SECOND GUESSING:
By Clifford D. May
The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies
March 23, 2004
The buzz this week is over former anti-terrorism advisor Richard Clarke's charge that the Bush administration didn't take terrorism seriously in the months leading up to 9/11.
The truth is that prior to 9/11 almost no one took terrorism as seriously as they should have - and those few who did were considered eccentrics.
<font size=4>
It would be so much better if we could study terrorism and prosecute the war against terrorism in a non-partisan atmosphere. But that seems beyond the capacity of America's political classes.
<font size=3>
For a moment, let's leave aside our elected leaders - of both parties -- and ask ourselves a question about Mr. Clarke: He advised several presidents; so what did he advise President Clinton to do about terrorism during the 1990s? This was the era, after all, when the World Trade Center was attacked for the first time, when our troops were hit in Saudi Arabia, when our embassies were bombed in Kenya and Tanzania, and when the USS Cole was hit.
Did he strongly advise the previous administration to use force to shut down the training camps that were turning out thousands of terrorists in Afghanistan? Did he recommend doing whatever was necessary to penetrate al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations? According to the New Republic, <font size=4>Clarke's idea of a robust response to terrorism was to lob a few cruise missiles into an aspirin factory in Sudan and a deserted temp camp in Afghanistan. At least Mr. Clarke might have advised President Clinton to put sky marshals on airplanes or arm pilots. Did he even write a forceful memo about the need to reinforce cockpit doors?
To reiterate: Every administration and just about everyone in a position of power failed to take terrorism sufficiently seriously over the years since the US Marine barracks in Beirut was suicide-bombed by Hezbollah in 1983. During those decades, the terrorists were at war with us - but we didn't seem to realize that we needed to go to war with them.
<font size=3>
The goal now is not to point fingers to sell books, boost careers or gain political advantage. The goal now is to figure out what is necessary to defeat the enemies of the Free World - and to do it.
<font size=4>
HAMAS HIT:
<font size=3>
Also on the front pages this morning: Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the founder of Hamas -- a terrorist organization openly dedicated to the extermination of Israel -- was killed in an Israeli air strike. European leaders reflexively denounced the Israelis. <font size=4>On what possible basis do the same Europeans hoping to see Pakistani soldiers eliminate terrorist leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Pakistan object to Israeli soldiers eliminating terrorist leader Yassin in Gaza? <font size=3>
This, too, is relevant: There is evidence that Hamas has discussed attacking targets in the US and Canada and has recruited foreign nationals for such operations. For more on this, see the FDD White Paper by former State Department intelligence analyst and Middle East specialist Jess Sadick.
<font size=4>
UN UNDER SUSPICION:
<font size=3>
It could be one of the biggest scandals in history: up to $10 billion diverted from humanitarian aid to other -- how can I put this delicately? --unauthorized uses. At least UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has acknowledged that a thorough and independent investigation is called for. Whether such an investigation will actually take place is a separate question. It is doubtful that any of this would have come to light were it not for the extraordinary investigative journalism of FDD's Claudia Rosett. Read all about it here.
<font size=4>
FALLOUT:
<font size=3>
The liberation of Iraq appears to be sparking dreams of freedom in neighboring Syria. This will no doubt come as a great surprise to the many Europeans (as well as Americans on the post-humanitarian left and the neo-isolationist right) who have convinced themselves that Arabs don't want and can't handle freedom, and who dismissed the notion that the liberation of Iraq might serve as a catalyst for pro-democracy moverments in the rest of the Middle East. <font size=4>The Establishment media has not, for the most part, gone to great pains to cover recent developments in Syria.<font size=3> FDD's Nir Boms and the Investigative Project's Erick Stakelbeck have managed to find out what is happening. Read their reports here. Also check out the dispatches on the web site of the Syrian Reform Party.
- CDM
defenddemocracy.org |
