Born-Again Hawks

[kalian]

http://tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/10198

It's one thing to intensely dislike George W. Bush. It's another thing entirely to want to defeat him so bad, you are willing to adopt his own bring-'em-on worldview. But that is exactly the position in which many progressives and the "liberal media" find themselves.

The precipitating event may have been the Richard Clarke affair. The former Bush counterterrorism official, of course, was and is a hawk. And the essence of his much-discussed critique is that the administration did not initiate enough proactive measures before 9/11 to knock out Al Qaeda. This position has been taken up gleefully by many anti-Bush partisans, from columnists and talk show hosts to activist organizations and elected officials.

But have these Bush critics stepped back and thought out the implications and consequences of such a stand? Or are they just looking for anything to use against Bush, even if it violates some of their most cherished tenets?

Because that's just what the Clarke position does. How should the United States have dealt with Al Qaeda before 9/11? Launch a pre-emptive invasion of Afghanistan? Despite a series of attacks by Al Qaeda—in Kenya, Saudia Arabia, Yemen, etc.—it would have been difficult, absent the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks, to win world support for large-scale military action. Small, coordinated, surgical efforts, perhaps—like those Clinton had already tried (bombing a Sudanese pharmaceutical plant tied to Osama) without notable success. But a truly massive assault would only have stirred up the current global maelstrom far earlier. And it wouldn't necessarily have done anything to prevent the 9/11 attacks.

..more..

Something to think about as to where we want to go...as a nation I
would presume.

[stopbush]

1. It misses the entire point of the Clarke testimony.

Irrespective of whether or not they implemented a single Clarke idea, they were actively de-emphasizing the focus on terrorists. 3,000 people paid the price for their obsessing about Star Wars and the host of other ideological planks in their neo-con platform.

[phantom power]

2. there are plenty of things they might have done in *this* country

Dammit,the FBI had leads. I'd like to see this commission investigate the Kenneth Williams story, just for one.

[ixion]

3. this is new spin, IMHO

now they're trying to tell me that I want MORE wars. This has never been my position. Exactly the opposite. I think we need to STOP messing with other people's countries, which is what caused this problem in the first place.

[kalian]

4. Agreed....and this is what concerns me about Kerry.....

He hasn't said jack squat about getting our troops out of Iraq or
Afghanistan. He hasn't said anything about working with the
international community to look at the root cause of terrorism and
fix it in order to prevent radicals from taking advantage of it.

We need to step back from violence and EVOLVE....THINK!