How to Win the War on Terror (Richard Clarke)

Newhouse News ^ | 11/23/2004 | Richard Clarke

[Incorrigible]

How to Win the War on Terror

BY RICHARD A. CLARKE
 

Editor's note: Richard A. Clarke, former head of counterterrorism at the National Security Council, is the author of "Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror."

Now that the presidential campaign is behind us, it's time for the nation's political leaders to recognize what many experts in the counterterrorism field have been saying for a long time: America needs to change course in the war on terror.

International jihadist groups have conducted twice as many attacks since Sept. 11, 2001 as they did in the three years prior to that date. Jihadist membership has increased over the past three years, and leaders who have been killed or captured have been replaced. Anti-Americanism throughout the Muslim world has been exacerbated by the war in Iraq, which also created a sanctuary for jihadists.

It seems clear the United States has failed to eliminate or even seriously weaken the violent Islamist threat. This is the greatest challenge facing our generation, and the Sept. 11 commission provided an excellent road map for confronting it. Building on the commission's recommendations, a task force that I assembled and chaired for the Century Foundation has developed a blueprint for action to defeat the jihadists.

Its main elements:

Clarify the threat: To be effective, we must have consensus about the nature of the problem facing us. That threat is not terrorism, or even all terrorist organizations, but rather the jihadist terrorists who seek to hijack Islam and use violence to replace existing governments with nondemocratic theocracies.

Engage in the battle of ideas: In addition to countering the jihadist terrorists with law enforcement, intelligence and military measures, we must erode support for them in the Islamic world. Nations other than the United States (including both Islamic and non-Islamic countries) and nongovernmental organizations must take the lead in actively appealing to Muslims to denounce intolerance and terrorist violence conducted in the name of Islam. These efforts must stress our common values and overcome misunderstandings and terrorist propaganda.

Provide assistance to Islamic nations: Although jihadist terrorists are often not poor or uneducated, they use the underprivileged populations in some Islamic nations as one base for their support and as a lever for undermining national stability. The United States, the European Union, wealthy Arab states and the international financial institutions must greatly expand their financial and programmatic support for development efforts in Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Jordan, Morocco and other economically challenged Islamic nations. These efforts must support human rights efforts and strengthen educational systems and economic opportunities, especially for women.

Tailor strategies for key countries: The United States must have detailed and integrated policies for enhancing stability and democratic forces in key Islamic nations, including Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Iraq. As part of this effort, the United States must develop its own reliable sources of information about domestic political, social and security trends in these nations.

Defuse sources of Islamic hatred for the United States: The jihadist terrorists oppose the United States not for what it believes or does, but because they see America as a barrier to their creation of theocratic nation-states or caliphates. Many supporters of the jihadists, however, are persuaded to oppose the United States and support the terrorists because of specific U.S. actions and policies, especially America's support for Israel and occupation of Iraq. The United States should not alter its support of Israel, but it should seek to revive the Israel-Palestinian peace process. The United States should not precipitously withdraw from Iraq before indigenous security forces are in place but should cease U.S. military operations against urban areas, transfer rebuilding activities to Iraqi entities, abandon the concept of permanent U.S. military bases in the country, and reduce U.S. goals in Iraq so that a withdrawal can be achieved at an early date.

Improve U.S. intelligence and law enforcement organization: The United States should modify personnel policies in intelligence and law enforcement agencies (notably the CIA and FBI) to provide for more non-career-track positions. This would allow for an infusion of expertise in a wide range of areas. In addition, the domestic intelligence activities of the FBI should be performed by a distinctly separate new organization within the bureau.

Eliminate terror financing: The White House should designate a special assistant to the president for combating terrorist financing at the National Security Council, with the specific mandate to lead U.S. efforts on terrorist financing issues. Congress should pass and the president should sign legislation requiring the executive branch to submit to Congress on an annual basis a written certification detailing the steps that foreign nations have taken to cooperate with American and international efforts to combat terrorist financing.

Improve U.S. military organization: The U.S. military's special operations forces for counterterrorism activities should be greatly expanded and should be supported by a military organization that maintains a covert presence in other nations to support U.S. military action against terrorists. The military must enhance its capabilities and modify its policies to support small-unit special forces operations, including covert operations, against terrorists.

Prevent nuclear terrorism: Although the probability of nuclear terrorism may not be high, the consequences of failure to prevent it would be catastrophic. The president should appoint a senior official to direct all U.S. nuclear nonproliferation and nuclear counterterrorism efforts. Such efforts should include new initiatives to provide international guarantees of nuclear energy supplies in exchange for agreement to terminate enrichment activities.

The war against the jihadists will not be easy or free of casualties. But, unless we learn from our mistakes and chart a new course, the struggle will be much longer, more costly and more painful than necessary.

Nov. 23, 2004

(Richard A. Clarke wrote this article for The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J. He can be contacted at news@newhouse.com.)

Not for commercial use.  For educational and discussion purposes only.

