**September 19, 2006 FEMA Emergency Management Higher Education Project
Activity Report**

\(1\) CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS?:

AFP. \"Iran Leader Blames US-Israel Conspiracy For Pope Remarks.\"

September 18, 2006. Accessed at:

[[http://www.keepmedia.com/pubs/AFP/2006/09/18/1821265?extId=10053]{.underline}](http://www.keepmedia.com/pubs/AFP/2006/09/18/1821265?extId=10053)

Allen, John L. Jr. \"A Challenge, Not A Crusade.\" New York Times,
September 19, 2006. Accessed at:

<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/19/opinion/19allen.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print>

\[Excerpt: \"Roman Catholicism under Benedict is moving into a more
critical posture toward Islamic fundamentalism. That could either push
Islam toward reform, or set off a global \"clash of civilizations\" -
or, perhaps, both\.... Benedict has\...challenged what he sees as
Islam\'s potential for extremism, grounded in a literal reading of the
Koran.\"\]

Appelbaum, Anne. \"Enough Apologies.\" Washington Post, September 19,
2006. Accessed at:

<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/18/AR2006091800992.html>

\[Excerpt: \"\...Western politicians, writers, thinkers and speakers
should stop apologizing \-- and start uniting. By this, I don\'t mean
that we all need to rush to defend or to analyze this particular sermon;
I leave that to experts on Byzantine theology. But we can all unite in
our support for freedom of speech \-- surely the pope is allowed to
quote from medieval texts \-- and of the press. And we can also unite,
loudly, in our condemnation of violent, unprovoked attacks on churches,
embassies and elderly nuns. By \"we\" I mean here the White House, the
Vatican, the German Greens, the French Foreign Ministry, NATO,
Greenpeace, Le Monde and Fox News \-- Western institutions of the left,
the right and everything in between\.... The fanatics attacking the pope
already limit the right to free speech among their own followers. I
don\'t see why we should allow them to limit our right to free speech,
too.\"\]

Arab News (Saudi Arabia). \"Chasm Of Ignorance.\" September 19, 2006.

Accessed at:

[[http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7&section=0&article=86776&d=19&m=9&y=2006]{.underline}](http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7&section=0&article=86776&d=19&m=9&y=2006)

\[Excerpt: \"WHATEVER views people may have about Pope Benedict\'s
controversial speech at Regensburg University last week, it underlines
the urgent need for greater dialogue between people of different faiths.

There is a dangerous chasm of ignorance about other faiths and it
affects Muslims, Christians, Jews and practitioners of other religions
equally; it is dangerous because it is so easily exploited by bigots and
opportunists for their own political ends.\"\]

Brown, Stephen. \"Pope Faces Muslim Calls For Unequivocal Apology.\"

Reuters, 19 Sep 2006. At:

<http://reuters.myway.com/article/20060919/2006-09-19T132948Z_01_L19922500_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-POPE-ISLAM-DC.html>

\[Excerpt: \"\...the deluge of criticism and threats continued. Italian
media said an al Qaeda group in Egypt called for the German-born Pope,
who is 79, to be punished by strict Islamic sharia law for insulting
their religion. An al Qaeda umbrella group in Iraq has also vowed war on
\'worshippers of the cross\'.\"\]

Cornwall, John. \"Focus: Pope vs Prophet.\" The Sunday Times (UK),
September 17, 2006. Accessed at:

[[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2361716,00.html]{.underline}](http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2361716,00.html)

\[Excerpt: \"Ever since 9/11, unofficial sources I have spoken to in the
Vatican have voiced fears of a strike on St Peter\'s basilica and the
Vatican City. Pilgrims entering St Peter\'s Square now have to pass
through x-ray checkpoints and last week Al-Qaeda-linked websites were
indeed targeting the Vatican. One carries an image of the black flag of
Islam flying over the apostolic palace, the Pope\'s residence. A message
posted by a senior Al-Qaeda figure said: \'We are certain that the
infidelity and tyranny of the Pope will only be stopped by a major
attack.\' Inside the Vatican it is being said unofficially that Benedict
was trying to pre-empt an aggressive letter aimed at the papacy by the
president of Iran\...\"\]

