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Public Discourse on Counterterrorism Policy and Strategy One Year After AC1
On my way back from New York last night, I had the misfortune to catch a few minutes of CNN -- allegedly America's most serious cable news network -- while waiting around Penn Station. Those four or so minutes of cable television summed up how much farther we have to go as a nation before we can have a coherent debate about the appropriate ends, ways and means related to counterterrorism. Anderson Cooper was interviewing -- wait for it -- Paul Begala and Ari Fleischer about the death of Osama bin Laden and the effectiveness of U.S. counterterrorism efforts.
It should go without saying that neither Begala nor Fleischer -- partisan, bilious mouthpieces -- have anything substantive to offer with respect to issues related to counterterrorism. Both men are bottom-feeders in the U.S. public discourse. Even when Mitt Romney issues a classy statement on the anniversary of the death of Osama bin Laden, you can always count on people like Fleischer to soil it with their partisan hackery.
I listened to these two clowns do their political theater and got on the train angry. That anger, though, turned to sadness when I ran into former Bush Administration counterterrorism official Michelle Malvesti* on the train. If there is anyone that should have been on the television talking to Americans about counterterrorism policy and strategy, it's people like her. I would love to have heard a substantive discussion between her and, say, Aki Peritz about Presidents Bush and Obama and their respective counterterrorism strategies. Instead, we get political hacks whose lines could have been scripted beforehand.
[For those seeking an antidote to cable news and not afraid to dig into some substance, check out the great back-and-forth between Will McCants and Mary Habeck on al-Qaeda.]
*The last name should sound familiar to graduates of the Ranger Course. You have her father to thank for the worm pit.
I think it was great our
I think it was great our President and the USSS ended up in Afghanistan yesterday. Front page news to rub it in on an enemy that has lost many of its leaders and figurehead over the past 365 days.
UBL living under the sea in a pineapple after ST6 shot his eyes out. The thought makes me smile.
What would have been nicer Drew, as for those being interviewed? Why not bring on COFFER BLACK and ask him where he failed the last 20 years!
Perhaps you could do a little analysis of his failures during his tenure as the CT CHIEF wiith an organization that was tasked with finding him and failed to for over 20 years.
Having personally heard stories from several Paki's about OBL visiting and speaking at their military school in Abbotabad as far back as 1996, I find it hard to believe BLACK and the FBI were so neieve to not find him.
Well, it's all history now and we can thank BO for having the courage to terminate OBL's command with extreme prejudice. Thank you Sir.
Mr Black, you deserved the company of people like Paul and Ari. How does it feel to have egg on your face?
Exum, thank you for this
Exum, thank you for this post.
I think about every community in America has given something to see UBL stopped.
In the spirit of the WHCD, classy statements are what you get when you have TWO HARVARD Degrees. Personally, I am more about what a person does with an education than where it came from.
It is a disappointment for the Republican party to be running Romney. This election is going to be about selecting the person that can do the least damage with keeping sight on America's future 20 years from now. Health care is too expensive, Obama got the US pregnant. There is no future in a US service economy, Romney is the king of back end service.
Usually my vote goes to securing American personal freedom. Democrats are stupid with regulation, EPA is too off the charts stupid they need to learn that not everyone in America has a Washington salary. The 1968 Gun Control Act was way too much, the Clinton's really didn't help, and Obama has done a lot of actions on the quiet. Republicans have done things that are inexcusable (Reagan in '86 on NFA and Bush Senior' Presidential Order in '89 on imports). Calling 911 is about a limp as limp gets and no one in America can afford the Secret Service, 175 agents just for Columbia alone!
Who protects my family when the cops do not show up when called? Been there, done that.
Americans need a good dose of personal responsibility my fear is that it will not happen. We will continue to let people not be responsible for their own actions because someone wants their votes.
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