[Incorrigible]

I agree with some of his suggestions but just like under the Clinton administration (which he criticized then), terrorism is not a law enforcement problem no matter how much you want it to be.  Also, there is no appeasing the jihadist masses with money.  That was tried to.

[Diogenesis]

PARTIAL LIST OF TERRORIST ACTIVITIES IGNORED BY GORELICK, CLARKE and CLINTON

1993 Attempted Assassination of Pres. Bush Sr., April 14,1993
1993 First World Trade Center bombing, February 26th, 7 Killed, Hundreds injured, Billions
1995 Attack on US Diplomats in Pakistan, Mar 8,1995
1996 Khobar Towers attack
1998 U.S. Embassy Bombing in Peru, Jan 15, 1998
1998 U.S. Kenya Embassy blown up, 100's murdered
1998 U.S. Tanzania Embassy blown up, 100's murdered
1999 Plot to blow up Space Needle (thwarted)
2000 USS Cole attacked, many U.S. Navy sailors murdered

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Consider: If Berger-Burglar, Gorelick, Clarke, Clinton and the ULTRACORRUPT Democrats had been completely HONEST
to the American public about the Islamic-crashed airplanes, like TWA800, etc. etc. etc. in the 90's
then Americans WOULD have been on alert on 911
and would have had the opportunity to prevent the 911 Atrocities.

[F16Fighter]

Sorry...

The name "Richard Clarke" only rings a bell under "whoring Kerry-propagandists."

[Numbers Guy]

but should cease U.S. military operations against urban areas

Yeah, let them have safe haven so they can terrorize the population, build weapons, and behead westerners. That's a great idea, DICK. [/sarcasm]

[prairiebreeze]

Shut up Dickie. Nobody believes you after you prostituted yourself to the 9-11 Circus of the Stars. Look up Jamie Gorelick and go howl at the moon.

[DoughtyOne]

Clarke is such damaged goods, I dismiss him. There are plenty of other places to hear reasoned thoughts on these subjects, and I'm not going to promote Clarke in any way shape or form.

[bitt]

PING TO TRAITOR!

[narby]

BY RICHARD A. CLARKE

Stopped right there. This bozo doesn't have the track record to talk about terrorism.

[Diogenesis]

On Aug. 22, 1996, just before the Democratic National Convention,
Ms. Gorelick oversaw a critical Justice Department meeting with the FBI.
mmediately after this meeting, as it happened,
all serious inquiry into the fate of TWA 800 came to an end.

Gorelick was instrumental in the corruption of TWA Flight 800 terrorism investigation
Did Clinton appointee corrupt Flight 800 probe?

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THE OBSTRUCTION OF THE OKLAHOMA BOMBING GRAND JURY INVESTIGATION,
The Mysterious Jamie Gorelick Phone Call
By David Hoffman,Sun Sep 14 12:10:57 1997

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MORE?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1117579/posts
GORELICK GATE - various FR links

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GORELICK WORKED WITH RICHARD CLARKE!

FLASHBACKS:

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"Mr. Clarke, Mr. Clarke, please this is urgent.
We can take out Osama, now. Please answer!!! We have him in our sight. We can avoid the 911 Atrocities!!!!"

Clarke: "Nope. Forgetaboutit. No big deal. They told Clinton, Gorelick and I
that they promise that they will only attack our computers and that the Bent One should go back to Monica."

[PajamaTruthMafia]

blah, blah, blah.

Take a hike Clarke. You had your chance and you FAILED!!!!

[Cicero]

This is nuts. Totally nuts. We're going to defeat terrorism by talking to them and buying them off?

Provide assistance to Islamic nations.

The Islamic nations have tons of money coming out of their ears already. And they are using it to open more madrassahs and spread hatred of the infidels--namely us.

[bitt]

(Richard A. Clarke wrote this article for The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J. He can be contacted at news@newhouse.com.)

news@newhouse.com

write him!! tell him what you think of his audacity at opening his mouth up now - he is as bad/WORSE than Dan Rather. I shun him, I turn my back to him, if I were less of a lady, I would spit at him....

[Pylot]

I have a better idea, just keep killing them until they settle down or change their religion.

Clarke was and still is a grand standing ego looking for gratification.

[26lemoncharlie]

The first thing we do is get rid of scumbags like Clark, The Clintons, The Kerry's, Kennedy's ..... and the rest of the Traitors. Prevent them from being in charge of K-Mart Blue Light Specials

[DrDavid]

What about keeping terrorists and their spokesmen off the television?

[Torie]

should cease U.S. military operations against urban areas

What a freaking disingenous disinformation artist. How can anything be achieved except disaster if the perps are left in place?

[Diogenesis]

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[demkicker]

What about keeping terrorists and their spokesmen off the television?

Now that's an idea! Never mind that Clarke has less credibility than Dan Rather, and that's the lowest blow a lime light hound can take!

[citizencon]

Richard Clarke: the self-described expert who knew everything, but didn't do anything.

[freedom4me]

Nice try, Dickie. Can you say "a day late and a dollar short?"