Council on American-Islamic Relations. The Struggle for Equality: The
Status of Muslim Civil Rights in the United States 2006. Washington DC:
CAIR, September 18, 2006, 46 pages. Accessed at:

[[http://www.cair-net.org/]{.underline}](http://www.cair-net.org/)

\[Excerpt: Reports \"a 29.6 percent increase in the total number of
complaints of anti-Muslim harassment, violence and discriminatory
treatment from 2004\" (p.4). \"Two recent polls indicate that almost
half of Americans have a negative perception of Islam and that one on
four of those surveyed have \'extreme\' anti-Muslim views. An
independent survey by CAIR showed that one-fourth (23 to 27 percent) of
Americans consistently believe stereotypes such as: \'Muslims value life
less than other people\' and \'The Muslim religion teaches violence and
hatred\'.\" (p.5)\]

Council on American-Islamic Relations. \"U.S. Muslims Call for Dialogue
Over Pope\'s Comments on Islam.\" 15 Sep 2006. At:

[[http://www.cair.com/default.asp?Page=articleView&id=2268&theType=NR]{.underline}](http://www.cair.com/default.asp?Page=articleView&id=2268&theType=NR)

Daily Star (Beirut, Lebanon). \"Al-Qaeda Militants Declare War on
Christians Over Papal Speech.\" 19 Sep 2006.

[http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=75542#](http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=75542)

Dionne, E.J. Jr. \"Taking The Pope To Task.\" Seattle Times, September
19, 2006. Accessed at:

[[http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2003264623_dionne19.html]{.underline}](http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2003264623_dionne19.html)

\[Excerpt: \"\...religious dialogue will not progress very far if it
starts off with a slap in the face.\"\]

Heard, Linda S. \"Pope Must Swiftly Douse The Flames.\" Arab News,
September 19, 2006. At:

<http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7&section=0&article=86775&d=19&m=9&y=2006&pix=opinion.jpg&category=Opinion>

Laney, Mary. \"Peaceful Muslims Should Turn Their Anger Toward
Islamofascists.\" Chicago Sun-Times, September 18, 2006. At:

[[http://www.suntimes.com/output/laney/cst-edt-laney18.html#]{.underline}](http://www.suntimes.com/output/laney/cst-edt-laney18.html)

\[Excerpt: \"Something\'s wrong\.... We are at war. Islamofascists have
declared war on the United States and stated that they intend to kill
all Americans. And they\'ve shown us that they mean business\.... Pope
Benedict is calling on moderate Muslims to speak out against the violent
strain of Islam, calling jihad a movement against the nature of God. But
where are the moderate Muslim voices here? Why aren\'t they speaking up
to repudiate the kidnappings, suicide murders and beheadings done by
Islamofascists?\... We\'re fighting a war for civilization against an
enemy bent on destroying it and creating an Islamic world based on a
warped view of what true Islam is \-- yet where are the voices of
American Muslims condemning this enemy?\"\]

Pell, Cardinal George (Archdiocese of Sydney). \"Talk While We Can.\"

The Australian, September 19, 2006. Accessed at:

[[http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20434235-7583,00.html]{.underline}](http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20434235-7583,00.html)

\[Excerpts: \"Let me spell out some pre-suppositions and fixed points as
I see them which set the boundaries for me in the delicate, and perhaps
dangerous, journey confronting Western societies\.... Western
democracies are at war with Islamic terrorists. Security agencies,
including Australia\'s, are working regularly to thwart terrorist
attacks. These Islamic terrorists want a clash of civilisations, they
want the West to overreact, to make mistakes and so bring this
Armageddon closer. I do not believe that such a clash is inevitable, but
with every massive and successful terrorist attack on the West we lurch
closer to such a catastrophe. American anger if there was a succession
of September 11-style events in the US does not bear contemplating\....
Knowledge of fundamental Islamic sources, for example the Koran, is
useful, perhaps indispensable, as is a basic knowledge of the history of
Islamic expansion. A politically correct ignorance of all this history,
except for a hostile verdict on the evil Crusades, provides no basis for
an adequate understanding of the crisis in which we find ourselves. Two
misleading stereotypes of religion need to be abandoned. First, that all
religions are basically the same: either all good or all bad. In fact,
the great religions differ mightily one from the other in doctrine and
in the societies they produce. Religions can be sources of beauty and
goodness and they can be, through corruption, sources of poison and
destruction. I do not exempt Christianity from this\.... we Australians
are entitled to specific answers from our friends on aspects of Islamic
teaching, for example on the Suras of the Sword 9:5 and 9:36 in the
Koran. It is disappointing when such requests or criticisms are met only
by accusations of ignorance or abuse, while the specific points are
studiously avoided.\"\]

