Lee Hamilton's address at Wake Forest University's Convocation (10-28-04)

[Mr. Jinx]

(Hi all- sorry to be late with this report, but there were computer troubles on campus that day.)

I was in the audience during Wake Forest University's convocation this past Thursday. Signs were posted all over campus about his appearance, highlighting the fact that he was Vice Chair of the 9-11 Commission. I took notes during his speech and here are some of the highlights.

- The topic of his address was "Foreign Policy and the 2004 Presidential Campaign". However, "he said that the big issue was how to forge an effective counter-terrorism strategy in this country".

- He said that there were enemies around the world who were "trying to kill us". He added that they could be defeated if we all came together in spite of our differences- political, racial, ethnic, etc.

- There were four "I"s that we all needed to have to be effective against terrorism:
-- Identification: the enemies we face are Al Qaeda and "radical Islam".
-- Intelligence: increase the value of information sharing among all agencies by using a central location to collect and distribute the information.
-- Integration: collect the elements of American power to respond to any threat, in addition to force. His examples included diplomacy, law enforcement, covert action, help from the public, and foreign assistance.
-- International: cooperation is needed from all corners of the world. The current strategy to "root out" the enemy has not been able to win new allies or gain the support of many traditional ones. He also said that we need to reach out more to the worldwide Muslim community.

- He said that he "doesn't know if got it right, but they did the best they could".

-He closed saying that "he hopes that we are moving with more unity and clarity in the right direction".

All in all, an interesting speech.

[Swede]

1. Sounds about right to me.

The world has to unit to fight terrorism,and that will not happen with Rove,Cheney etc,running the show.

[Wols]

2. Who cares....

What did he say about Wake Forest basketball? I've got two sweet season tickets. Number one this year baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!