Hart Blasts Bush on Security

Former Sen. Gary Hart came to UC Berkeley yesterday to tout the need for a more stable and cohesive U.S. national security policy.

Hart, who nearly won the Democratic nomination in the 1984 presidential primary, stood in front of a meager crowd at the International House and delivered his speech, "National Security in the Age of Terror."

An informal national security advisor to Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, Hart co-chaired the U.S. Commission on National Security for the 21st Century in 1999, which warned of a large-scale terrorist attack on American soil.

In its final report, the commission urged both the Clinton and Bush administrations to create a homeland security department in order to improve national defense efforts.

Hart criticized what he called a lack of strategy following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the Sept. 11 attacks.

"If we deal with problems on a case-by-case basis because of a lack of a grand strategy, we end up in situations like Somalia and Rwanda," Hart said.

Hart blasted the foreign policy strategies of the Bush administration, which he said have not improved U. S. security.

Calling the current situation in Iraq "a sorry state of peace," Hart said the plan to remove Saddam Hussein from power had been in the works for nearly 10 years, although this was never disclosed to the American public.

Outlining ideas from his critically acclaimed new book, "The Fourth Power: A Grand Strategy for the United States in the 21st Century," Hart emphasized the need for a "grand strategy" for U.S. foreign policy that would lay out the fundamental goals of the country's administration.

"If you don't have a structured strategy for your country's aims in a revolutionary world like ours, you will stumble from one mistake to the other," Hart said.

When asked by an audience member why the United States has not suffered any more attacks since Sept. 11, Hart said we have simply been "lucky." Terrorism experts agree that the United States will be attacked again, but is not prepared to withstand another attack because no one has been held accountable for the Sept. 11 attacks.

"Three thousand people lost their lives on Sept. 11," Hart said. "Not one person lost their job in Washington."

Hart voiced his staunch support for Kerry's position on Iraq, pointing to Kerry's push for international involvement to rebuild Iraq.

"John Kerry would be crazy not to hire Senator Hart to his national security team," said UC Berkeley sophomore Nick Smith. "He really deserves the position."

Although Hart said the presidential election is currently neck-and-neck, he said the American public will "sober up" by the election and vote Kerry into office.

Hart claimed the current administration has failed the American public by entering into an era of "Option Empire," in which the United States imposes rather than offers democracy, attempting to shape the world into a replica of America.

"The current administration is trying to change us into an American empire," Hart said, "But an American empire in the 21st century will result in the loss of the American Republic."

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