Chapter 11 Summary and Analysis

Clarke says, "It didn't have to be this way:" there were rational alternatives to invading Iraq and so providing al Qaeda with an unparalleled recruitment opportunity. The alternatives Clarke saw were that the U.S. could have 1) seriously examined and rectified vulnerabilities throughout the country; 2) conducted a global campaign to offer alternatives to fundamentalist perceptions, to articulate common American and Islamic values; 3) gone after--instead of feigning wanting to--actual terrorists in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Clarke contrasts what was done with what he thought should have been done. Bush nominated Tom Ridge, then governor of Pennsylvania, to head a new office called "Homeland Security," which, Clarke notes, was the last thing Ridge himself thought the country needed.

Although Bush's insistence that certain federal employee rights be curtailed slowed passage, the new Homeland Security Department was created at a time when...