Newsweek: Tom Clancy on terrorism - ‘I Try to Portray Reality’

MSNBC.Com / Newsweek ^ | Aug. 12, 2003 | By Brian Braiker - NEWSWEEK WEB EXCLUSIVE

[Bobby777]

Aug. 12 — Tom Clancy’s fans believe his political plots are visionary. Long before the threat of a dirty bomb taunted the public imagination, the best-selling author had written “The Sum of All Fears,” about Palestinian radicals who detonate a nuclear explosive at the Super Bowl. Even more eerily prescient was his 1994 novel “Debt of Honor,” in which a suicidal pilot crashes a jumbo jet into the Capitol.

CLANCY’S NEW NOVEL—released this week—seems just as tuned in to the current zeitgeist. “The Teeth of the Tiger” is premised upon an argument for pre-emptive action by a super-secret spy group—set up with the president’s blessing—outside the federal budget and away from prying Congressional eyes. As much a defense of the recent American war on Iraq as a precept for fighting terror, “Teeth” pits Clancy’s new generation spooks against a chilling alliance: a Colombian drug runner motivated by money teamed with an Islamic extremist inflamed by faith.

Clancy, however, remains adamant that he is just trying to tell a story—not making any political points. He spoke with NEWSWEEK’s Brian Braiker about how the United States might better fight terrorism, his experiences working with Hollywood and what he, a famously cantankerous novelist, really thinks of the media. Excerpts:

[RJayneJ]

Quote of the Day by doug from upland

[Cindy]

Bobby,

I believe Mr. Clancy does a superior job of portraying reality. I just hope the good guys read it FIRST. Terrorists don't need new scenarios. </tinfoil off>

[Bobby777]

Dave Hunt in "Israel, Islam and Armageddon" (the video) quoted Tom Clancy as saying Islam is synonymous with "peace" ... Dave says this is an incredible statement in light of the unbroken record of terrorism in the last 30 years ... so I read this article with some skepticism ... I think Mr. Clancy makes statements for public consumption ... nonetheless, I was dismayed to see "Sum of All Fears" PC-smashed to become Russian Nationalists in the movie version ... somewhat different than that portrayed in the book ... no doubt, for PC purposes ...

[Bobby777]

regarding scenarious, yes, this is the danger when they are spoken of in public ... I am reminded that Patton read Rommel's book "The Tank in Battle" (approximately) before engaging Rommel ... and Rommel (or Rommel's men who had read the book as required reading) did exactly what he had stated as correct in the book ... (maybe this was Hollywood exaggerating?) ...

[At _War_With_Liberals]

Tom Clancy: Nonsense. You guys have your job to do and it’s an important job. I sometimes wish you did it better—but then a lot of people wish I did my job better.
That seems to be what you’re saying in your book.
No. I’m telling a story; I’m not making a political statement.
Are you suggesting that information-gathering agencies like the CIA and NSA—
I’m not suggesting anything. I’m just telling a story.
There are critiques of the press throughout the book—one of your heroes even compares it to “women trading gossip.”
Really? Well whoever said that wasn’t me. The press has a very important function. You may be the principal guardians of our freedom. You guys have a vital function to our country. But unfortunately, I don’t think you always take the job seriously enough.
So you advocate a press that does act as a check, even though you were just complaining about too many checks and balances in government.
Unfortunately, in the last 20 years, the press has kind of put its own spin on things, and that’s not what you guys are paid to do.
With the homeland security alert bouncing from yellow to orange and back again, has the government done clumsy job of keeping the public calm and informed?
Yeah, I think that’s pretty stupid. And the trouble with you guys in the media is that someone does something stupid and you [attack] him. Why don’t you just say, “this is stupid” and just go on? Or better yet, don’t even talk about it. One of the problems I have with the news media is that you’d rather have a bad story than a good one. What you should ask is, “How do you fix it,” not, “Who got it wrong.” The first thing that people asked when the planes crashed into the twin towers was, “whose fault is this.” Well, it’s the fault of the idiots flying the airplanes for starters. But you can’t blame the intelligence community for not doing its job properly if you don’t give it proper support, and when was the last time the media supported the CIA? If you treat ‘em like dogs they’re going to urinate on the fire hydrant rather than get the burglar.

