February 17, 2015 - About that Existential Threat...

“Regardless of intelligence uncertainties and unknowns about Iran’s nuclear weapons and missile programs, we know enough now to make a prudent judgment that Iran should be regarded by national security decision makers as a nuclear missile state capable of posing an existential threat to the United States and its allies.” ~ “Experts: Iran Now a Nuclear-Ready State, Missiles Capable of Hitting US,” William R. Graham et al, Newsmax, February 1, 2015

Iran has been celebrating the 36^th anniversary of the 1979 revolution that brought Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to power, with the concurrent capture of the U.S. embassy in Tehran and 66 Americans held hostage for 444 days, until they were released on the day Ronald Reagan was sworn in as President.

To celebrate, the crowds chanted “Death to America”—you know, the “Great Satan,” lest you forget with whom President Obama is negotiating to eliminate Iran’s nuclear weapons program.

Fat chance! And there’s more disturbing news—much more.

Just a few months ago, President Obama was claiming that events in Yemen were demonstrating how his policies in the Middle East were succeeding—a “model of success,” no less. That was before the Yemini government we were supporting was overrun last week by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)—which was formed from a 2009 union of Saudi and Yemeni branches of al Qaeda, and subsequently called al Qaeda’s most dangerous franchise likely to strike America.

So, now Yemen joins Libya and Syria as Middle East states where the Obama administration has been compelled to close our embassies—products of an obviously failed “leading from behind” strategy, now to be replaced by the administration’s new “strategic patience”—see last week’s High Frontier message triggered by National Security Advisor Susan Rice’s discussion and absurd assurance that “no existential threat” is posed by our continuing and growing global national security failures.

You may recall that AQAP was led by U.S. born and educated Anwar al-Awlaki, who was assassinated by a drone attack in 2011. According to CNN’s Peter Bergen, al-Awlaki—who networked with the Saudis who attacked America on September 11, 2001—inspired numerous jihadi attacks around the world, including US Army Major Nidal Hasan’s 2009 murders on Fort Hood, Texas, the two Tsarnaev brothers of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, and most recently early January’s attack on the Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris.

On Sunday’s CNN’s “State of the Union,” President Obama’s former CIA Director and Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta said his former boss’ polices have helped make Yemen “another failed state in the Middle East,” which in turn gives AQAP, which has the capacity to “attack this country,” a “free hand to do what it wants.” Penetta notably observed that:

“The problem is in Yemen, with the Houthis having taken over (supported by Iran, by the way), what we have now is chaos. And what it’s doing is it’s giving al Qaeda a free hand to do what it wants to do in Yemen. And I have to tell you that when you look at terrorist threats around the world, the one you have to worry about the most is al Qaeda in Yemen, AQAP, because they have the bomb-making capability and they have the other capabilities to basically do what they have to do to attack this country. They are a real danger. That’s why we have operations there. That’s why we’re going after al Qaeda there. And as a result of what’s happened in Yemen, I think it’s going to impact on our capability to defend ourselves.”

Fact: The Obama administration got caught flat-footed again in the volatile Arab World when a Shiite Muslim Houthi rebel group, with ties to Iran’s terrorist state, overthrew Yemen’s government, our alleged ally. Not surprisingly, the Houthis and their loyalists went into the streets reciting a familiar refrain heard during anti-U.S. and Israel demonstrations in Iran, “Death to America, and Death to Israel.” And so for the third time during the Obama presidency, the U.S. has abandoned its diplomatic outposts in the Middle East (Libya, Syria, and now Yemen).

Then there’s the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), called a Jayvee team by President Obama when it began its advance into Iraq. Shortly before ISIS captured a treasure trove of U.S. armaments from the Iraqi troops (which victorious U.S. forces had trained), when they turned tail and ran in early encounters. In short, after winning the war in Iraq with the successful surge and abandoning the field, “we captured defeat from the jaws of victory.”

Former SecDef Panetta also acknowledged that leaving Syria to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) was a mistake, from which presumably the President has learned. Perhaps no more “red line” threats he won’t enforce???

“Strategic Patience,” you say? Really???

Meanwhile, ISIS has become the largest, best funded and armed jihadi group in the world, as it seeks to re-establish a global Caliphate extending from its currently occupied territory in Iraq and Syria. Former SecDef Panetta stated, “I think it’s important to understand that [ISIS] is not an enemy that you can kind of stand aside and not confront.” Roger that!

