Sunday, September 08, 2002

Bill Clinton outlines his views about his wider vision regarding terrorism and peace:




First, we should support President Bush and our military in finishing the job of getting Osama bin Laden and the other al-Qaeda leaders out of Afghanistan.

Second, we must do everything we can to end the North Korean nuclear missile programme. This is a very big deal: the North Koreans may not be able to grow enough food to feed their people, but they are world-class missile builders and they sell missiles to our adversaries.


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Third, we must constrain the production and distribution of chemical, biological, and small-scale nuclear weapons. We know that Saddam Hussein is a continuing concern because his laboratories are busy. His military is much weaker than it was at the time of the Persian Gulf War, but the threat of his labs is real. It is not as immediate as the need to restart the Middle East peace process and stop the violence there, and it may not require an invasion, but it must be addressed.

Fourth, we should increase the capacity of our friends to deal with terror. I support what President Bush is doing to help President Gloria Arroyo in the Philippines. I also believe Bush is right to broaden the uses of our aid to Colombia, in order to save the oldest democracy in Latin America from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or Farc. The Farc are, in fact, terrorists in the service of drug traffickers who are trying to make Colombia the world's first narco-state.

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Fifth, we have to improve domestic defences and cooperation. I support the creation of a new Department of Homeland Security as long as it has the authority to keep all the related agencies in close cooperation and it has immediate access to all intelligence.