RESPONSE: UT’s McRaven says U.S. must lead fight against ‘barbarians’
AUSTIN — On a day when a new terror attack overseas heightened the political debate over national security, University of Texas System Chancellor William McRaven, the retired admiral who supervised the death raid on al-Qaida mastermind Osama bin Laden, called Friday for the United States to assume a strong leadership position in the fight against ISIS and, if necessary, take the lead in responding militarily.
The ongoing political fight over what steps the United States take next is a key for Americans to realize the serious consequences that could result, he told a national symposium on homeland security and intelligence at UT’s Austin campus.
“They are barbarians. They need to be destroyed,” McRaven told the crowd of military and national security leaders, referring to Islamic State terrorists. “The dialogue that is occurring now is an important national dialogue. This is about the American people waking up and realizing that we have a significant threat here.
“If we don’t do something about it, we will pay
the price,” he said.
Saying he was speaking for himself, not the UT system, McRaven echoed the sentiments of numerous speakers at the three-day conference in advocating sending in troops against ISIS, preferably as part of a coalition of countries, including U.S. allies in the Middle East, if that is what is needed to destroy the network that has been blamed for the terrorist massacre in Paris a week ago that killed 130 people and injured more than 300.
‘We should do it alone’
The conference’s topic took on new importance Friday after terrorists armed with guns and grenades attacked a hotel hosting diplomats in the capital of the West African nation of Mali.
By late Friday, authorities blamed an al-Qaidalinked group for the attack.
McRaven, the former head of the U.S. Special Operations Command who was heavily involved in developing and implementing successful antiterrorist and homeland security policies for the Bush and Obama administrations, said he was optimistic that coalition troops could take on ISIS on the ground. But, he said, “if they don’t come along, we should do it alone.”
“We are the only country that has the resources to take a leadership position,” McRaven told the crowd, suggesting that the United States should not focus only on ISIS in Syria but also on extremists in North Africa and Yemen and “re-engage” in Iraq as part of an expanded fight against global terrorism.
While his remarks found applause with most all the security and military experts on hand, a few challenged his view. One man asked him after his speech whether he should be advocating for military force as chancellor — he said he has the right to express his personal opinion — and a small group of Palestinian supporters staged a brief shouting protest in the hall before the speech began, calling McRaven a “terrorist, killer.”
‘Vet’ refugees
McRaven was less adamant about the position of Gov. Greg Abbott and more than two dozen other U.S. governors to refuse Syrian refugees in their states over concerns they could pose a security threat. He and other national security and intelligence experts who appeared on panels suggested the refugees should be admitted.
“These are refugees. We have always welcomed them with open arms,” McRaven said. “There is no 100 percent guarantee. There’s always the potential for something to happen. But there are ways to properly vet them as they come in.”
Nonetheless, he said, “every governor has to decide what is best for their state. I respect Governor Abbott’s position.”
Participants on a morning panel about the Middle East said the tens of thousands of Syrians fleeing their country’s civil war highlight a humanitarian tragedy that has been building for years and will take still more years to sort out. Prohibiting the Syrian refugees from coming to the United States will only force them to go to other countries.
‘Wrong message’
Michael Singh, an expert on Middle East affairs who is managing director at the Washington Institute and former senior director of the National Security Council during the Bush Administration, said the number of Syrian refugees proposed to come to the United States is much smaller than from other nations in that region, especially Iraq.
“It’s understandable that people have these fears … and we have to get the vetting right,” he said, insisting that stopping the admission of Syrian refugees — or all refugees — from entering the United States would send the wrong message internationally, after an historic U.S. policy of admitting refugees.
“We should not turn away from accepting refugees,” he said.
For McRaven and UT, the symposium marked a step forward for the chancellor’s plan announced two weeks ago for the system to build a UT Network for National Security, which he characterized as “a systemwide alliance that will confront the world’s most vexing problems facing our nation.”
McRaven said the university, through its William P. Clements Jr. Center for National Security and the Robert Strauss Center for International Security and Law, is “uniquely positioned to establish itself as a leader in national security,” with a goal of making the UT System “the national authority on scholarly issues involving national security.”