Making America a Bigger Target of Terrorism
By Eric Margolis
10/29/1998
WASHINGTON - How much was the hidden cost of the latest Mideast
summit, I asked last week in my column from Washington? What did
Clinton's latest Hollywood diplomacy cost American taxpayers?
Hard figures are beginning to emerge. Israel is likely to
get a special US $1 billion grant on top of the $3-5 billion
in annual aid it currently receives. The Palestinian
Authority may get $100 million, some of which is more likely
to end up in Switzerland than Palestine. This is a very
expensive photo-op. The president's self-proclaimed process
of `redemption' is not going to come cheap.
Clinton compared the Wye River summit to the 1978 Camp David
agreements between Israel and Egypt. Camp David cost US
taxpayers $4 billion annually in direct aid - $80 billion
to date. Half of all US foreign aid now goes just to Israel
and Egypt.
Military power and money are the two principal components of
international power. America's huge expenditures to rent
Mideast peace have degraded its ability to influence events
elsewhere. Excuse my cynicism, but Israelis and
Palestinians are no fools. They clearly understand their
ongoing feud keeps the Yankee dollars coming.
The second big cost incurred at Wye was Clinton's offer to
use the Central Intelligence Agency to
- combat terrorism;
- ensure the Palestinian Authority is making a maximum
effort to crush Palestinian radicals.
This is a terrible mistake that will have dangerous
repercussions for US security. CIA's prime role is to
provide information and evaluation to the White House and
Congress. Its secondary mission is to influence events
overseas by covert means, and to provide an unofficial
diplomatic network.
Turning CIA into an official auxiliary of Israeli and
Palestinian security forces in their long war against
Palestinian radicals deters from the agency's mission,
wastes resources, and interferes with CIA's ability to make
clear, impartial evaluations.
CIA has long operated in the Mideast shadows to defend
America's Arab clients or Israel, and combat radical groups.
Everyone in the region understands this. CIA was also the
main defender of the PLO within the US government, and a
close ally of Arafat since 1980. Yet CIA also maintains
links with many radical groups, including groups branded
`terrorists' by the US and Israel.
Giving CIA an open role in the `war against terrorism' means
its agents cease being unbiased information providers and
become foot soldiers in the Mideast's back-alley battles.
Worse, by clearly aligning CIA with one side, Clinton will
drag the US ever deeper into the Mideast's multi-layered
conflicts and make America a bigger target than ever.
CIA is simply not ready for this new job, contrary to
Director George Tenet's assurances. CIA is strong in
information collection, but its analysis/evaluation is still
flabby, bureaucratized, and too often tells the White House
what it wants to hear.
The agency's human intelligence (humint) remains a disaster.
Mass purges of veteran field officers by President Jimmy
Carter, ineffectual directors, the Aldrich Ames spy
catastrophe, and failure to hire sophisticated personnel,
crippled the Operations Directorate, caused widespread
demoralization, and produced a string of humiliating
fiascos.
Consequently, CIA has had to rely on foreign intelligence
services for humint. Not surprisingly, it gets fed a steady
diet of disinformation, or selective, self-serving
information from `friendly' governments. Just such tainted
data resulted in the recent disgraceful attack against a
Sudanese pharmaceutical plant.
Once CIA is seen working overtly on behalf of Israel or the
Palestinian Authority, its already dented credibility, and
essential access in other Mideast factions or regimes will
suffer, not to mention heightened risks to its agent
networks, methodology, and codes caused by such close
collaboration.
Palestinians and Israelis are, of course, delighted. Uncle
Sam will fork out yet more cash. CIA has been openly
enlisted to fight their sworn enemies. Just such
`mission-creep' got the US into Vietnam.
Copyright: Eric Margolis, 1998
