Reply #71: Clark podcast, 9/11/06

[Adelante]

Could we have possibly imagined five years ago, that we would have done so poorly?

Well the truth is, yes! We did imagine it, because right after 9/11 we saw all the indicators of an administration that was tragically mistaken in the way it approached national security, and mixed national security with politics. Its approach to national security was colored by the "Project for a New American Century" and some prejudices brought in by Administration members from a time far distant in the evolution of the Post-Cold War world. A determination to smash regimes by force in the Middle East. And a determination to strike governments rather than go after terrorists organizations themselves.

Yes, we saw that. We saw it in the refusal to deal with the terrorists before 9/11 and the president's dereliction of duty. We saw it afterwards in the hasty decision to invade Iraq no matter what. And I saw it when I went through the Pentagon in November of 2001 when a senior officer waved a memo in front of me that purported to explain the administration's plans to take down, first Iraq, then Syria, then Lebanon, then Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and then go after Iran - all in five years.