Rees-Mogg, William. \"Why The Pope Was Right.\" Times Online (UK),
September 18, 2006. Accessed at:

[[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,6-2362630,00.html]{.underline}](http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,6-2362630,00.html)

\[Excerpts: \"Benedict did give offence - but no great religion should
be immune from difficult questions\.... There is a real problem about
the teaching of the Koran on violence against the infidel. That existed
in the 14th century, and was demonstrated on 9/11, 2001. There is every
reason to discuss it. I am more afraid of silence than offence\....
nowadays Islam is the only major religion in which violence is a serious
doctrinal issue\.... Islam has only partially experienced the modern
process of enlightenment and reform, which was, after all, resisted by a
number of pre-Vatican II Popes. Pope Benedict will have done Islam a
service if he has started a debate within Islam and between Islam and
the critics.\"\]

ReligionAndSpirituality.com. \"Australian Cardinal Islamists to
Violence.\" United Press International. September 18, 2006. Accessed

at:

<http://www.religionandspirituality.com/view.php?StoryID=20060918-061518-2595r>

\[Excerpt: \"One of Australia\'s highest ranking Roman Catholic leaders
has drawn a link between Islamists and violence. Cardinal George Pell,
the archbishop of Sydney says \'the violent reactions in many parts of
the Islamic world\' to a speech by Pope Benedict XVI justified one of
the very fears expressed in that address, the Sydney Morning Herald
reported in its Tuesday edition. \'They showed the link for many
Islamists between religion and violence, their refusal to respond to
criticism with rational arguments, but only with demonstrations, threats
and actual violence,\' Pell said in a statement.\"\]

Stephens, Bret. \"The Liberals\' War - Why Is The Left Afraid To Face Up
To The Threat of Radical Islam?\" Wall Street Journal, 17 Sep 2006. At:

[[http://www.opinionjournal.com/wsj/?id=110008951]{.underline}](http://www.opinionjournal.com/wsj/?id=110008951)

\[Excerpt \-- quoting former Dutch parliamentarian Ayaan Hirsi Ali:

\"\...the really \'lethal mistake,\' she says, \'is the confusion of
Islam, which is a body of ideas, with ethnicity.\' Liberals especially
are reluctant to criticize the content of Islam because they fear that
it is tantamount to criticizing Muslims as a group, and is therefore
almost a species of racism. Yet Muslims, she says, \'are responsible for
their ideas. If it is written in the Koran that you must kill apostates,
kill the unbelievers, kill gays, then it is legitimate and urgent to
say, \'If that is what your God tells you, you have to modify it\'.\"\]

Wall Street Journal. \"Benedict The Brave-The Pope Said Things Muslims
Need To Hear About Faith and Reason.\" 19 Sep 2006.

