Richard Clarke, a former White House Counter-terrorism official through four Presidential administrations, began his testimony before the 9/11 Commission with an apology. When he spoke on September 7th on the University of California at Berkeley campus, he again began with an admission of failure. Declaring that the Bush administration had failed to prevent the 9/11 attacks and should thus bear responsibility for what happened, Clarke reprimanded his former colleagues, saying that they should never “deny the obvious.” Repeatedly, he emphasized that the Bush Administration had neglected reality and failed to protect America.
Clarke appeared at Berkeley to a sold-out crowd in Zellerbach Hall, and his speech was preceded by audience members’ exclamations about John Kerry’s prospects for the November elections. If the loud cheers were any indication, the majority of the audience was clearly taking Clarke’s expertise in the field of terrorism as a rallying point against Bush. Clarke stated, however, that he is not part of the Kerry campaign, and somberly communicated that America continues to be vulnerable to terrorists. This left open the question of which candidate is more qualified to lead Americans against terrorism.
The remainder of his speech was centered on criticism of the Bush Administration’s job in handling terrorism. One of Clarke’s major issues with policy stems from his assertion that most terror groups in the world are not a direct threat to the United States. He claimed that we’re only fighting about 100,000 jihadists who have taken such an extreme position that they are willing to die in order to kill Americans, whom they perceive as “infidels.” Therefore, a broad war on terror is unleashing adverse effects upon people who present no threat to our national security and were not connected to the 9/11 attacks. Clarke went further in his critique on the Bush Administration, saying that the goal of capturing the suspected mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, Osama Bin Laden, would do nothing more than make Bin Laden a martyr in death. “If we were to catch Bin Laden today, it would be meaningless,” said Clarke, insisting that Bin Laden is more a symbol now than anything else. Besides fighting against extreme jihadists, Clarke advised that the United States should have a battle of ideas with those who support the jihadists but don’t actually take part in their extreme measures. He pointed to the hatred of America in countries around the world as evidence of more failure on the part of Bush to deal with the terrorist threat. He said that foreigners hate the United States even more due to Bush’s “counter-productive war on Iraq.”
Clarke admitted that the knowledge of an impending terrorist attack before 9/11 wasn’t actionable intelligence, and also said that the lack of accountability in the intelligence sphere contributed to the inability to prevent the 9/11 attacks. He also acknowledged that airport security has improved immensely since the 9/11 attacks, although we are still highly susceptible to attacks in other areas such as subway systems. Clarke called for improvement in communication between intelligence agencies and a central figure who could be held responsible when something goes wrong. Another point Clarke raised was that Iran is a real terrorist threat, but will be difficult to address now that America has “lost its credibility with the world community due to Iraq.” He even warned that Iran could obtain nuclear weaponry in the near future.
The speech concluded with a strong anti-war sentiment. “I’ve never seen an instance when civil liberties needed to be compromised in order to protect from terror,” Clarke said. He cast further doubt on the Bush Administration’s success in addressing terrorism by saying that it sometimes takes up to four years for terrorists to come up with plans as carefully-crafted as those of 9/11, and that the United States could still be attacked at any time.
In order to win the war against the jihadists, Clarke emphasized the need to be unified within the United States. He suggested that Bush’s policies have “alienated much of the public needlessly,” splitting the country into opposing groups. It was clear from the roaring cheers that closed the evening that attendees considered themselves within the bounds of that alienated portion of the public.
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