On the May 16 edition of his Focus on the Family radio show, Focus on the Family founder and chairman James C. Dobson broadcast an interview with evangelical pastor Michael Youssef, founder of The Church of The Apostles and host of the syndicated radio and TV program Leading the Way, from an earlier event held in Naples, Florida, in which the two discussed “Insights on Radical Islam.” During the broadcast, Dobson said that “it's a matter of time” before a terror attack destroys “a city or two or three or four.” Two days earlier, Dobson had cited the “danger” posed by Iran and the possibility of subsequent “pile on” attacks by “North Korea and Russia and China.”

Youssef cast the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as a vindication of his critique of radical Islam, describing the attacks as the moment when “the lights came on.” He continued, “Now, finally, what I've been trying to do since the early '80's is gonna happen. People are gonna wake up.”

On May 14, Dobson described a meeting he had with President Bush and a dozen other right-wing Christian leaders to discuss what Dobson called “Iraq, Iran and international terrorism.” Dobson added that, during subsequent conversations with Christian right leaders in Washington, he grew concerned about the threat from Iran. From the May 14 article on the Raw Story website:

“I heard about this danger [from Iran] not only at the White House but from other pro-family leaders that I met during that week in Washington,” he said. Foreshadowing his remarks on May 16, Dobson added, “Many people in a position to know are talking about the possibility of losing a city to nuclear or biological or chemical attack. And if we can lose one, we can lose ten.

”If we can lose ten we can lose a hundred," he concluded, “especially if North Korea and Russia and China pile on.”

From the May 16 Focus on the Family broadcast:

DOBSON: Look at the mess we're in. I mean, it takes my breath away, especially because we're not hearing it. We don't hear it from any of the media or a very, very small portion of it, but you've got that whole threat that comes from what we've been describing.

YOUSSEF: Right.

DOBSON: We're likely to lose a city or two or three or four.

YOUSSEF: Right.

DOBSON: It's a matter of time.

YOUSSEF: It's a matter of when.

DOBSON: We had better be on our knees.

YOUSSEF: Amen. I couldn't agree more. And I really think that sometimes I get frustrated when I try to communicate that huge burden that I carry and -- the average evangelical kind of out to la-la land, you know, in -- in September 11, I thought the lights came on and I thought, “Ah, it's the alarm bells.” Now, finally, what I have been trying to do since the early '80's is gonna happen. People are gonna wake up. But I think the vast majority of people just pushed on the snooze button.