[[http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110008963]{.underline}](http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110008963)

\[Excerpt: \"It\'s a familiar spectacle: furious demands for an apology,
threats, riots, violence. Anything can trigger so-called Muslim fury: a
novel by a British-Indian writer, newspaper cartoons in a small Nordic
country or, this past week, a talk on theology by the head of the Roman
Catholic Church\.... what Benedict XVI meant or even said isn\'t the
issue. Once again, many Muslim leaders are inciting their faithful
against perceived slights and trying to proscribe how free societies
discuss one of the world\'s major religions\....The pope isn\'t
condemning Islam; he is inviting it to join rather than reject the
modern world. By their reaction to the pope\'s speech, some Muslim
leaders showed again that Islam has a problem with modernity that is
going to have to be solved by a debate within Islam. The day Muslims
condemn Islamic terror with the same vehemence they condemn those who
criticize Islam, an attempt at dialogue\--and at improving relations
between the Western and Islamic worlds\--can begin.\"\]

Warren, David. \"Apologize for What?\" DavidWarrenOnline, September 16,
2006. Accessed at:
[[http://www.davidwarrenonline.com/index.php?artID=649]{.underline}](http://www.davidwarrenonline.com/index.php?artID=649)

\[Excerpt: \"The BBC appears to have been quickest off the mark, to send
around the world in many languages, including Arabic, Turkish, Farsi,
Urdu, and Malay, word that the Pope had insulted the Prophet of Islam,
during an address in Bavaria\.... This was not a crude anti-Islamic
polemic; nor was it so at the end of the 14th century. It was a quest
for peace and amity, then as now. By turning the story back-to-front, so
that what\'s promised in the lead \-- a crude attack on Islam \-- is
quietly withdrawn much later in the text, the BBC journalists were
having a little mischief. The kind of mischief that is likely to end
with Catholic priests and faithful butchered around the Muslim
world\.... The manufacture of grievances, to justify strident demands
for their redress, is the tyrant\'s stock-in-trade. It is what took
Adolf Hitler to power over the Germans, and it is what today\'s Islamic
fanatics depend upon to control the Muslims, and push them towards an
apocalyptic jihad against the West. Moreover, the basic tactic of
bullying is to demand apologies for exaggerated or imaginary offences.
It is to make the decent kneel before the indecent.\"\]

\(2\) FEMA:

Block, Robert. \"FEMA Revamp Snubs Homeland Security Chief.\" Wall
Street Journal, 19 Sept. 2006.

\[Note: Article describes a deal by congressional negotiators to
overhaul FEMA as \"a major blow\" to DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff,
reporting that the reorganization \"unraveled changes he had personally
backed.\" The agency \"would be strengthened and become an independent
entity within the Department of Homeland Security under the deal worked
out late Friday night between Senate staff and representatives of
several House committees. But DHS would be barred from changing FEMA\'s
budget, personnel or structure, giving the agency the same protections
currently provided to the US Coast Guard and the Secret Service.\" The
Journal adds, \"Many observers saw the deal as a setback for Mr.
Chertoff, who has come under scrutiny for his handling of the
department. DHS spokesman Russ Knocke said, \'We will continue to work
with Congress toward a satisfactory outcome.\'\"\]

Losey, Stephen. \"Compromise Would Keep FEMA Under Homeland Security,
With More Autonomy.\" FederalTimes.com, 18 Sep 2006. At:

[[http://federaltimes.com/index.php?S=2113056]{.underline}](http://federaltimes.com/index.php?S=2113056)

Strohm, Chris. \"Plan To Overhaul FEMA Lacks Funding Commitment.\"

Congress Daily, September 18, 2006. Accessed at:

[[http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=35044&dcn=e_gvet]{.underline}](http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=35044&dcn=e_gvet)

Waterman, Shaun. \"Analysis: Strengthening FEMA in DHS.\" United Press
International, 18 Sept. 2006. At:

<http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20060917-113443-7686r>

\[Excerpts: \"Following his so-called Second Stage Review in July 2005,
Chertoff broke off the responsibility of FEMA for preparedness, and its
grants and training functions, and placed them in other parts of the
department. Emergency managers said this cut the agency off from the
year-round contact with state and local authorities it needed both to
develop relationships with those it would be working with in a crisis,
and to have the continuously updated picture of the state of
preparedness around the country that is needed when disaster strikes
unexpectedly. Control of the grants and training functions is also
essential to enable the agency to set nationwide priorities for
preparedness, emergency management advocates argue. Now the expanded
agency will re-absorb the Directorate of Preparedness Chertoff created a
year ago, except for three parts \-- infrastructure protection, cyber
security, and the new telecommunications office.

