**October 3, 2006 FEMA Emergency Management Higher Education Project
Activity Report**

\(1\) CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS:

Hanson, Victor Davis. \"Traitors to the Enlightenment - Europe Turns Its
Back on Socrates, Locke, et al.\" Human Events Online, October 2, 2006.

<http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=M2JlMzJhNjIxZGZkYjdmZGU0ZGUyOWM3MzEwMTk0ZWQ>

\[Excerpt: \"Note\...the constant subtext in this new self-censorship:
fear of radical Islam and its gruesome appendages of beheadings, suicide
bombings, improvised explosive devices, barbaric fatwas, riotous youth,
petrodollar-acquired nuclear weapons, oil boycotts and price hikes, and
fist-chanting mobs\.... almost every genre of artistic and intellectual
expression has come under assault: music, satire, the novel, films,
academic exegesis. Somehow Europeans have ever-so-insidiously given up
the promise of the Enlightenment that welcomed free thought of all
kinds, the more provocative the better. So the present generation of
Europeans really is heretical, made up of traitors of a sort, since they
themselves, not just their consensual governments or some invader across
the Mediterranean, have nearly destroyed their won freedoms of
expression - out of worries over oil, or appearing as illiberal
apostates of the new secular religion of multiculturalism, or another
London or Madrid bombing. Europe boldly produces films about
assassinating an American president, and routinely disparages the Church
that gave the world the Sermon of the Mount, but it simply won\'t stand
up for an artist, a well-meaning Pope, or a ranting filmmaker when the
mob closes in. The Europe that believes in everything turns out to
believe in nothing\.... so Europe has done us a great favor in showing
us not the way of the future, but the old cowardice of our
pre-Enlightenment past.\"\]

\(2\) CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS \-- FRANCE?:

Bremner, Charles. \"Philosophers Demand Help For Teacher on Run From
Islam Threats.\" The Times (UK), October 3, 2006. At:

[[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-2385684,00.html]{.underline}](http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-2385684,00.html)

\[Excerpt: \"\"I cannot work, I cannot come and go. I have to hide,\' he
said. \'So . . . the Islamists have succeeded in punishing me on the
territory of the Republic as if I were guilty of a crime of opinion.\'
His supporters deplored what they said was cowardice in the face of
Islamic extremism. \'A handful of fanatics are brandishing supposed
religious laws to throw into question in our country the most
fundamental liberties,\' they said.\"\]

\(3\) CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS \-- POPE\'S REMARKS:

Raman, B. \"LET Issues Fatwa to Kill the Pope.\" International Terrorism
Monitor, Paper No. 133, October 2, 2006, South Asia Analysis Group. At:

[[http://www.saag.org/papers20/paper1974.html]{.underline}](http://www.saag.org/papers20/paper1974.html)

\(4\) CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS \-- TURKEY?:

Turkish Daily News. \"Sezer Warns of Islamist Threat, Defends
Military.\"

October 2, 2006. At:

[[http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=55621]{.underline}](http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=55621)

\[Excerpt: \"President Ahmet Necdet Sezer yesterday joined the military
in its warnings of a rising threat against Turkey from Islamist forces
and defended the military, saying its credibility and status as a
supra-party institution must be protected.\"\]

\(5\) CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE AND THE NATIONAL ASSET DATABASE:

Congressional Research Service (John Moteff). Critical Infrastructure:
The National Asset Database. Washington DC: CRS Report for Congress
(RL33648), September 14, 2006, 17 pages. Accessed at:

[[http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/RL33648.pdf]{.underline}](http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/RL33648.pdf)

\(6\) GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY \-- DEVELOPING GRADUATE EM & HS

CONCENTRATION:

Talked today with Dr. Paul Posner, Director of the Masters of Public
Administration Program at George Mason University, who is leading an
initiative to develop an Emergency Preparedness and Homeland Security
MPA Concentration. Went through a number of tabs on the EM HiEd Project
website which might well assist and support the development of this
program. Would like to focus on mixed local, state, regional and federal
officials as target audience \-- within a cohort context. For additional
information, Dr. Posner can be reached at: <pposner@gmu.edu>

\(7\) SOUTHERN MAINE COMMUNITY COLLEGE:

Talked today with Steve Willis at Southern Maine Community College
concerning the school\'s interest in investigating the development of
some sort of emergency management program. Walked him through several
tabs on the EM HiEd Project website and recommended talking with staff
at community colleges with emergency management programs elsewhere
serving mostly a rural population. Also recommended including private
sector representatives in an advisory group in that most collegiate
graduates find jobs in the private sector. Stands to reason that private
sector practitioners represent a reasonable target audience.

