FBI whistleblower: War would detract from fighting terrorism
Rebecca Schlesinger
Staff Writer
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Earlier this month, FBI agent Coleen Rowley reemerged as a voice of contention against President Bush's "War on Terrorism."
Rowley is recognized as the whistleblower who made accusations concerning the FBI's inability to avert the devastating success of the Sept. 11 hijackers. In a memo to FBI director Robert Mueller, recently released to the public, Rowley cautioned the U.S. government against devoting too much attention to its pursuit of war against Iraq.
Rowley said, "We should be deluding neither ourselves nor the American people that there is any way the FBI ... will be able to stem the flood of terrorism that will likely head our way in the wake of an attack on Iraq."
Her message was two-fold: that the U.S. invasion of Iraq "will, in all likelihood, bring an exponential increase in the terrorist threat to the U.S.," and that the FBI is inadequately prepared or equipped to handle a threat of this heightened magnitude.
Although government officials have advised Americans to disregard Rowley's warning, her arguments are well supported by officials and experts in the United States and abroad.
The probability of terrorist attacks on the United States will become greater once military operations get underway. Al Qaeda, the most notorious threat, has vowed to retaliate in defense of the Iraqi citizenry, regardless of their lack of interest in the future of Saddam's government.
Protecting sanction-stricken Muslims from further pain and destruction is Osama bin Laden's alleged motive for action. "It doesn't matter if the regime in Baghdad survives or falls," said bin Laden in his February 2003 broadcast. Many groups and individuals throughout the world are sympathetic with al Qaeda's declaration of Iraqi defense.
The Bush administration was also warned by Rowley against attacking Iraq if it does so without the support of the global community.
Acts of terror will be more easily prevented if the United States has allies on whom it can rely to help fight the "War on Terrorism."
Nations such as Pakistan, which recently aided in the arrest of al Qaeda's chief of operations, have proven extremely helpful in finding and detaining prominent suspects. The Nuclear Threat Initiative found through a recent report from Harvard University that instead of engaging in "debates how to disarm Iraq, [the U.S. government] must focus [its] efforts on shutting down the hundreds of pathways around the world that terrorists could use to acquire nuclear weapons or the material and know-how to make them."
Protection of weapons and "insecure nuclear stockpiles," among other suggestions of the NTI/Harvard report, "can only succeed if carried out in full participation with Russia and all the nations that have nuclear weapons and materials."
In waging a pre-emptive strike on Iraq, the United States will possibly lose the friends and resources it needs to be victorious in the "War on Terrorism."
Apart from Rowley's qualms with a war in Iraq, she brings to the national foreground the question of the preparedness of the FBI in its ability to assure protection to the people.
She finds the "internal security posture has been weakened by the diversion of attention from al Qaeda to our government's plan to invade Iraq."
The White House responded that the statements made by Rowley are of no real importance.
White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said, "The president takes all such warnings seriously ... and he is confident that every step is being taken to protect the homeland."
Rowley furthermore asserts that she feels rupturing ties with the United Nations and the international community would hardly prove beneficial to the prevention of terrorist repercussions.