You’ve said that you’re proud to be American. Do you ever worry about patriotism or national pride being mistaken abroad for hubris?
[Laughs] The people with the most hubris in America work at the New York Times and the Washington Post. The New York Times really thinks their pages are holy. They’re a newspaper—it’s not holy; they make mistakes. We all make mistakes. But hubris? That’s a Greek word from a long time ago. That’s really a disease of kings and princes.

[Bobby777]

ping to the usual suspects ... 8)

[ntnychik]

A great excerpt! Is it possible Clancy is conservative?

[At _War_With_Liberals]

Sorry about the poor formatting. Didn't check it first.

Tom Clancy is my new hero. Not only is he a great fiction writer, he is also a well-spoken conservative. I always admired his knowledge of government and intelligence in his books.

He really seemed prepared for this interview. He had points to make and he made them. I love how Newsweek/Time tried to brand him a conservative, and instead of shrinking, he absolutely exploded with his responses. They must have been shocked- the interviewer didn't even try to follow up with questions. This is classic. I hope other Republicans 'fight the power' like Tom Clancy did.

I am interested in hearing more from Tom in the future.

[Tredge]

Hollywood simplified, but wasn't off...

Patton read Rommel's book, but not before that battle. He was just brushing up in the movie ;)

[dsc]

" I love how Newsweek/Time tried to brand him a conservative, and instead of shrinking, he absolutely exploded with his responses."

Is that available to read anywhere, do you know?

[At _War_With_Liberals]

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/redirect?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.msnbc.com%2Fnews%2F951624.asp%3F0cv%3DCB20

[MeekOneGOP]

[dsc]

Thanks.

[Travis McGee]

I’m curious about this group of spies operating outside the system in your book, the proverbial teeth of the tiger. What are they if not some sort of rogue organization?

No. Rogue organization is a bad choice of words. A rogue elephant is an animal that has gotten kind of out of control. A rogue agency is something that’s operating beyond its charter. Well, these guys are not operating beyond their charter.

But they technically don’t exist. They don’t even have a charter.

Well, it’s not written down, but they have one.

With no set of checks or balances to —

That’s how you strangle. That’s how you prevent people from doing real things. The whole premise of the book is if the government wants to do something effectively it has to be outside the budget process. That’s why the original title for this novel was “Off the Books.”

But an agency like this could easily fall under the wrong leadership without those checks and balances.

That’s why you have to be very careful setting it up. But at some point you have to trust professionals to be professionals just like you trust doctors to be doctors. That’s what they do.

************************************************************************************

If Clancy believes what he just wrote, he's not a very deep thinker. A very popular novelist, with some catchy ideas, but NOT a deep thinker.

If he can't see the extreme danger that such groups pose ("Just trust them, like doctors") then he's actually an idiot, and a dangerous one because millions of people read his novels and swallow his stuff.

A major theme in my book is the extreme danger to freedom in America posed by just such "off the books" specops groups. In "Enemies" the group is turned by a desperate president agains Americans, after a contrived series of bogus acts of domestic terrorism. The leader of the "Special Training Unit" of the BATFE created the bogus acts of domestic terrorism in order to have his unit turned loose against Americans, in order to puff up his power and his budget. These actions lead to a low-level dirty war, as many Americans respond to the covert actions of the Special Training Unit by assassinating politicians and others they hold responsible.

I'm truly disappointed that Clancy does not have the vision to see the inevitable progression of these types of "off the books" specops units toward dangerous-to-freedom domestic missions.

Just visualize President Hillary and AG Schumer, armed with blank-check "Patriot Act Three" powers, with such units at they disposal to target "right wing extremist gun fanatics" for example.

[Travis McGee]

bttt

[TERMINATTOR]

Clancy was on Hanity and Colmes a couple of nights ago. At the end of the interview Colmes said, "next time we'll discuss liberals". Clancy advised him "bring a gun"!

Molon Labe!

[Travis McGee]

Ping

[river rat]

"Just visualize President Hillary and AG Schumer, armed with blank-check "Patriot Act Three" powers, with such units at they disposal to target "right wing extremist gun fanatics" for example."

A nightmare to be sure...But, perhaps you see the glass half empty....
That scenario could be the "glass half full" -- as being the trigger to a long overdue "corrective" action against an out of control government.

Our founding father's foresaw this eventuality - and provided for an armed society.. We can only pray that the "trigger" need never to be squeezed.

The "liberal" assault against armed Americans is evidence that they still fear this potential.

Semper Fi