LOU DOBBS TONIGHT
CNN.com - Transcripts
DOBBS: My next guest has written an important new book on the direction this country must take if we are to win the global war against terror. The author says Hurricane Katrina has demonstrated our lack of preparedness. The book is "The West's Last Chance." Tony Blankley is the author.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TONY BLANKLEY, AUTHOR, "THE WEST'S LAST CHANCE": Of all the things that happened in New Orleans, the police not reporting in didn't happen when they ran the practice runs four-and-a-half years ago.
So just on the issue of first responders -- and that's just a small piece of the problem -- I think the fundamental problem is that we haven't thought through the dimension of the threat, whether it's a dimension of a flood and hurricane in New Orleans overwhelming it as opposed to the regular hurricanes that only have smaller effects, or whether in the case of the Islamist threat, the breadth of that danger.
And if you don't understand the threat, then you don't prepare for it. And then there's a tendency to do business as usual because we -- most of the time business as usual works. It's only when the big things happen that it completely breaks down.
DOBBS: In "The West's Last Chance," you focus clearly on the fact that Europe is now a launching platform for radical Islamist terrorism, that the United States has made a number of mistakes in terms of its foreign policy in pursuing radical Islamist terrorists, including the most obvious, a refusal on the part of this administration to name the enemy -- namely radical Islamist terrorists, or as you put it, Islamist jihadists. Why is there a resistance, in your judgment, to naming our enemy?
BLANKLEY: Well, I think what happened right after September 11, was a reasonable effort on the part of the president and our government not to inflame more people than we have to. Obviously it's not all Muslims in the world, it's some fraction -- hopefully a small fraction -- who are inflamed with these sentiments.
Now four years later, we fought two wars in Muslim countries. However many people we can possibly upset we've already upset. And it's important to name -- two things. One, we have to actually declare war to create the legal powers ...
DOBBS: Are you calling for Congress to declare war against Islamic jihadist?
BLANKLEY: And our people will say how can you do that? There's no country to declare war on, and it's true. There is no legal precedent for declaring war on a group of people -- non-state actors, as the professionals call it. But the problem is that need the powers that a declaration of war constitutionally provides our government.
And because we never had this experience before in our history, there's no provision in law to do it. But we have to get those powers so we can defend ourselves effectively.
DOBBS: You and I know the facts. Immigration and Naturalization do not know who is in this country. We do not know who is crossing our borders. We do not understand the affiliations of anyone, irrespective of ethnicity or race or religion. It's an impossibility that no one wants to recognize right now that we don't know who resides in this country.
BLANKLEY: That's right. And the starting point is to secure our borders. Now, I quote Asa Hutchinson who, when I talked to him last fall, was at the head at Homeland Security for borders. He said we have -- it's not -- we don't have any plans, it's not practical to secure the borders or track down illegals.
Two months later Admiral Loy, also the department high official, said we have -- based on our intelligence, we believe that al Qaeda is going to penetrate our southern border.
You cannot have those two statements from deputies at Homeland Security which are fundamentally inconsistent, one saying we have a lethal threat, the other saying we have no plan or intention to deal with it.
DOBBS: Or ability.
BLANKLEY: Well, we do have an ability.
DOBBS: Oh we do, but I'm saying they're saying we don't have the abilities.
BLANKLEY: Well, yes. They haven't made the decision to have the ability. I understand, by the way -- and you might find this interesting, this came out since I've written the book -- that there is a study within Homeland Security that it would take 20 -- not official policy yet -- It would take 20 to 50,000 Border Patrol plus sensor technologies to secure the border. That's a big number compared with how many Border Patrol we have, but it's a very small number compared to our nation. I mean this is ...
DOBBS: Or compared to the number of American troops we have in Iraq.
BLANKLEY: Well, yes. I mean, I think Border Patrol is the best way because you can train people up to the specific standards, but whether it's National Guard, whether it's Border Patrol, whether it's some other force, we can hire 50,000 people. We hire millions of people in this country for jobs all the time and train them for that skill. That's not an undoable job. And then we can secure the border and start the process of securing the country.
DOBBS: Well, "The West's Last Chance" lays out very clearly a prescription to deal with the threat, as you've described it, and as we all have grown to understand it. You've enlarged the body of public understanding. We would expect nothing less of you, Tony, and we thank you for being here.
BLANKLEY: Thank you so much.
DOBBS: Tony Blankley, the book is "The West's Last Chance."
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