Richard Clarke and immediate retaliation for every strike against the USA.

[The Backlash Cometh]

Don't get me wrong, I like Richard Clarke. I read his book and feel that if Bush was just man enough to maintain the same system of surveillance in place that Clinton had, that we would have avoided 9/11, altogether.

But, I so question Richard's zeal for retaliation for every strike against the U.S.A. Not because I think it's a bad idea, theoretically, but because I don't think our government, with all its moles in high places in the intelligence agencies, and with political appointments which compromise the integrity of the mission, has the track record to pinpoint the culprits and make a massive strike, without making things inherently worse for everyone involved.

In essence, garbage in, garbage out.

The first order of business for the next president should be to improve the integrity of our intelligence agencies and to ferret out all the hidden agendas, clean out the moles and remove the political appointments.

Did I miss anything?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Don't think so

except that building coalitions via diplomacy, and showing integrity in the Oval Office will help a lot to curb any more acts of terrorism, I think. Strength through peace.