Richard Clarke: Qadhafi CRAZY RANTS about fighting Al Qaeda may have some FACTUAL BASIS

[Distant Observer]

Richard Clarke's new policy article "Power of the Shamal" warns that Lybia conflict could result in the US interest being undermined from all sides. The "rebel" forces are rooted in
extremist Islamic passions, and the pro-Gaddafi survivors will hate us because they REALY HAVE BEEN FIGHTING Al Qaeda aligned factions for the past several years.


http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/power/2011/03/23/the-power-of-the-shamal/

In Libya, for all that was undesirable about the Qadhafi regime, including two decades of state sponsorship of terrorism and several attacks on Americans, in recent years the Libyan government had become a virulent enemy of al Qaeda.

Qadhafi’s secret police activity against al Qaeda drove many of its Libyan adherents out of the country to places such as Iraq and Afghanistan. In those war zones, Libyans were disproportionally represented in attacks on Americans. More troubling is the fact that most of those terrorists came from Benghazi and the area around it. When I asked an Arab friend who had recently met with the Libyans now fighting Qadhafi what the opposition were like, he replied gravely, “They are deeply religious.” One fighter told NBC’s Richard Engel that he was fighting because “Qadhafi is a Jew.”

If the opposition topples the Tripoli government, supported by coalition air cover, we should not expect to see a moderate, or even remotely secular government in Libya any time soon. The foreign policy of such a devout regime is unlikely to be one we find friendly, although there may be a short period of good will in gratitude for the U.S. role in bombing the Qadhafi regime. As one knowledgeable observer told me this week, “the fact that the Muslim Brotherhood is pleased this time that the Americans and Europeans are bombing Arabs should give us pause.”

In the possible outcome that the opposition succeeds only in establishing a regime in Benghazi and the east, while Qadhafi hangs on in Tripoli, we could end up in the position of being faced with two Libyan regimes hostile to American interests.

[razorman]

1. Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean the world's not out to get you.

[Distant Observer]

17. Guess Gaddafi was duped out of his justified paranoia

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[Javaman]

16. Do tell. nt

[Distant Observer]

6. Guess you think Richard Clarke and the idiot Bachman are interchangeable????

[KurtNYC]

7. This Richard Clarke BS has nothing to do with supporting Obama

or not.

[Distant Observer]

8. His Harvard Policy article may have destroyed his usefulness to the MSM

that really don't want any downers on the ratings bonanza

[KurtNYC]

11. MSM "news" programs are less about ratings than they are about

filling up the public discourse with RW vs. extreme RW debate. The average age of an FNC viewer is 68 -- you can't sell that demo to advertisers (they buy 18-34 or 18-54). Owning the media isn't about making money directly -- it is about power; political power.

[RZM]

13. It's actually 65

http://www.campusprogress.org/articles/average_age_of_fox_news_viewer_65/

That's not too much higher than the other two - CNN's number is 63, MSNBC's is 59. The average age of all television viewers is 50. Interestingly, regular Fox television has the youngest average age of the big networks, no doubt due to shows like Glee and American Idol.

[Distant Observer]

21. OH SORRY! Forgot that rating are irrellevant to MSM money making? THANKS

[Hugabear]

15. So we should just "support the president" no matter what, without question?

I'm getting a little tired of this whole "you're either with us or against us" meme. It sounded pathetic when Bush used it, it sounds just as pathetic now.

[lonestarnot]

4. hmmmmf.

Keeping my fucking distance.

[snappyturtle]

5. Well, regardless of what been said so far, I'd like to respond to the OP.

This article is very interesting especially if read in its entirety. I hope the U.S. hasn't fallen upon supporting a rebel group which, if they win, will not transform into a democratic framework.

The first reply following the article mentions Bin Laden...maybe this uprising is a part of the 'long wars' attributed to BL in the response.

edit: K&R (well, I tried to K&R)

[Distant Observer]

18. I find it interestng the someone as respected as Richard Clarke is ignored, so powerful is the fraud

that this is all about peaceful protest and "Arab Spring."

[sabrina 1]

20. Well, a lot of people who used to be respected and who

were viewed as infallible when Bush was president, have found themselves 'under the bus' over the past two years.

It's been an amazing thing to watch, because most of them have not changed their views at all and yet, they are suddenly perona non grata.

What Clarke is saying is verified by many other sources. I thought he was just ranting also, but it seems there is a whole lot we do not know about this 'revolution'.

[90-percent]

9. Richard

I've always been respectful of Clarke. He seems like a competent and ernest public servant.

And he is the only person in all of US Government who EVER apologized to the American People for not preventing the 9-11 attacks.

It's an un-provable hypothetical, but if we had President Gore instead of the worst president ever, 9-11 would at least have had a much higher probability of being prevented. Gore would have listened to competent people in his administration, not make decisions "from his gut"

-90% Jimmy

[Catherina]

10. Erdogan warned us about the coming backlash if we persist with this "nonsense"

In addition to calling it "nonsense", he warned of a backlash against countries now carrying out air strikes. "It will be devastating for the entire Libyan people, and the repercussions will not be restricted to Libya, but will have a direct impact on those countries that have intervened."

Rec'd. 20 years of war, what could be funner for the war hawks?

[EFerrari]

19. Wasn't one of the neocons' crazy ideas to destabilize the whole ME?

I believe Clarke. When you push on Gaddafi's rants, there is always some factual component. We'll never know who he really is just as we never knew who Saddam was because we're so heavily propagandized that the right/wrong split obscures everything else.


/oops

[pampango]

12. Thank God for dictators to protect us from the terrorists (and communists and socialists).

Maybe the repubs have been right all along. Obama is siding with the terrorists! ;)

Next thing you know they'll be claiming that our peace demonstrations are infiltrated by (controlled by) communists and socialists bent on overthrowing the government by force. (Oddly that does have a familiar ring to it.) :)

[Distant Observer]

14. OH, don't worry, we can control who gets in power -- like in IRAQ