Sure, we're blowing people up but are we losing the greater war for hearts and minds?

Experts: U.S. Needs Int'l Image Makeover

By LAURENCE ARNOLD, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - The United States is less vulnerable to terrorism today because of heightened vigilance but must improve its international relations in order to starve terrorist groups of new recruits, experts said Wednesday.

Scholars on terrorism and al-Qaida told the independent commission studying the Sept. 11 attacks that the United States badly needs an image makeover in the eyes of the world.

"Although we are winning the war against the organization called al-Qaida, we seem to be losing the cultural war," said Mamoun Fandy, senior fellow at the United States Institute of Peace...


Now there has been talk that we did nothing for a decade to stop the rise of Islamic fundamentalist terrorism. Funny, I remember Clinton giving the order to fire a Tomahawk missile and try to kill Osama Bin Laden and the GOP railed against this as political grandstanding at the time. Gee, I remember Clinton and Gingrich giving the okay for a bipartisan three year study on national security (the Hart/Rudman Commission) presenting a detailed history of Islamic terrorism and the threats it poised to the U.S. and what did Bush do when presented with the results of the study? He dumped it and said Cheney was on top of it. And I seem to remember that Clinton had weekly meetings concerning al-Qaida and Bin Laden (with the top expert in Islamic terrorism intelligence handling the briefing) but when Bush took over he dropped the meetings and updates. This is a MAJOR FAILURE on the Bush watch concerning judgement and the pursuit of national security. Here's the actual report.


The Hart/Rudman Commission Report


Here's a quick overview of the report and how the Bush administration dumped it (from SALON).


"We predicted it"

A bipartisan commission warned the White House and Congress that a bloody attack on U.S. soil could be imminent. Why didn't anyone listen?

By Jake Tapper...


And here's the executive summary from the report.

31 January 2001

Executive Summary of U.S. Commission on National Security Report

A bipartisan commission set up to evaluate the current national security climate and propose changes needed to meet new threats has issued a report that calls for major changes in governmental structures and processes.

Included in the report released January 31 by the United States Commission on National Security/21st Century are a proposal for a new, cabinet-level National Homeland Security Agency that would combine the Federal Emergency Management Agency with several other agencies, and a prescription for recasting a "crippled" State Department and the Department of Defense.

The 14-member commission, headed by former Senators Gary Hart (Democrat, Colorado) and Warren Rudman (Republican, New Hampshire), includes other former legislators, Executive Branch officials, military leaders and representatives from business, academia and the news media.

Following is the text of the executive summary of the 140-odd page report: The complete report can be accessed at www.nssg.gov.






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