johnny2k Is Right!: It's a scary scenario: "One Second After"

Regarding a discussion about EMP and "One Second After," a novel by Professor William R. Forstchen

By John Kubicek

I had just finished posting the great column "The Sky is Falling!" by Dave Johannes from Uncommon Sense when Coast to Coast A.M. came on the radio. So happens that the original host of the show, Art Bell, was hosting the show tonight.

I've always loved hearing Art on the radio, so I don't mean to marginalize him, but he always did have that propensity to shriek, "The sky is falling! The sky is falling!" many times over the years when he was the main host before his semi-retirement. One of the best examples of that was with all the guests that he brought on the show back in the late 1990's, such as Gary North, that claimed that the Y2K computer bug was going to destroy our infrastructure. Of course, as we know, it never happened! I have used that example here because it directly correlates with the guest Art has on the show tonight. Only, in this case, Art and his guest, William Forstchen, are talking about a scenario that isn't actually far-fetched. In fact, it is a frightening possibility, especially given that North Korea has nuclear weapons, and Iran is probably very close to having them.

The scenario that was being discussed on the show is based on a novel by William R. Forstchen, by the title of "One Second After". This is where a nuclear weapon is detonated high above the United States, and an EMP (electromagnetic pulse) fries everything; virtually all transistors, the entire power grid, and all communications would be gone in a second. There wouldn't be any water, transportation, or even emergency services left to keep us going.

If you really believe that this is just hysteria-on-steroids, you need to watch the two youtube videos I have included below, both of which I found on the main page of the website for ""One Second After":

Bill Forstchen on his new bestseller, One Second After - Provided by ngingrich

Newt talks about the threat of a nuclear North Korea - Provided by ngingrich

During that radio show, Art and Bill discussed where we go from here, with the knowledge that the scenario really CAN happen. It brings up questions: What can we do? Can we prevent it? Should the U.S. (or maybe Israel) take preemptive military action against Iran and/or North Korea? Are sanctions ever going to stop Iran from building their first nuclear weapons? (Sanctions never worked to prevent North Korea from building their nuclear arsenal, by the way.) Or, is there a way that we can somehow shield our electrical/electronic infrastructure to reduce the disastrous effects of an EMP attack?

The threat is real.

An EMP attack on the United States of America will end this country as we know it. Professor Forstchen explained how the EMP attack on the U.S. would eliminate about 90% of the population in his estimation. We know that should it happen, there would be an immediate retaliatory strike on the country that attacked us, assuming we can determine who the perpetrator was. So, in other words, hundreds of millions of people could lose their lives. This is a scenario that must never happen if it can be prevented. But, do our leaders have the political will to take preemptive action? I seriously doubt it! My guess is that there would be an enormous amount of reluctance with the current administration and Congress to do a preemptive strike on Iran or North Korea.

From what I heard on the show tonight, the politicians in Washington won't even fund any kind of defensive shield, including missile defense, to protect the electric and communications grids. (I have not verified that at the time of this writing.) And that is a big problem, considering that it was also mentioned by Professor Forstchen that a large solar flare could also take America back to the 19th Century (or earlier!). America definitely needs to harden the electrical grid if at all possible.

In my humble opinion, the topic of an EMP (whether man-made or sun-made) scenario is not some type of hysteria-driven doom and gloom theory. This isn't like Algore's global-warming-caused-by-man (Anthropogenic Global Warming) hoax. It is real. At any rate, it isn't a situation where we can afford to bury our heads in the sand. If there is anything that can be done to prevent an apocalyptic scenario such as an EMP attack, we need to get busy NOW. Otherwise, keep your ammo dry.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention, I have had the book "One Second After" on my bookshelf for several months, but haven't had the chance to read it yet. I am thinking it's a good time to get busy reading!

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