Twenty-first century America faces an array of challenges unlike anything in our history. The diversity of these challenges - from the failing economy, to the increasingly venomous health care debate, to our foreign relations strategy of appeasement, to the threat of terrorism within our borders - only adds to the dangers that we face.
The controversial domestic issues - such as healthcare and the economy - are creating a major diversion that distracts us from an even larger and more menacing threat - that of terrorism within our own borders. Our nation stands at a major and complex crossroads, uncertain about which roads will lead us away from the precipice that will catapult us to disaster.
Each of these issues is serious enough to bring a great nation to its knees. But together they require a mammoth measure of Solomonic wisdom to keep our nation and the American people safe from catastrophe.
The Economy
The home mortgage collapse that brought our largest banks to the brink of failure in the second half of 2008, led to an unprecedented government bailout of some of the country's largest financial institutions, windfalls that the recipients failed to pass on to the victims of their avarice and corruption.
The impact of this fiscal mismanagement rippled out into virtually every area of the economy, bringing about a tsunami of layoffs and bankruptcies nationwide. In 2008, 25 banks closed their doors. In 2009, 184 banks have already failed and the FDIC has listed another 400 banks which are at risk.
The massive bailouts that began in late 2008 dwarfed any earlier government intervention. Even the bailout of the airline industry following 9/11, which seemed huge at the time, was a mere $15 billion, as compared to the $8.5 trillion already pledged by the US Government. In fact, the bailout has became the single largest expenditure ever assumed by the US Government.
In the meantime, as the financial industry recreates itself on the backs of the American taxpayers, millions of Americans have lost their jobs, their life savings, their homes, and their hope for the future.
Official unemployment figures have now soared to nearly 10%, but they only tell part of the story and fail to reflect the true calamity of job loss. The government's current unemployment figure of 9.8% can arguably be doubled (or more), because it includes only those who are on the rolls with state unemployment offices. The true numbers should also reflect those who have used up their benefits and fallen off those rolls, those who did not qualify for unemployment because of their status as unsuccessful small business owners, those just entering the job market who can't find work, those who are underemployed, and those who have just given up looking for a job.
The consequence of this hidden unemployment is that the true situation is far more severe than it appears to be, and the problems are not being addressed.
Foreclosure filings reached a record 1.9 million on in the first six months of 2009. In other words, one in every 84 households with home mortgages had foreclosures filed against them in the first half of this year.
As the federal government continues to print money at an unprecedented rate, economists predict a turnaround in the economy in the not-too-distant future. But they are inexcusably optimistic as they miss the most obvious markers for a gloomy economic future. America has not yet seen the end product of the economic meltdown that began at the end of 2008.
The stock market, which appears artificially high, is likely to continue to misrepresent the real state of the economy until it falls again, with at least as much force as it did in March.
The deteriorating labor market, combined with falling real estate prices, and the failure of the reinforced banks to readjust mortgages to reflect market realities, has created a dangerously high level of anger, frustration, and fear throughout America. If this phenomenon continues to be ignored and uncorrected, it is likely to express itself in increasing displays of domestic violence and erratic eruptions of public violence.
Red Herrings Puts America at Risk
The cost of our preoccupation with domestic policy is high. The health care debate and the economic crisis have created a massive distraction for the American people. On the one hand, we cannot afford to take our eyes off the ball or we will be blindsided by those who 'represent' us in Washington and are busily preparing a massive spending health care bill. On the other hand, Homeland Security has almost become a non-issue, as our leaders replace words like 'terrorism' with meaningless platitudes, even as the real threat of Islamic terrorism against us increases.
From abroad, direct threat lurks in Iran, North Korea, and Venezuela. Indirectly, there is danger from Russia, Saudi Arabia, China, and Syria (among others), who openly support the terror campaigns and nuclear ambitions of others.
At home, the number of terrorist training camps in the United States is astonishing. Sprouting up in isolated areas of Virginia, New York, California, Minnesota, Maryland, South Carolina, Massachusetts, and many other states, these camps indoctrinate and train the future terrorists in our own backyards. Jamaat al Fuqra, for example, led by Sheikh Mubarak Ali Gilani, teaches its jihadis tactics in guerilla warfare in at least 35 locations around the country.
You may remember Gilani for his role in the kidnapping and brutal decapitation of journalist Daniel Pearl, which was video taped and brodcast world-wide..
Training at Jumat al-Fuqra camps includes weapons handling, scaling mountains, subduing enemies, murdering guards, hijacking cars, kidnapping, and explosives preparation. But they are largely ignored by law enforcement.
Jamaat al Fuqra is only one of the dangerous Islamist organizations in our midst. The more familiar names of Hamas and Hizballah, and their lesser known brethren in organizations like Darul Uloom (allied to the Taliban), are also well represented throughout the United States. Store-front mosques in Brooklyn, coffee houses in Detroit, training camps in Virginia, rallies in Chicago, community outreach programs in Boston, and innumerable websites, all provide cover for Islamic, terror-supporting organizations whose operations are directed against us and the democratic society in which we live. In fact, the very freedoms that they hide behind to develop their plans are the ones they later hope to destroy in favor of an Islamic government under Shariah law, that would bind us all to Islam.
Our penchant for importing large numbers of immigrants from failing states like Somalia and Lebanon, and dysfunctional regions like Gaza, has created enormous infiltration issues that we have not even begun to comprehend. The new immigrants are quickly absorbed into Muslim communities and disappear from official view. Whether the motives for their disappearance (in contravention of their official status) are lawlessness or jihad, the threat that they pose to our society is great.
Does this sound far fetched? Do we truly believe that our society will fall to a handful of radical groups around the country? Abdurahman Alamoudi was a 'moderate' Muslim leader whose charm gave him access right up to the White House under the solicitous wing of Grover Norquist, until he was arrested in connection with a plot to murder the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. In 1996, he told a Chicago conference for the Islamic Association for Palestine, "either we do it now or we do it after a hundred years, but this country will become a Muslim country."
We may not believe it is possible,
but as long as they believe that they can accomplish this, we are all at risk, because they will continue to try.
The triple threat: economy, health care, and terrorism. Each one is of great importance and they must all be on our radar. We cannot afford to ignore the domestic issues or we will be blindsided by insupportable legislation that is likely to bankrupt the nation. But neither can we ignore the substantial and growing threat of terrorism that lurks at our doorstep.
The underlying failure of the American economy makes the United States highly vulnerable to attack, from without and within. While Washington continues to fiddle with the massive health care initiative, the economy is floundering, and jihadis are preparing for the next mass casualty attack. Surely, our government is large enough to deal effectively with all three issues at once. Its high time they do!
Ilana Freedman is CEO and Senior Analyst at Gerard Group International, Inc.
Gerard Group International was founded in 1983 and quickly achieved a reputation for excellence for our innovative approach to problem solving in a time of rapid technological change. We are best known for integrating relevant and often critical intelligence into programs that provide real and lasting solutions to the immediate and long-range concerns of our diverse client base. 
