Gunning for Saddam
"Butcher of Baghdad" documentary airs tonight, 11/8, on PBS.
click the flags for the link!
Posted on 11/08/2001 4:55:08 AM PST by packrat01
Four of 23 questions/answers from a 1988 ICA interview. From pages 38, 40, and 41.
...
ICA: How much influence do you think your books have had on public opinion regarding East-West relations and international terrorism?
CLANCY: The american people do not seem to need instructions from me or anyone else on East-West relations. There is, however, a general lack of awareness on the issue of terrorism. We have a terrorism problem within the United States, but the FBI has been so effective in dealing with it that few people recognize the problem.
...
ICA: How about the 600-ship Navy? Some say the fleet has become too vulnerable to missile attack.
CLANCY: That's pure malarkey! Billy Mitchell once said that ships could not exist in the presence of aircraft, yet ships are still around. Mitchell also said that aircraft carriers were a complete waste of money because it could be sunk by airplanes. ... (Continues)
...
ICA: Your current novel Patriot Games deals with the terrorism question. Why did you choose this subject?
CLANCY: Terrorism is, I'm sad to say, the coming thing in the world. War has become so great a political and economic risk that terrorism often appears a cheap, low-risk alternative. Unless the Western democracies start cooperating, especially in the intelligence area, the problem will only get worse. If we don't cooperate, the terrorists will win. Sooner or later the cooperation is going to happen because somebody will get burned real bad, and everybody will wake up and say, "Gee, we'd better start cooperating or we're going to lose a lot more citizens." That has not happened to date, but sooner or later it will.
ICA: Do you think the U.S. has responded adequately to the shipping attacks in the Persian Gulf?
CLANCY: Does the phrase graduated response mean anything to you? Do you think that was a smart idea for us in Vietnam? We're doing the same thing again in the Gulf now. Draw your own conclusions. It's like playing a football game where we let the other team score a touchdown, then we score a touchdown. Why is it that we're in a situation - they're calling it a war but I call it a competitive situation - why do we let the other side keep up? We have the assets in place to solve that problem even without the use of violence.
 The most obvious way the Navy could be used would be to blockade Iran. Nobody goes in or out of Iranian ports until further notice. It would work. How exactly the Soviets would react to that, That's open to discussion. But we do have the assets in place to restrain Iran. If they can't get their oil out, they don't get any money in. If they don't have weapons, the war will end. I think it would be a worthwhile thing to attempt because that nasty little war has already killed over a million people, and that's enough.
He's a good writer and an astute observer. If I were a typeist, you'd get the whole enchilada, and not just what I think has pertinence to today's events.
Or like many of us a bit of all three.
All three! Here is another interview where he gets testy with the interviewer.
I got his signature at a book signing in 1986 and he spent about 5 minutes chatting with me while ~120 people waited in line behind me. Thats a long time. I'm still flattered.
He doesn't have much tolerance for stupidity. I think I posted one of the articles he did for a British paper, and he also did one about the CIA.
The only blame for 9/11 that America deserves is blame for letting its guard down, and he probably took that approach. He's on our side, and a heck of a writer.
"Butcher of Baghdad" documentary airs tonight, 11/8, on PBS.
click the flags for the link!
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