To guard against future efforts to break up the expanded agency, the new
legislation would \"ring-fence\" FEMA \-- effectively protecting its
budget and organizational structure from any further changes by the
department \-- in the way that the U.S. Coast Guard and Secret Service
have been since their merger into homeland security in 2003. \'It\'s
about time,\' said Jerome Hauer, the former New York City emergency
management chief who is now a disaster response consultant. Hauer and
other emergency management advocates argued at the time that FEMA needed
the same protection. Because the agency didn\'t get it, they say, its
budget and responsibilities were chipped away, crippling its response to
Hurricane Katrina\.... The FEMA director will continue to report to the
homeland security secretary, but will have the rank of a deputy
secretary and deputies at the undersecretary level, making him
effectively the second or third-most senior official in the
department\.... The change is designed to give the newly empowered FEMA
chief a hotline to Congress so that he can report to them without
looking over his shoulder at his superiors in the administration.
According to another person familiar with the proposal, it also
downgrades the position of principal federal official \-- the post held
by Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen during Katrina \-- to make it clear it is
not an operational post.\"\]

\(3\) Global WARMING:

Gore, Al. \"Global Warming Is An Immediate Crisis.\" 18 Sep 2006. At:

[[http://www.algore.org/]{.underline}](http://www.algore.org/)

\[Excerpt: \"A few days ago, scientists announced alarming new evidence
of the rapid melting of the perennial ice of the north polar cap,
continuing a trend of the past several years that now confronts us with
the prospect that human activities, if unchecked in the next decade,
could destroy one of the earth\'s principle mechanisms for cooling
itself. Another group of scientists presented evidence that human
activities are responsible for the dramatic warming of sea surface
temperatures in the areas of the ocean where hurricanes form. A few
weeks earlier, new information from yet another team showed dramatic
increases in the burning of forests throughout the American West, a
trend that has increased decade by decade, as warmer temperatures have
dried out soils and vegetation. All these findings come at the end of a
summer with record breaking temperatures and the hottest twelve month
period ever measured in the U.S., with persistent drought in vast areas
of our country. Scientific American introduces the lead article in its
special issue this month with the following sentence: The debate on
global warming is over\"\]

\(4\) HOMELAND SECURITY:

Associated Press. \"Study: Prisons Breed Homegrown Terrorists.\"

September 19, 2006. Accessed at:

<http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-09-19-prisons-terrorists_x.htm?csp=15>

\[Excerpt: \"U.S. prisons are becoming major breeding grounds for
Islamic terrorists, but state and local authorities are too
cash-strapped to prevent or track recruiting, a new report concludes.
The report, to be released Tuesday, found there aren\'t enough
legitimately trained Muslim religious leaders to counsel an estimated
9,000 U.S. prison inmates who want Islamic services. That allows
Islamist extremists to target their vulnerable prison-mates with
distorted versions of the Quran and other Muslim readings that urge
radicalization and violence. \'Radicalized prisoners are a potential
pool of recruits by terrorist groups,\' concludes the joint study by
George Washington University and the University of Virginia. \'The U.S.,
with its large prison population, is at risk of facing the sort of
homegrown terrorism currently plaguing other countries\'.\"\]

\(5\) HUDSON VALLEY (NY) DOMESTIC PREPAREDNESS COMMUNITY COLLEGE
CONSORTIUM:

Received Press Release today on the formation of the above noted
consortium \-- comprised of community colleges in Ulster, Orange,
Sullivan, and Rockland Counties, NY. \"The Consortium will allow
students throughout the Hudson Valley to take classes and receive
degrees in emergency management, fire protection science, paramedic and
cyber security. Graduates will be able to seek jobs with professional
fire departments, police departments and emergency service
organizations, as well as in private industry as emergency management
specialists in the Hudson Valley and in the metropolitan area\....

