[antimedia] antimedia: And to think that he was once....

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Posted by antimedia:
And to think that he was once....
http://www.antimedia.us/posts/1177723348.shtml


   ....[1]the Counterterrorism Czar! Richard Clarke wrote an op-ed for
   the New York Daily News that is an amazing exercise in non sequiturs.

     Does the President think terrorists are puppy dogs? He keeps saying
     that terrorists will "follow us home" like lost dogs. This will
     only happen, however, he says, if we "lose" in Iraq.
     The puppy dog theory is the corollary to earlier sloganeering that
     proved the President had never studied logic: "We are fighting
     terrorists in Iraq so that we will not have to face them and fight
     them in the streets of our own cities."

   That would be in opposition to Clarke's preferred method of fighting
   terrorism -- the ostrich method.
   Of course Clarke never explains how the terrorists have managed to
   overcome the laws of physics so they can be in two places at once, but
   never mind, Bush is wrong.

     Of course, nothing about our being "over there" in any way prevents
     terrorists from coming here. Quite the opposite, the evidence is
     overwhelming that our presence provides motivation for people
     throughout the Arab world to become anti-American terrorists.

   Because America has simply been flooded by terrorists since we entered
   Iraq, right? The evidence really is overwhelming, isn't it?

     Some 100,000 Iraqis, probably more, have been killed since our
     invasion. They have parents, children, cousins and fellow tribal
     clan members who have pledged revenge no matter how long it takes.
     For many, that revenge is focused on America.

   Because we killed all 100,000 of them, right? I mean, Al Qaeda and
   Sunni "insurgents" and Shiite militias and Iranian infiltrators and
   Syrian facilitators had nothing whatsoever to do with the slaughter,
   right? It's all our fault!
   Logically, then, the way to fight terrorism is to wait until they come
   here, right? Oh, wait....we already tried that.

     At the same time, investing time, energy and resources in Iraq
     takes our eye off two far more urgent tasks at hand: one, guarding
     the homeland against terrorism much better than the pork-dispensing
     Department of Homeland Security currently does the job; and two,
     systematically dismantling Al Qaeda all over the world, from Canada
     to Asia to Africa. On both these fronts, the Bush administration's
     focus is sorely lacking.

   Clarke leaves to the readers' imaginations how in the world we are
   supposed to "systematically dismantle" Al Qaeda all over the world
   without being "over there". Does he seriously think that the only
   place in the world where Arabs might get pissed off at us is in Iraq?
   Another thing that amazes me is how he (and many others as well)
   obviously thinks that we Americans are simply incapable of fighting a
   war on multiple fronts -- like we did in WWII. Are we really to
   believe that, with 300 million plus living here in America, we can't
   find anyone other than our military to fight terrorism? (I suppose I
   can see how one might think that, when one is constantly sitting on
   one's ass whining and complaining and never actually doing anything to
   help.)

     Yet in the fantasyland of illogic in which the President dwells,
     shaped by slogans devised by spin doctors, America can "win" in
     Iraq. Then, we are to believe, the terrorists will be so
     demoralized that they will recant their beliefs and cease their
     terrorist ways.

   This is an incredible straw man considering no one in the
   administration has ever even hinted at this insane notion. And
   considering the fact that we are presently fighting terrorism in
   [2]the Philippines and in [3]the horn of Africa and in [4]South
   America and in [5]southeast Asia -- and that's just the military
   component of our fight.
   Using Clarke's "logic" the [6]170 terrorists arrested in Saudi Arabia
   today, or the [7]Iranian "freedom fighters" captured in Iraq recently
   [8]smuggling EFPs into Iraq to assist in the "civil war" raging there
   are all our fault. We caused every bit of that. If only we could all
   just get along!
   The point is, Al Qaeda is in Iraq right now. What would Clarke have us
   do? Wait for them in Kuwait? Withdraw to Okinawa and invite them there
   to fight?
   This is what passes for critical thinking?
   Clarke closes with this idiocy.

     The truth: If not for this administration's reckless steps to push
     America into war - and strategic blunder after strategic blunder
     that has satisfied the blood lust of the enemy - fewer evildoers
     would follow us home like the dogs that they are.

   It's stunning the number of people who still believe that terrorism is
   our fault. Somehow, if we would just not piss these people off, they'd
   leave us alone. This despite the fact that Ahmadinejad and the
   Palestinians and Hamas and bin Laden have all made it abundantly clear
   that what we do or do not do have no relationship to their apocalyptic
   visions.
   That is, unless Clarke thinks we have something to do with the return
   of the 12^th imam or the centuries old Sunni-Shiite rivalry. With his
   mushy-headed "logic" almost anything is possible I suppose.

References

   1. http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2007/04/25/2007-04-25_put_bushs_puppy_dog_terror_theory_to_sle.html
   2. http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0301/p07s02-woap.html
   3. http://www.hoa.centcom.mil/
   4. http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/view/2479/1/140/
   5. http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2006/September/theworld_September531.xml&section=theworld
   6. http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/04/massive_terror_.html
   7. http://strata-sphere.com/blog/index.php/archives/3789
   8. http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1177591147687&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull