Posted on 04/15/2006 6:51:41 PM PDT by wagglebee
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. conflict with Iran could be even more damaging to America's interests than the war with Iraq, former White House counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke wrote in Sunday's New York Times.
In an op-ed article co-authored with Steven Simon, a former State Department official who also worked for the National Security Council, Clarke wrote reports that the Bush administration is contemplating bombing nuclear sites in Iran raised concerns that "would simply begin a multi-move, escalatory process."
Iran's likely response would be to "use its terrorist network to strike American targets around the world, including inside the United States," Clarke and Simon warned.
"Iran has forces as its command far superior to anything Al Qaeda was ever able to field," they said, citing Iran's links with the militant group Hezbollah.
Iran could also make things much worse in Iraq, they wrote, adding "there is every reason to believe that Iran has such a retaliatory shock wave planned and ready."
President George W. Bush might then sanction more bombing, Clarke and Simon said, hoping Iranians would overthrow the Tehran government. But "more likely, the American war against Iran would guarantee the regime decades more of control."
The authors concluded by warning that "the parallels to the run-up to the war with Iraq are all too striking: remember that in May 2002 President Bush declared that there was 'No war plan on my desk' despite having actually spent months working on detailed plans for the Iraq invasion."
Congress "must not permit the administration to launch another war whose outcome cannot be known, or worse, known all too well," they said.
Our enemies see this and think we are weak...and won't fight. This is getting very dangerous.
Dear Mr. Clarke: Please shut up. Your years as counter-terrorism expert were a total failure. The end result of your labors was the 9/11 attacks. Please be quiet, we no longer need or want your advice.
Clarke is salivating over a nuclear-armed Iran.
I think we should form an imaginary organization called the Neville Chamberlain Memorial Society. Richard Clarke can be its charter member.
If we keep listening to this IDIOT!!! We'll be hit by 9/11 after 9/11... Can this IDIOt shut up for a change?
OpinionJournal - Leisure & Arts
A year ago, I thought Richard A. Clarke, President Clinton's counterterror czar, was a hero ... He left the White House almost a month before the war began. ...
www.opinionjournal.com/la/?id=110004893 - 47k - Cached -
Also, I wonder how many more copies of his book are going to get sold with this suppportive write-up.
Hey Clarke...quite a track record you and your bent boss have...NOT.
Why the media continues to listen to this"has been" is beyond me. We'll let the present administration make the required decisions to defend this country.
The former president was to busy playing doctor in the white house that's how 9-1-1 came to pass. Mr. Clark is as responsible for that disaster as the former president.So he should hide in his cave somewhere.
Clarke is salivating over a nuclear-armed Iran.<<<
And a cabinet post under Hitlery or John Fraud Kerry.
"more likely, the American war against Iran would guarantee the regime decades more of control."
Not if we just kill em all....
Richard who?
Please exit stage left. Your 15 minutes are up.
It is people like Clarke and the Treasonous Six that will eventually cause the implosion that destroys our great nation.
Clark and Maddie Halfbright...what a dynamic duo.
It clearly seems to be their desire just as was a nuclear North Korea. America subject and repentant -- humiliated before the world is their goal. Noam Chomsky Takes the lead for these "intellectuals".
In many nations, Clarke would have been imprisoned and possibly executed for his incompetence.
He's just overflowing with credibility.
/s
Smile a lot, maybe they'll go away.
I was thinking that bombing Iran with videos and the personages of both Clarke and J. Wilson would cause a great victory (here at home).
Is that Imam Clarke, or the one otherwise anxious to have his throat cut?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.