But not to worry, President Obama and his diplomats are seeking help from Iran to counter ISIS in Syria, while we limit our support to air attacks. Iran??? Wonder what we are trading for that support in our negotiations to limit Iran’s development of nuclear weapons.

Mohammad Reza Naghdi, the commander of the Basij, a paramilitary group operating under the wing of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC), recently claimed that the “Americans are begging us for a deal on the negotiation table.” When negotiating with the Soviets, I learned that if we want it bad we will likely get it bad. Apparently the Obama negotiators learned from teachers who think appeasement is a better approach to negotiations than being prepared to leave the table without agreement.

(Remember our policy used to be to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons . . . now it appears to be a policy of containing their nuclear capability once they get it—if they don’t already have it, as noted at the outset of this message.)

And ISIS is not idle, given Sunday’s report that their allies in Libya had beheaded 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians. White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the group’s barbarity “knows no bounds.” True enough. Will this unlimited threat remain “over there” or will it find its way over here? FBI Director James Comey recently stated ISIS is now secretly and quietly organizing in 49 of 50 states (all but Alaska).

And what will the administration do in view of this metastasizing threat? Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is responding with force—as did Jordan’s King Abdullah after ISIS burned a Jordanian pilot alive. Meanwhile, the U.S. President is doing little more than enjoying another round of golf, while refusing even to identify the threat we are confronting—let alone developing a strategy to counter it. “Strategic Patience,” you see.

And while we should not understate the reality of these ISIS or AQAP threats—and worry about them materializing in the United States, we should not forget the even more daunting threat from both Shia and Sunni elements in the Middle East.

Al Qaeda and ISIS are Sunni terrorists and the Houthis are Shia. Juxtaposed with all three (and others), I consider the greatest existential threat to be posed most explicitly by Shia Iran. Some believe Iran may already have a “checkmate” position in the Middle East. Can we be far behind???

All these jihadis—whether nation states like Iran or al Qaeda or ISIS or any number of other jihadi groups—consider their primary enemies to be the Little Satan Israel and the Great Satan America. And the Iranian Mullahs are not above working with any set of terrorists to attack either Israel or America, especially if such an attack enables them to achieve as they chant, “Death to America, Death to Israel.”

That Iran is an existential threat is not a new thought. I have often joined other likeminded folks to discuss the Iranian existential threat to all Americans once they gain nuclear armed missiles to attack us, particularly from the South.

Click here to read a 2011 National Review Online article co-authored by myself and Dr. Robert L. Pfaltzgraff. As illustrated by our October 3, 2014 Investor’s Business Daily update, details have changed but our description of the threat and what to do about it remains essentially the same today.

The consequent chaos after the electromagnetic pulse (EMP) from a single nuclear weapon detonated a couple of hundred miles over the United States could lead to the death of most Americans within a year.

Sadly, the powers that be have done little to nothing to address this threat.

What is new is that the existential threat is now imminent, if it does not already exist. And we are mostly defenseless against it.

Reassurances otherwise reflect little more than wishful thinking, to be generous.

Bottom Line.

Time is running out!!!

In particular, a quick review of our past email messages, posted on www.highfrontier.org, will inform you of many details related to the existential manmade and natural EMP threats and how we can protect America against them. Yes, we also remain vulnerable to the EMP caused by a major solar storm that will one day surely create this threat condition—and we are not dealing with it either.

Click here for a 25 minute video of the presentation former SC Deputy Adjutant General Lester Eisner and I gave at the January 17^th South Carolina Tea Party Convention, which reviews the manmade and natural EMP threat and highlights my top priority effort to make sure our nuclear power reactors can operate through an EMP event and help re-establish the nation’s electric power grid.

We are trying to work the problem in South Carolina from the bottom-up among local and state authorities because Washington seems unable even to identify the obvious problems, let alone deal with them.

What can you do?

Join us in praying for our nation, and for a rebirth of the freedom sought, achieved and passed to us by those who came before us.

Help us to spread our message to the grass roots and to encourage all “powers that be” to provide for the common defense as they are sworn to do.

Begin by passing this message to your friends and suggest they visit our webpage, www.highfrontier.org for more information. Also, please encourage your sphere of influence to sign up for our weekly e-newsletter.

I hope you will help us with our urgently needed efforts, which I will be discussing in future messages. Click here to make your tax deductible gift. If you prefer to mail a check, Please send it to 500 North Washington Street, Alexandria, VA 22314.

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