I've been criticized for not giving Clarke his due as an intelligence expert, having not read his book, etc.. But today, under testimony delivered to Fred F. Fielding on the 9/11 Commission in response a question about what fueled his strident attitude toward the Bush Administration, he said that his animosity is driven by the conviction that the Administration was wrong to invade Iraq, and that the invasion increased, rather than diminished, the threat to the US. Well, I suppose anyone can hold any opinion they like about that, but if he served without comprehending that there will never be any quelling of totalitarianism or the totalitarian strategy of terrorism in the Middle East unless and until the franchise for liberal democracy is expanded beyond Israel, then he was not only serving under false pretenses, but is essentially clueless.
I have no idea why anyone who isn't committed to self delusion would waste a moment listening to Mr. Clarke on any topic related to the War on Totalitarianism 3.x, since he apparently doesn't even know it's going on. Richard Clarke is what happens when the focus is on a tactic that's presented as a movement. He embodies the confusion introduced by inappropriate nomeclature.
Posted by Demosophist at March 24, 2004 03:53 PM | TrackBack