\(8\) WAR ON TERROR:

Ajami, Fouad. \"The New Boys of Terror.\" U.S. News & World Report,
October 1, 2006. Accessed at:

[[http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/061001/9fouad.htm]{.underline}](http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/061001/9fouad.htm)

\[Excerpt: \"The very \'normalcy\' of the new terrorists is perhaps
their most disturbing characteristic. An official inquiry for the House
of Commons into the transit and bus bombings that hit London in July
2005 concedes the difficulty of \'profiling\' and of detection. The
investigations uncovered little that was unusual about the four men who
pulled off the deed. \'The backgrounds of the four men appear largely
unexceptional. Little distinguishes their formative experiences from
those of many others of the same generation, ethnic origin, and social
background \... .\' The ringleader, Mohammed Sidique Khan, born in West
Yorkshire, was something of a role model for younger people. \'He was
highly regarded by teachers and parents and had a real empathy with
difficult children. He was not aggressive, extreme, or politicized in
the way he spoke about religion to colleagues. He had spoken out against
the 9/11 attacks at school.\' One of the four perpetrators of this
operation, Shehzad Tanweer, also of West Yorkshire, appears to have led
\'a balanced life,\' the report observes. \'He owned a red Mercedes,
which his father had bought for him. He took care with his appearance,
with fashionable hairstyles and designer clothing\'.\"\]

\(9\) WAR ON TERROR \-- AFGHANISTAN:

Krane, Jim. \"Frist: Taliban Should Be In Afghan Gov\'t.\" Associated
Press, 2 Oct 2006. Accessed at:

<http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061002/ap_on_re_as/afghanistan_frist;_ylt=Au9zGTCzDMEoH9OM85wfs0tvaA8F;_ylu=X3oDMTA0cDJlYmhvBHNlYwM->

\[Excerpt: \"U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Monday that the
Afghan war against Taliban guerrillas can never be won militarily and
urged support for efforts to bring \'people who call themselves
Taliban\' and their allies into the government. The Tennessee Republican
said he learned from briefings that Taliban fighters were too numerous
and had too much popular support to be defeated on the battlefield.
\'You need to bring them into a more transparent type of government,\'
Frist said during a brief visit to a U.S. and Romanian military base in
the southern Taliban stronghold of Qalat. \'And if that\'s accomplished,
we\'ll be successful\'.\"\]

Shahzad, Syed Saleem. \"Pakistan Reaches Into Afghanistan.\" Asian
Times, October 3, 2006. Accessed at:

[[http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/HJ03Df02.html]{.underline}](http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/HJ03Df02.html)

\[Excerpt: \"It is worth repeating that developments in Afghanistan are
very much in line with the historic traditions of Afghan society\...This
growth of small warlords and commanders, as happened against the
Soviets, is an example\.... Afghanistan is at the point now that, apart
from the Taliban, independent commanders have emerged. Nearly two
{decades} ago, they were sufficiently organized to drive out the
Soviets. Now, in their new struggle against foreign forces, they could
evolve into a separate movement fueled by Iran or Pakistan, or both, or
turn into an independent movement. Alternatively, as in the recent past,
they could melt into the Taliban. Whichever way it develops, this force
will have an important bearing on Afghanistan\'s future - and, as
important, it's neighboring countries.\"\]

\(10\) WAR ON TERROR \-- IRAQ:

Walters, Patrick. \"80pc Believe Iraq War Has Failed.\" The Australian,
October 3, 2006. Accessed at:

[[http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20514911-601,00.html]{.underline}](http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20514911-601,00.html)

\[Excerpt: \"AN overwhelming eight out of 10 Australians believe the
Iraq war has not reduced the threat of global terrorism. A new poll
conducted by the Lowy Institute found two-thirds of Australians did not
agree the war would lead to the spread of democracy in the Middle East.
And a near-unanimous 91 per cent felt the war had \'worsened America\'s
relations with the Muslim world\'.\"\]

B. Wayne Blanchard, Ph.D., CEM

Higher Education Project Manager

Emergency Management Institute

National Emergency Training Center

Federal Emergency Management Agency

Department of Homeland Security

16825 S. Seton, K-011

Emmitsburg, MD 21727

\(301\) 447-1262, voice

\(301\) 447-1598, fax

wayne.blanchard@dhs.gov

[[http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/edu]{.underline}](http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/edu)

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