Who do you trust to fight terrorism?

[yesthattom]

Not only did the Clinton campaign work to stop Al Qaeda, but the Bush admiinistration shut it down:

"The most damaging remarks came from Gen. Henry H. Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff until Oct. 1, 2001. Shelton told us that in the Bush administration terrorism had moved "farther to the back burner." He also recounted how the Joint Chiefs of Staff, frustrated at the lack of progress in dealing with Al Qaeda, had begun a disinformation program in the last year of the Clinton administration to create dissent within the Taliban. But Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz shut it down. Counterterrorism, the new leadership felt, was not a military mission."

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-benjamin30mar30,1,3523274,print.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions

Comments

[dglenn.livejournal.com]

"Counterterrorism, the new leadership felt, was not a military mission."

<cynicism level="100%" tone="snide">
<paranoia level="80%">
Well, DUH! It's a law-enforcement mission, not a military mission. What good are all those laws diminishing civil rights, diminishing privacy, secret "you're not allowed to tell anyone we looked at your records" warrants, etc. in the hands of the military? The military is just gonna fight terrorism, not take full advantage of these tools to spy on people who criticize the government or circumvent due process in other investigations by throwing terrorism allegations around whenever they don't like the rules. No, the civil-rights-infringing tools only do the administration any good if it's law enforcement folks wielding them, so counterterrorism can't be a military mission.
</paranoia></cynicism>

Hmm. There seems to be a problem with the closing tags...

[dj-segfault.livejournal.com]

> Hmm. There seems to be a problem with the closing tags...

That's because they don't have an exit strategy ;)