Condoleezza Rice political cartoon.

Apr. 10, 2004...

Getting it right

Editorial column by Roger Wm. Hughes

A majority of Americans now say according to a recent poll that the Bush Administration could have done more to have stopped the 9/11 terrorist attacks and that the cost of the war in Iraq is not worth it. Troubling news for the Republic.

One of the long held views that seems to be true is that democracies, even those tempered by being a Republic, are slow to act and go to war. This is true even when they need to do so to protect themselves. Ironically, this is one of the reasons that the successful completion of democratic institutions in Iraq is so important. We must, as Condoleezza Rice stated, " make up the democracy deficit in our foreign policy."

There is a rush to claim that the Bush Administration in its 233 days leading up to 9/11 could have done more. Richard Clark, the leading critic and defender of the Clinton Administration, has said that it was not a priority in the Bush Administration -- despite the fact that the first Bush foreign policy directive was dealing with al Qaeda. There is Clarke’s admonition that the Bush Administration didn’t get it right because they didn’t have enough principals meetings to shake the tree. Clarke is adamant that it would have made all the difference, even though it never did before.

Clarke (who never gets anything wrong, just ask him) said that is how the millennium bombing of LAX airport was thwarted. However, the facts don’t bear that out. A conscientious female customs agent captured the suspect. She wasn’t acting on any alert or notification. She just did her job, and the suspect was caught.

In fact, another female -- who was an FBI agent in Minnesota -- was also on the trail of the terrorists prior to the 9/11 attacks. In early September, a couple of weeks after arresting suspected Islamic terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui in the Twin Cities, FBI officials and the attorney general’s office in Minneapolis sought approval from headquarters for a special counterintelligence surveillance warrant authorizing them to open Moussaoui’s computer hard drive. The warrant was denied because it was determined that granting the warrant would have violated Moussaui’s civil liberties.

Moussaoui, 33, a French citizen, was arrested Aug. 17 after flight instructors at a training center in Eagan, Minnesota, grew suspicious when Moussaoui said he wanted to learn how to fly a commercial jet, but not how to take off or land. He was arrested for a visa violation.

Rice got it right in her testimony -- there was no silver bullet that would have stopped the hijackers prior to the passage of the Patriot Act.

Clarke got it wrong. As Rice pointed out in her testimony to the 9/11 Commission, the memorandum of ideas by Clarke and the previous Clinton Administration were inadequate and not a plan. She also got it right when she said following Clarke’s idea of aligning with the Northern resistance in Afghanistan would have gotten it wrong.

Rice got it right when she stated that there was a significant need to change the dynamics between Afghanistan and Pakistan in order to get at the Taliban and al Qaeda. She was also right in stating that to change those dynamics required assurances and changes in American foreign policy between the bilateral difficulties of Pakistan and India.

Thank goodness the Bush Administration had acted on this before 9/11, so we could successfully take on Afghanistan after the attacks.

Rice also got it right when she stated that we are in a war with Islamic extremist who want to kill us and destroy our culture and civilization because of who and what we are. The Bush Administration and Rice got it right when they understood that they needed to take a broader and more comprehensive approach than the previous Clinton Administration. They got it right when they chose the second move of invading Iraq. It is true that the war in Iraq is harder than expected -- many things are. However, its importance in the comprehensive strategy of confronting Islamic extremism cannot be overstated. Just ask Iran.

It is unclear whether the American people will come to understand the global strategic aspects of our current War on Terrorism in time to reelect President Bush. However, before a potential President John Kerry sells out our national interest to "old" Europe, President Bush has engaged and confronted Islamic extremism on a global scale. The subsequent result is that no one will be able to ignore this menacing global evil any longer -- not even John Kerry or "old" Europe. The problem is known and driven from its dark den into the light where it will be destroyed.