Richard Clarke Talk

April second saw one of the first archetypal spring days in Amherst Massachusetts. With temperatures in the mid-sixties and a cloudless sky, one would expect the students of the University of Massachusetts to be outside, enjoying the sun. And yet, last Thursday saw over two hundred students of various majors and backgrounds crowd into a stuffy auditorium on the southeast side of campus to watch a giant in the world of American foreign policy- Richard Clarke.

Clarke was there to give a talk titled, "Thee missing pieces of the three 21st century wars: Iraq, Afghanistan, and cyberspace." For 45 minutes, Clarke outlined the significance each had in foreign policy and gave his critiques on the fading memories of George W. Bush’s America. A short question and answer session followed.

It is impossible to review America’s recent battles with terrorists across the globe without Clarke coming up. He began working for the State department during the Reagan administration and continued the job under George H.W. Bush. He gained a positive reputation due to his work in negotiating diplomatic ties during Desert Storm, and was selected for counter-terrorism operations during the Clinton years.

The second Bush administration saw Clarke’s influence start to decay. A change up in the Whitehouse staff demoted Clarke to the capacity of special advisor, where he claims that he was ignored. Clarke resigned from the administration after the invasion of Iraq, something that Clarke maintains had pushed the US away from the goal of capturing Osama bin Laden.

Clarke’s problems with the former Bush administration were apparent in his hour-long talk, which went over the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as the new threat of cyber warfare. Starting with the war in Iraq, Clarke made a point by point summary of how the war had allowed bin Laden to escape and escalated the likelihood of further terror attacks.

Furthermore, he argued, despite recent gains in stability throughout Iraq, it was not in the United State’s best interests to go there in the first place. “Do not allow the creeping revisionism to set in,” he stated. “Do not let people say that (invading Iraq) was a good idea. The truth is that George Bush lied to us.”

Clarke went on to describe foreign policy problems arising from the now-faltering war in Afghanistan, as well as unprotected computer networks- something that he says allows everyone with an internet connection access to the most vital parts of society. Clark gave step by step instructions on how to topple a power grid using nothing but a desktop, demonstrating how easy it could be. Once again, he accused the Bush presidency of sweeping these problems under the rug.

The feud between Clarke and the Bush administration is both bitter and well documented, with highly partisan viewpoints on who was in the right. The dispute began soon after Clarke’s demotion, and continues to the present.

Clarke maintains that he forewarned Condoleezza Rice of possible attacks by bin Laden’s terror group, al-Qaeda, while those in the Bush administration claim that he was, “out of the loop” for terror briefings. After the attacks, Clarke claims that president Bush asked him for any proof that now-deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein could have been involved, something that the former administration has denied.

There appears to be little bad blood between Clarke and the Obama administration, with Clarke mentioning on Thursday’s talk that the he appreciated “Obama isn’t waging a war against an abstract word like terror- he’s concentrating on al-Qaeda, the perpetrators of the September 11th attacks.” Clark also proved invaluable to the Obama transition team.

There’s a saying that goes, “History is written by the victors.” By the looks of it, the battle over who was right on the War against Terror is still being fought.

For more on Clarke's views of cyber-warfare, please check out this video