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Tuesday, 28 November 2006 14:37 |
By JIM GENARO
After discussing the treat of terrorism at the World Affairs Council of Western North Carolina at UNC Ashevilleës Humanities Lecture Hall Nov. 14, former CIA agent Peter Probst answered questions from members of the audience.
"The U.S. has much more population and itës a larger target" than England, one man observed. "Why has the U.S. not seen as much activity as the U.K. has?"
Probst responded that England places a greater value on free speech, even hate speech, than the U.S. does. This permissive attitude, he argued, makes them more vulnerable.
Furthermore,
the country does not adequately appreciate the threat posed by
terrorism, Probst argued. He said that when he visited the U.K., he met
many people who "truly did not believe that there is an Islamic threat.
If you donët look, you arenët going to see."
He went on to say that in the U.S., speech is often tolerated on college campuses that is sympathetic to terrorists.
However, he added, "itës not the speech, itës the actions that conern us."
He drew a
parallel between the present situation on college campuses with the
political unrest of the 1960s, comparing jihadists to the Weathermen,
the radical leftist student group that carried out a series of bombings
and attacks with the goal of overthrowing the U.S. government. Among
jihadist groups, "the same as you saw in the 1960s, those that are
recruited ÇƒÓ like the Weathermen ÇƒÓ are often the best and brightest."
Another man
asked about the impact of the War on Terror ÇƒÓ particularly President
Bushës wiretapping program and the USA PATRIOT Act on civil rights.
"Thereës been a
lot of anger in this country over the past couple of years about how we
proceed in the war against terror," the man said. "Where do you see the
balance needing to be struck?"
"Thereës a
normal tension between security and freedom that needs to be struck,"
Probst replied. "Certainly, the wiretapping should have been
implemented a long time ago."
Prior to the programës implementation, he said, warrants for a wiretap applied to a specific phone, not a person.
Under the new
system, he noted, warrants apply to a person, thereby allowing federal
agents to listen to any phone that person might use, so a lead is not
lost when a suspect changes phones.
However, he acknowledged that "there are some aspects of the PATRIOT Act that are issues and I suspect these will be revised."
One man
referenced an Islam scholar who has argued that Bin Laden attacked the
U.S. with the hopes of provoking a land war with an Islamic country "in
order to polarize Muslims around the world." The man argued that now
that the U.S. has done so, the jihadist movement can fight the West in
Iraq, without having to plan attacks in the U.S.
"Might this explain why there has been no attack in the U.S.?" he asked.
Probst said that this was not the case, as terrorists have planned attacks in the U.S.
However, he
added, "we tend to bust them too soon. Itës difficult to get a
conviction based on the evidence that has been collected that far."
From the
perspective of the intelligence community, Probst said, it makes more
sense to wait and watch suspected terrorists to learn more about their
connections and methods. However, the FBI "comes from a law-enforcement
perspective" and tends to arrest people too early, he argued.
Furthermore, the
motivation of Bin Ladin and his followers, Probst said is not to
radicalize the Muslim world, but to establish sharia ÇƒÓ or Islamic law ǃÓ
in the United States. "They want this to be the Islamic States of
America," he told the audience.
Such goals are often stated on password-protected jihadist Web forums, he noted.
"If you think
the governmentës trying to overstate the threat, read the jihadist Web
sites," Probst said. "Itës sort of like reading ǃÚMein Kampf,ë" Adolph
Hitlerës pre-World War II book in which he described his intentions.
"Bush has said
that the war in Iraq has become the centerpiece of the War on Terror,"
a man in the audience said. "Do you agree with that?"
"It has become
that," Probst replied. Iraq has replaced Afghanistan as the central
training ground for jihadists, he said. This, he added, is "because of
a very flawed policy" on the part of the U.S.
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