FW: Fwd: [NativeNews] WAR ON ETHICS: Clarke's Public Service

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Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2004 21:06:32 -0500
Subject: [NativeNews] WAR ON ETHICS: Clarke's Public Service
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Clarke's Public Service=20
By Tom Maertens Star Tribune via Truthout
Sunday 28 March 2004
http://www.startribune.com/stories/562/4690189.html

MANKATO, MINN. =97 Richard Clarke, who served as the national coordinator fo=
r counterterrorism in the White House, argues in his new book, =93Against Al=
l Enemies,=94 that the Bush administration ignored the threat from Al-Qaida=20=
and instead chose to fight =93the wrong war=94 by attacking Iraq.

The troops who could have been used in Afghanistan to capture Osama bin Lade=
n and Al-Qaida were instead held back for the planned invasion of Iraq. In c=
ontrast to the 150,000 men sent to Iraq, only about 11,500 troops were sent=20=
to Afghanistan, a force smaller than the New York City police. The result is=
 that Bin Laden and his followers escaped across the border into Pakistan.

Meanwhile, American troops are being killed in Iraq, our army is stretched t=
o the breaking point, our international credibility is at an all-time low, M=
uslims are further radicalized to join a jihad against us, and our relations=
 with key allies have been damaged.

The Bush administration has counterattacked furiously, impugning Clarke=92s=20=
facts, his timing and his motives. Marc Racicot, chairman of the Bush-Cheney=
 campaign, said on national television that Clarke=92s charges were =93almos=
t malevolent.=94 The qualifier =93almost=94 is apparently meant to distingui=
sh Clarke from someone genuinely malevolent =97 Saddam Hussein, perhaps.

Clarke was a colleague of mine for 15 months in the White House, under both=20=
Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Subsequently, I moved to the U.S. State Dep=
artment as deputy coordinator for counterterrorism, and worked with him and=20=
his staff before and after 9/11.

My experience confirms what Clarke relates in his book. The Bush administrat=
ion did ignore the threat of terrorism. It was focused on tax cuts, building=
 a ballistic missile system, withdrawing from the ABM Treaty and rejecting t=
he Kyoto Protocol.

Administration officials seemed to believe that the terrorist attacks on the=
 United States in East Africa, and on the USS Cole, were due to Clinton=92s=20=
moral failings. Since they didn=92t share those weaknesses, and because Pres=
ident Bush had the blessing of Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and Justice Anto=
nin Scalia, we would be spared any serious attack. Moral superiority would t=
riumph.

I personally believe that Clarke was one of the most effective government of=
ficials I have ever worked with =97 most effective, but not the most loved.=20=
He has been described as a bureaucratic steamroller, and he no doubt ruffled=
 some feathers, but who better to put in charge of counterterrorism? Unfortu=
nately, he suffered the fate of Cassandra: He was able to foresee the future=
 but not convince his leaders of the threat.

Despite its own failings, the Bush administration has conducted a scorched-e=
arth smear campaign against Clarke, because his book threatens Bush=92s care=
fully orchestrated image as a war president.

The president keeps repeating the mantra that America is safer now that Sadd=
am is gone. But no weapons of mass destruction (WMD) have been found in Iraq=
, and Bush now admits that Saddam was not involved in 9/11. The future of a=20=
nuclear-armed Pakistan is far more important to our security than was Iraq.

We have also learned from former Treasury Secretary Paul O=92Neill that the=20=
president spoke of overthrowing Saddam from the day he arrived in office. Cl=
arke reports that on Sept. 12, 2001, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was a=
lready advocating bombing Iraq, even though Clarke told him that Iraq was no=
t involved in the 9/11 attack.

We also know that some people who became members of the Bush administration=20=
had been advocating the overthrow of Saddam since 1996. The president=92s cl=
aim that this was a war of necessity was never supported by the facts. But w=
hat better to stir up patriotic fervor in the run-up to an election than a w=
ar?

Is this too cynical?

Karl Rove, the president=92s political adviser, is said to reread Machiavell=
i the way the devout study their Bibles. It was the Bush-Rove team that depl=
oyed the scurrilous push-poll techniques against Sen. John McCain in the 200=
0 South Carolina primary. (Sample question: =93Would you be more likely or l=
ess likely to vote for John McCain for president if you knew he had fathered=
 an illegitimate black child?=94 In reality, the brown-skinned child with Mc=
Cain was his adopted Bangladeshi daughter, but the race-baiting worked and M=
cCain was defeated.)

It was also Rove who in 2002 counseled Republican congressional candidates t=
o =93run on the war.=94 This is a man who recognizes a potent political prop=
 when he sees one. Is this the real reason for the invasion of Iraq? The Bus=
h administration=92s other justifications don=92t hold water.

The Bush-Cheney ads don=92t show the dead or wounded from that war, of cours=
e, nor do the cheerleaders on Fox News, despite the nearly 4,000 casualties=20=
we have suffered in Iraq to date.

They don=92t like to talk about the $160 billion we have spent to run the wa=
r either. That works out to $571 for each man, woman and child, or $2,285 fo=
r a family of four. And the cost is sure to go higher.

Clarke=92s gutsy insider recounting of events related to 9/11 is an importan=
t public service. From my perspective, the Bush administration has practiced=
 the most cynical, opportunistic form of politics I witnessed in my 28 years=
 in government: hijacking legitimate American outrage and patriotism over 9/=
11 to conduct a pre-ordained war against Saddam Hussein.

That invasion was then misleadingly packaged as a war on terrorism and used=20=
to sell more tax cuts, the USA Patriot Act, oil drilling in ANWR, exemptions=
 to environmental laws and other controversial programs. Those who have oppo=
sed the misguided invasion have been labeled appeasers and unpatriotic for f=
ailing to support =93the troops=94 =97 meaning the president=92s policies.

As Clarke has observed, the real war is against Al-Qaida. Instead, the Bush=20=
administration has involved us in a breath takingly cynical, unprovoked war=20=
against Iraq, under false pretenses, which it now uses to justify the reelec=
tion of a president who has violated the public trust.

-------

Tom Maertens, now retired, also served as a Naval officer during the Vietnam=
 era and a Peace Corps volunteer in Africa.

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