Marianne Collins, Director of Institutional Advancement at Ulster County
Community College, is coordinating the program for all four
colleges\.... The first interactive classes are expected to begin in
spring 2007.\" For additional information, contact: Marianne Collins
(Colleges) 845 687 5093.\]

\(6\) MATERIALS RECEIVED FOR REVIEW:

Natural Hazards Observer, Vol. XXXI, No. 1, September 2006. (Natural
Hazards Research and Applications Information Center, Institute of
Behavioral Science No. 6, 482 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0482, (303)
492-6819, (303) 492-6818, (303) 492-2151 (fax), URL:
[[http://www.colorado.edu/hazards]{.underline}](http://www.colorado.edu/hazards),
e-mail: <hazctr@spot.colorado.edu>.)

\[Excerpt \-- From transcript of Hazards Center Director Dr. Kathleen
Tierney\'s closing comments at July Hazards Workshop in Boulder: \"As
one Washington sage once said, \'Watch what we do, not what we say.\'
And as we watch, what are we learning? That the nation is less safe than
it was prior to the terrorist attacks of 2001, less safe than it was
prior to Katrina, and that the institutions responsible for ensuring our
safety are in disarray. We face escalating threats from natural
disasters as well as escalating threats from those wishing to commit
willful acts of terrorism against our society\...and in our highly
mobile world, a flu pandemic may be impossible to contain. And how many
people in this room believe the nation is ready to manage even one of
those perils?\"\]

PeriScope, Vol. 9, No. 3, September 2006. (Quarterly Newsletter of the
Public Entity Risk Institute, Fairfax, VA:
[[http://www.riskinstitute.org]{.underline}](http://www.riskinstitute.org/);
703-352-1846.)

\(7\) PREPAREDNESS:

Khanna, Roma. \"Nursing Home Evacuation Plans Largely Unimproved.\"

Houston Chronicle, September 18, 2006. Accessed at:

[[http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4191315.html]{.underline}](http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4191315.html)

\[Excerpt: \"Nearly one year after Hurricane Rita forced the dangerous
exodus of thousands of elderly from the Houston area, dozens of local
nursing homes remain ill-prepared for a mass evacuation and continue to
rely on disaster plans with inadequate arrangements to transport,
shelter and care for the frail.\"\]

\(8\) RECOVERY:

American Geophysical Union. Hurricanes and The U.S. Gulf Coast:

Science and Sustainable Rebuilding. June 19, 2006, 29 pages. Accessed

at:
[[http://www.agu.org/report/hurricanes/]{.underline}](http://www.agu.org/report/hurricanes/)

\(9\) UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHARLOTTE \-- PROPOSED GRADUATE
EMERGENCY MGMT. PROGRAM:

Received today for review a copy of a proposal to implement a
Concentration in Emergency Management within the Master of Public
Administration Program at UNC-Charlotte, as well as a Graduate
Certificate in Emergency Management. Also received for review were
copies of several course syllabi that would be used to support the EM
Concentration and Certificate:

Introduction to Disaster Management

Introduction to Emergency Management

Fighting Terrorism

Homeland Security

Dr. James W. Douglass, the Director of the MPA Program at UNC-Charlotte,
notes in his correspondence that the MPA faculty approved the proposals
last week \-- \"Now they have to move up the chain of command \-- we do
not expect any problems.\"

In that the course syllabi look excellent, we are seeking permission to
post them in the \"Syllabi Compilation\" section on the EM HiEd Project
website even though the EM Program proposals have not yet been approved.

The Project Assistant is drafting a description of the proposed EM
programs at UNC-Charlotte for posting in the \"Programs Proposed\"
section of \"The College List\" on the Project website. In the meantime,
for additional information, Dr. Douglas can be reached at:
<jwdougla@uncc.edu>

\(10\) WAR ON TERROR:

Brodsky, Adam. \"Weakness Won\'t Win.\" New York Post, September 17,
2006. Accessed at:

<http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/weakness_wont_win_opedcolumnists_adam_brodsky.htm>

