The Center for Security Policy is pleased to announce the first in a series of interviews with members of its Military Committee and National Security Advisory Council.
Over the coming months the Center for Security Policy will post these interviews on its website and distribute the contents to its member database. If you wish to receive the transcripts of these interviews when they become available, then please visit our website and become a member today.
The Center for Security Policy is honored to have as its first guest Major General Paul Vallely (USA Ret.), the Center's Military Committee Chairman.
Transcript, 23 March 2004:
CSP: General Vallely, Welcome. Thank you for joining us.
CSP: On Sunday, former Clinton and Bush Administration official Richard Clarke told 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl the following: "I find it outrageous that the president is running for re-election on the grounds that he's done such great things about terrorism. He ignored it. He ignored terrorism for months, when maybe we could have done something to stop 9/11. Maybe. We'll never know." He surmised by saying: "I think he's done a terrible job on the war against terrorism." What are your thoughts?
Gen. Vallely: Well my thoughts are: number one, Richard Clarke is much like Paul O'Neill, sour grapes. He was ineffective when he was in the office for counterterrorism because there were no gains made in combating global terrorism. So I think from this standpoint it's sour grapes. He should be embarrassed and ashamed at the remarks that he has made, particularly against the President, who has done a tremendous job in fighting the War on Terror; and has had a plan to do it and they executed the plan. So whatever Richard Clarke had as far as planning they never executed anything to forestall or prevent September 11th. And if they had done that then President Bush wouldn't have been saddled with the September 11th responsibility. And so, the President had to devise a plan, which he did, and he executed it through military action.
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CSP: Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry has argued that the "war on terror is far less of a military operation and far more of an intelligence-gathering law enforcement operation." Is this the right strategy to fight and win the War on Terror?
Gen. Vallely: Absolutely not. We found out that it was not a law enforcement operation by the mere fact that when you look at the web of terror it is made up of nation states that support terrorism and it provided the opportunity for the likes of al-Qaeda to prosper and grow and spread their hate and their terror throughout the world. And so when you have nation states that are sponsoring terrorism then those regimes have to either change their modus operandi or military action or regime change has to take place. That is exactly what's happened in Afghanistan and in Iraq and the same thing will happen to Iran and Syria if they don't change their way of doing business. So John Kerry couldn't be more wrong. He doesn't get it, or if he gets it, he doesn't wish to state that, but I don't think he really gets that this is a global war on terror and a nexus of terror that has to be eradicated.
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CSP: In your opinion, what effect will the March 11th terrorist attacks in Spain have on the fight to eradicate global terrorism? Specifically, what lessons will global terrorists learn from the downfall of Spain's pro-U.S. government that followed these deadly attacks?
Gen. Vallely: What they will learn number one is that if you conduct terror against the nation state and inspire terror in the population as well as the political leadership it will then make them withdraw or take a step backwards rather than being aggressive and going out finding the source of terrorism, again nation states and terrorist organizations, and either destroy those organizations or the terrorists themselves. So I think this is a situation that Spain is going to regret in the future because we are going to see more terrorism if we don't preempt it and attack the nexus of terror which are the nation states and the terrorist organizations.
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CSP: What do you say to those who argue that democracy prevailed in Spain and that the word "appeasement" is the wrong label to describe what occurred?
Gen. Vallely: Well, they unfortunately chose political leadership that will not stand up against terrorism. Basically, it will retract from it or if they end up removing their soldiers from Iraq, it will be an indication that global terrorism in regards to Spain is winning, not losing.
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CSP: The Center for Security Policy believes that success in the War on Terror will ultimately require an aggressive "war of ideas" aimed at defeating the ideology of militant Islam. What are your thoughts concerning militant Islam and how can the United States best wage a "war of ideas"?
Gen. Vallely: Well our book, "Endgame - The Blueprint for Victory in the War on Terror," which is coming out, discusses this in great detail about promoting the Five Freedoms throughout the Muslim world. We talk about freedom of education, freedom of information, freedom of religion, and several others…In order for the Muslim states to benefit their people, not repress them in the future, that creates the environment for this radical Islamic terrorism, these Five Freedoms must be adhered to in order to advance their cultures. Secondly, we can't win this War on Terror alone. We need the Muslim nations to purge the radical Islamic fundamentalists that are teaching and preaching hate throughout the Muslim world. And so in the War of Ideas we've got to work closely together to ensure that we eradicate, again, terrorist cells and terrorists organizations and the nations that support terrorism. So it all comes back to the nexus of terror and the web of evil, as we call it….
The real endgame for terrorism is eliminating the roots of all terror. And that's the nations that support it and the terrorist organizations.…
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CSP: As you know, Israeli forces killed Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin recently. Could you comment on the significance of this event?
Gen. Vallely: Very significant. I knew ahead of time that Yassin was a target. I knew he would be taken out. It was just a matter of finding him. He is the ultimate, as bin Laden is, terrorist… He is a terrorist, just as the other ones we are fighting in al-Qaeda and around the world. They have to be incarcerated or terminated. And they terminated Yassin. That is a very good thing. Israel should continue to either incarcerate or take out all the Hamas leaders, Islamic Jihad leaders, all the terrorists, including Hezbollah to the North.
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CSP: And Yasser Arafat?
Gen. Vallely: I recommended to the Israelis a year ago that he not wake up in the morning. I think they need to make him disappear. And I've had them come back to me and say they'd wished they had listened to me a year ago.
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CSP: Did Operation Iraqi Freedom and the capture of Saddam Hussein make the United States more or less secure?
Gen. Vallely: Absolutely more secure. And I think that's what inspired Qadhafi in Libya to take the positive measures that they have. And so therefore another nation in this web of evil, Afghanistan, Iraq and now Libya, is moving towards a more realistic approach of being a responsible nation [which] does in fact make the United States and the world more secure and more stable. Now we have to reckon with the remaining members of the web of evil…Syria, Iran and North Korea. So, that's why we have to have a strategy that really attacks the inherent and intrinsic problems of global terrorism.
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CSP: How important is the capture or elimination of Osama bin Laden in the fight against global terrorism?
Gen. Vallely: It's very important. Just as Saddam Hussein was, Osama bin Laden is the figurehead and still, as far as we know if he is still alive, the leader of al-Qaeda. And so he is a terrorist leader inspiring hate and terrorism throughout the world and inspiring these other tentacles such as Abu Sayyef and Jemaah Islamiya and other group that… [are] operating in Iraq. So, it's very important that we capture or kill all the leaders of all the terrorist organizations, not just al-Qaeda.
CSP: General Vallely, thank you for your time.
That's my guy!