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Senior Intelligence Officials: Attempted Terror Attack "Certain"

The five senior leaders of the U.S. intelligence community told a Senate panel they are "certain" that terrorists will attempt another attack on the United States in the next three to six months.

If true, why do you think the jihadists feel emboldened?

The Obama administration is seen as weak against terrorism.
Its continued backlash against the policies of the former Bush administration.
Not sure.

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July 3, 2008

Exclusive: The Lexington Project – America’s Declaration of Independence from Middle East Oil

KT McFarland

Tomorrow is the Fourth of July, the day we celebrate our Independence.We have parades, fireworks, barbecues and head to the beach - in our cars.

The war we fought over 200 years ago was to rid ourselves of domination by a country that sought to control our political and economic destiny.A country that taxed us unfairly for essentials we imported from them that we didn't make ourselves.So, on July 4, 1776 we banded together, declared our intention to break away from Britain, and pledged to forge our own destiny.

Economic domination by a foreign power? Essential goods made abroad and sold to us for any price the foreign power sets? America's destiny in the hands of others? Sound familiar?

Today our economic destiny is controlled by a few oil producing countries oceans away.They can manipulate the markets and charge whatever they want for an essential commodity that we can't live without. They use some of their excess profits to invest in terrorists and weapons and regimes which hate us.They could bring us to our knees economically within a matter of weeks if they choose to.

So what do we do?Same thing we did July 4, 1776 - declare our Independence.It's time to set America free of its addiction to foreign oil.It's time to unleash the talents of American inventors and entrepreneurs to develop clean and renewable alternatives to Middle East oil. It's time to set significant but realistic conservation goals and let the free market figure out how best to meet them. It's time to allow American industry to find domestic sources of oil and natural gas.And with gas at four bucks a gallon, and going up, we don't have a minute to waste.

American independence is too important to take a back seat to special interests groups, lobbyists and pork barrel projects.For far too long we've let certain groups put their own selfish interests ahead of the country's and advocate only programs that favored them while vetoing any that didn't. For far too long we've had a lot of great ideas get put on hold because this group or that found objection, but offered nothing to take its place.

The single biggest users of imported oil are American automobiles. Today oil supplies 40% of the world's energy and a whopping 95% of America's transportation energy for cars, trucks and planes. Oil exporting countries have their hands around the neck of the America's economy, and are tightening their grip.

The sad thing is that we saw this coming in the 1970s and have spent three decades years looking the other way.Thirty years ago Brazil decided to get off Middle East oil. They took one of their most abundant crops, sugar cane, and made it into ethanol, which they substituted for gasoline. They built cars that could run on ethanol. They are now self-sufficient in their transportation fuels while we're still dithering.

If Brazil can do it, don't you think the United States, with the single most inventive, creative, entrepreneurial people the planet has ever seen, can do it too? But make no mistake - until America makes cars that use less oil-based gasoline, America will be dependent on Middle East oil.

First, America needs to reduce our demand for oil by using more fuel efficient automobiles - we have that technology now and should continue tax rebates and other incentives to companies who make these cars and people who buy them.

Second, America needs to shift from a gasoline-based transportation system to one that relies on the next generation of fuels - like methanol, ethanol, biodiesel, and electricity.We have some of these technologies too, but many are still their early stages and not yet cost effective. They will be in just a few years, so the sooner we start on them the better.

And finally, America must rely her own resources for energy needs, like offshore oil and nuclear power. We should also take resources we have in abundance, like coal, and develop technology that uses them without spewing hydrocarbons into the atmosphere.

In a series of recent speeches, Sen. McCain unveiled a comprehensive energy plan, called the Lexington Project, which lays out a plan for American energy independence. Part of the Lexington Projects calls for a $300 million prize for whoever can develop a battery for plug-in hybrid or electric cars. If we can power our cars with electricity - which we can make from nuclear, water, wind, solar or geothermal power - we can break free of Middle East oil forever.

Some critics have dismissed McCain's Lexington Project but failed to offer any other suggestions. That's what we've been doing for thirty years and it's gotten us nowhere nearer breaking free from Middle East oil.

Two hundred years ago we declared our independence from Great Britain and set off on our own course. It has been a stupendous success.Now we need to declare our independence from Middle East oil, and once again be the masters of our destiny.

Family Security Matters Contributing Editor KT McFarland is a former top Pentagon official in the Reagan Administration and a frequent commentator on national security issues and foreign affairs. Feedback: editorialdirector@familysecuritymatters.org.

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