Koch's Comments: Suggestions for Obama

Everyone is advising President-elect Obama on what he should do as soon as he takes office. I have three suggestions.

One, I urge Obama to rethink his commitment to send our troops from Iraq to Afghanistan. The Iraqis have now decided to require that we leave Iraq as early as June 2010 if a scheduled referendum wins for that position and in any event, no later than December 2011, to which we have agreed. Afghanistan undoubtedly will, if it can, seek a similar ending of our presence in their country. Afghanistan has a peacock president who recently urged the return of the Taliban leader, Mullah Muhammad Omar, former President of Afghanistan, under amnesty. The president's own brother, according to The New York Times, is suspected of being the head of a drug ring with $100 million annually being funneled to the Taliban. Should American soldiers be required to die to defend a corrupt Afghan regime? Rather than increasing our presence in Afghanistan, we should be winding it down.

Two, as a result of the price of gas declining from a high of over $4 per gallon to a low of less than $2 per gallon, the American public may be going back to SUV gas guzzlers and losing interest in developing alternative energy resources. I believe this is the time to impose a $1 per gallon gas tax which would annually raise a hundred billion dollars.

My third suggestion is that half of that tax revenue -- $50 billion annually -- be used to fund a Manhattan Project. The original Manhattan Project, which developed the nuclear bomb, cost $21 billion in today's dollars. We should use the gas tax revenue to sign long-term contracts to allow battery-operated cars and other alternative fuels to compete with available lower-priced oil and gasoline.

I propose that the balance of the gas tax revenue - $50 billion annually - should also be used to fund whatever medical programs are needed for returning American soldiers, as well as a GI program at least equal to that provided to World War II veterans - of which I am one - which made it possible for so many vets, myself included, to go to college – in my case, law school - purchase homes and train for new jobs. We owe it to our vets.

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Recently, I conducted a seminar for twelve interns a few years out of college who were sent to me by a foundation that placed them with private firms and public agencies for work experience. 

The group asked me what was my greatest concern. I told them that I feared for America's future. I said I do not believe our children are willing to fight and die to defend American ideals and that consequently we might lose the war against Western civilization being waged by international Islamic terrorists.

I said that Americans love life and respect religious freedom. Islamist terrorists, on the other hand, long to die as religious martyrs while forcibly converting the infidel, primarily Christians, Jews and Hindus.

I repeated what Bernard Lewis, the great historian and specialist on Islam, had told me, that forced conversion or death could be averted if Christians and Jews recognized the supremacy of Islam and paid tribute, while followers of other religions did not have that option.

I was surprised at the opposition of many in the room to my statements. Two young women identified themselves as Muslims. They vigorously disputed my statements. I asked them to check with Islamic scholars and continue e-mail discussions with me on the subject. They said they would.  If I hear from them, I'll let you know what they say.

At the end of the hour, I asked the group to demonstrate by a show of hands who agreed with me and who agreed with those who do not think Islamic terrorism is the great danger to the world that I had  described. It was shocking to me that the interns split evenly, 6 to 6. Now I fear more than ever for America's future.