World renowned diplomat Richard Holbrooke shared his views on the political implications of Sept. 11 on Wednesday night with more than a hundred area residents, MSU students, faculty and staff.
Holbrooke, a former U.N. ambassador, presented his lecture in honor of the United Nations’ 56-year anniversary. He is the first of four speakers in the World View lecture series, presented by Wharton Center.
He spoke about the international, domestic and economic issues that have become important in the war against terrorism.
“We are now confronting an enemy that we have not faced before,” Holbrooke said. “Pearl Harbor was a relatively linear problem, it took years, but there was a definite enemy and clear objectives.
“We are now facing an enemy that will not disappear when the leader is killed, cells are all over the world.”
He explained that to understand the story of how we arrived at the World Trade Center attacks and to trace them back to Afghanistan, we need to examine the failures of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East.
“During the Soviet conflict in Afghanistan, the U.S. supported freedom fighters who were against the Soviets,” Holbrooke said. “After the conflict was over, we pulled out completely.”
He said this was one of the second foreign policy failures in the area. “We left many of the different militia entities in the country fighting each other,” he said.
“The first major mistake was not finishing off Saddam Hussein after the Gulf War,” Holbrooke said.
But the current crisis in the Middle East is not as simple as looking into the past, Holbrooke said.
“We need to understand that the Taliban did not attack the World Trade Center,” he said. “There are many different cells. When we get rid of Osama bin Laden, we will not be rid of the threat of terrorism.”
Holbrooke also cited the U.S. failure in detecting the threat posed by terrorists in the country, and said the U.S. message is not getting through to the people that it needs to.
“With all our advanced technology, it is unbelievable that we are losing a communications war with a man making Hollywood-type video and sending it out from a cave,” he said. “We have failed to make clear that we are at war with terrorism, not with Islam.”
Karsten Shein, a geography graduate student, said he would have liked Holbrooke to address other issues going on in the world.
“We have heard all this a thousand times from anyone with a mouth and an opinion,” Shein said. “I would have liked him to speak about the policy issues underlying the events, but he just glossed over it.”
But not all members in the audience shared Shein’s perspective.
Folu Ogundimu, an associate professor of journalism, said he was very impressed by the way Holbrooke handled the issues.
“Speaking without any notes, I was very impressed with the range and the breadth of what he spoke about,” Ogundimu said. “He made it easy to understand the foreign policy for people who may not know about it, and he did a great job linking the different issues in the U.S.”
