Posted on 06/26/2004 11:44:10 PM PDT by ambrose
local6.com
Clarke Calls Iraq War 'Enormous Mistake'
POSTED: 10:12 PM EDT June 26, 2004 UPDATED: 10:25 PM EDT June 26, 2004
ORLANDO, Fla. -- The invasion of Iraq was an "enormous mistake," costing untold lives, strengthening al-Qaida and breeding a new generation of terrorists, former White House counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke said Saturday.
"We did exactly what al Qaida said we would do -- invade and occupy an oil-rich Arab country that wasn't threatening us in any way," Clarke said before giving the keynote address at the American Library Association's annual convention in Orlando. "The hatred that has been engendered by this invasion will last for generations."
Clarke, who wrote "Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror" earlier this year, said the United States will lose the war on terrorism if it loses the battle of ideas against extremists in the Middle East. Clarke was a counterterrorism adviser to the past three presidents
"We won the Cold War by, yes, having good strong military forces but also by competing in the battle of ideas against the Communists," Clarke later told the librarians. "We have to do that with the jihadists."
But the United States' ideological credibility has been undermined by revelations of the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison and the release of documents that showed U.S. government attorneys conducted a legal analysis of what constituted torture, Clarke said.
"What happened at that prison was legally a war crime," Clarke said. "It pains me to realize now as we read these documents that American government lawyers were writing opinions about what torture was."
Clarke took issue with some elements of documentary-maker Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 911." The movie depicts how the Bush administration allowed Saudi nationals and members of Osama bin Laden's family to leave the United States days after the Sept. 11 attacks.
The Saudi nationals were not allowed to leave until the FBI cleared them of posing any danger or having any knowledge of Osama bin Laden's whereabouts, Clarke said.
"This has become a tempest in a tea pot," Clarke said. "After 911, I think the Saudis were perfectly justified ... in fearing the possibility of vigilantism against Saudis in this country. When they asked to evacuate their citizens ... I thought it was a perfectly normal request."
Clarke added that while he agrees with many things Moore stands for, making this incident a big part of the movie was "a mistake."
How does one crawl out from under his hole?
Dick Clarke, came and went, a name that evokes some faint memory from some time ago, a flash in the pan who is forgotten but not gone.
And to think that this miscreant was considered one of the top anti terrorist experts in the country. They should have made Oliver North the lifelong head of anti Islamic terrorism.
The American Library Association (ALA) will host a special benefit screening of "Fahrenheit 9/11"]
Solidarity of the 'brainwashed' celebrate and share. . .their intellectual freedom and promote more of the same.
Clarke and Moore are the real mistakes. They are left over Communists from the Cold War.
Does he really think that what he is doing now helps our country? Or is he so bitter that he would hurt our country?
One more mistake was the admin.'s failure to allow the marines to apply enormous boot to Fallujah ass. By listening to PC advice, tying the military's hands, we allowed terrorists to regroup in other cities...now the PC crowd is carping about this, how Bush should have flattened F. while we had the chance, etc.. So the PC crowd has it both ways, just like Botoxboy, the NYTimes, LATimes, CNN, etc..
There are many mistakes that Clarke made that can be criticized but would someone please remember that the Saudi's and even binnie's relatives who flew home were for the most part, teenagers and college students??
The fear was that they would take the brunt of a distant relative's absolute disrespect of America on 9/11.
Who's Richard Clarke?
I just have one question. How does one crawl out from "under" a hole? Just curious.
An element of this article that was worthy of its own article...
Clarke took issue with some elements of documentary-maker Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 911." The movie depicts how the Bush administration allowed Saudi nationals and members of Osama bin Laden's family to leave the United States days after the Sept. 11 attacks.The Saudi nationals were not allowed to leave until the FBI cleared them of posing any danger or having any knowledge of Osama bin Laden's whereabouts, Clarke said.
"This has become a tempest in a tea pot," Clarke said. "After 911, I think the Saudis were perfectly justified ... in fearing the possibility of vigilantism against Saudis in this country. When they asked to evacuate their citizens ... I thought it was a perfectly normal request."
Clarke added that while he agrees with many things Moore stands for, making this incident a big part of the movie was "a mistake."
Now that the antiAmericans have held their rallies in France and at other prominent screenings of F911, the criticism that we always knew were there can see the light of day. I finally heard a sound bite of an interview with Ray Bradbury over Mr. Moore's hijacking of his classic novel, Fahrenheit 451.
I suppose that the media will see fit to question President Kerry about his Vietnam injuries and his post service Vietnam War activities after he is elected. Don't bother to let people hear the criticism BEFORE they make a decision to give their support.
He's out of a government job as long as Republicans hold the Whitehouse.
But, if a democrat ever gets back into the Whitehouse, then he's up for CIA director. He's job interviewing for whomever for whenever?
You think there's a difference? They all hate Bush and America. They all shared Michael Moore's 9/11 thought: "How could they do this... they attacked states that went for their friend, Gore!"
A sentiment he expressed on his blog at the time, but that strangely didn't make it into his movie.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
bump
A more liberal audience would be hard to find ... inviting Clarke to speak at their convention makes perfect sense.
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