Excerpt: \"Ever since the invasion of Iraq, critics have said our
pectoral-flexing has enraged our enemies and given them a new recruiting
tool. But they also said Israel\'s weak showing in the Lebanon war
encouraged Hezbollah terrorists and those who might join them; the war
proved Israel can be beaten, and that created a new recruiting tool for
terrorists. As did our reluctance to fight al Qaeda before 9/11. We
can\'t win: Severe responses or feeble, everything seems to embolden the
fanatics. Or else the critics just don\'t know what they\'re talking
about\....\"\]

Crook, Clive. \"Is It War, Or Business As Usual?\" National Journal,
September 15, 2006. Accessed at:
[[http://nationaljournal.com/crook.htm#]{.underline}](http://nationaljournal.com/crook.htm)

\[Excerpt: \"The 9/11 commission attributed the policy errors that
preceded the attacks to a failure of imagination. Attempted nuclear
attacks by Al Qaeda may or may not be likely, but they are certainly in
the realm of the readily imaginable. Mere prudence demands that this
terrifying threat be faced, not denied. Confronting a fear does not mean
surrendering to it, or being paralyzed by it. And, to be sure, as a
slogan, the \"war on terror\" offers no guidance, justifies nothing.
Policies still have to be framed intelligently, and judged skeptically
case by case, weighing costs against benefits. By those tests, this
administration has failed. But to contain this new threat appropriately,
a heightened sense of urgency and national direction, a willingness to
pay some heavy price in resources, and, yes, some ongoing infringement
of liberty are most likely going to be required. It is something like
war. It is not business as usual. Politicians who say different will
lose, and deserve to.\"\]

Scheuer, Michael. \"Al-Zawahiri\'s September 11 Video Hits Main Themes
of al-Qaeda Doctrine.\" Terrorism Focus, Vol. III, Issue 36, September
19, 2006. Accessed at:
[[http://jamestown.org/news_details.php?news_id=198]{.underline}](http://jamestown.org/news_details.php?news_id=198)

\[Excerpt: \"On the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks,
al-Qaeda\'s media production unit presented a 70-plus-minute videotape
of an interview with second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri \[1\]. Unlike
videos issued to commemorate earlier 9/11 anniversaries, al-Zawahiri\'s
video was not dedicated solely or even primarily to the actions of those
he calls the \"blessed 19.\" Rather, the tape appears to be primarily
directed toward Muslims and to serve as a summation of where the
\"defensive jihad\" against the United States stands and where it is
going\.... He hit the main themes of al-Qaeda doctrine that have been in
place since 1996: the need to drive the United States from the Middle
East to open the path for the mujahideen to destroy the apostate Arab
regimes and Israel; the preservation of Islamic energy resources; the
enhancement of Muslim unity and placing Sunni-Shiite strife on the
backburner; and the installation of Sharia rule across the region.\"\]

White House. \"President Bush Addresses United Nations General
Assembly.\" September 19, 2006. Accessed at:

[[http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/09/20060919-4.html]{.underline}](http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/09/20060919-4.html)

\[Excerpts: \"\...it is clear that the world is engaged in a great
ideological struggle, between extremists who use terror as a weapon to
create fear, and moderate people who work for peace\.... Some have
argued that the democratic changes we\'re seeing in the Middle East are
destabilizing the region. This argument rests on a false assumption,
that the Middle East was stable to begin with. The reality is that the
stability we thought we saw in the Middle East was a mirage. For
decades, millions of men and women in the region have been trapped in
oppression and hopelessness. And these conditions left a generation
disillusioned, and made this region a breeding ground for extremism\....

Today, I\'d like to speak directly to the people across the broader
Middle East: My country desires peace. Extremists in your midst spread
propaganda claiming that the West is engaged in a war against Islam.
This propaganda is false, and its purpose is to confuse you and justify
acts of terror. We respect Islam, but we will protect our people from
those who pervert Islam to sow death and destruction. Our goal is to
help you build a more tolerant and hopeful society that honors people of
all faiths and promote the peace\.... From Beirut to Baghdad, people are
making the choice for freedom. And the nations gathered in this chamber
must make a choice, as well: Will we support the moderates and reformers
who are working for change across the Middle East \-- or will we yield
the future to the terrorists and extremists?\"\]

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, N-430

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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