Posted on 01/31/2004 1:16:53 PM PST by SwinneySwitch
America has made progress on the war on terror, but the Bush administration's course on Iraq didn't make it any easier, U.S. Rep. Jim Turner told some 100 St. Mary's law students Friday.
Turner, the ranking Democrat on the House Select Committee on Homeland Security, said the country needs a three-pronged approach to the war on terror: attack terrorists, protect against terrorist attacks, and prevent the rise of future terrorists.
But taking that approach requires the country to rebuild the goodwill of the global coalition "squandered" since the U.S. declared war on Iraq.
"This global coalition against Saddam Hussein's regime could have been maintained had we not insisted on our timetable for initiating the war," said Turner, of Crockett.
"And now, it is becoming even clearer that the intelligence suggesting that Iraq was an imminent threat was wrong, and we are left virtually alone, shouldering the financial and strategic burden of securing and reconstructing this vast land. ... American power is now at its zenith, but our political standing in the world has never been worse."
Turner also called for increasing the number of Arabic translators so information can be processed more quickly.
"Prior to Sept. 11, the translation backlog at the FBI resulted in 35 percent of the Arabic language information collected not being translated," Turner said.
He also called for doubling the size of U.S. special forces and for the recruitment and training of hundreds of Arab agents to "infiltrate the enemy."
Internationally, Turner suggested the United States help create 10 special forces units with operatives from NATO's 19 nations and joint commando teams with troops from allied nations, such as Turkey, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
Those teams would target terrorists.
He also said more countries must get involved in blocking funds intended for al-Qaida.
"To get to the bad guys, you need a posse, not a lone ranger," Turner said.
"To ensure that we take every step we can to prevent a large-scale attack on American soil, we must double our forces on the borders and install radiation detectors at every port, modernize the U.S. Coast Guard, and screen all cargo placed on passenger airlines," he said.
He also suggested tripling the budget for an international alliance to secure all nuclear, chemical and biological weapons materials — at a cost of about $3 billion a year, "the equivalent of three weeks' occupation costs in Iraq."
To foil the rise of future terrorists, Turner called for a dialogue with Arab countries "at every level" and a plan in the spirit of the Marshall Plan, a $13 billion, four-year initiative that helped rebuild many European countries devastated in World War II.
Turner said the United States should organize an international effort to raise $20 billion over the next 10 years to provide secular educational alternatives for Arab children. He said many of them learn in schools sponsored by al-Qaida sympathizers.
-gcontreras@express-news.net
Good riddance!
Excuse me.......9/11 didn't happen???
Turner went on to say (or should have) that even if the posse hinders the ability to catch the bad guys because it's constituted of liars and thieves. It's more important to have a big posse then to catch the bad guys.
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