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Former Florida Governor and U.S. Senator Bob Graham is currently Chairman of the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism and a member of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. He speaks in Sarasota next Wednesday.

Sen. Bob Graham
7:30 p.m. Wed., Nov. 18, Hyatt Regency Sarasota, 1000 Boulevard of the Arts, Sarasota, 349-8350 or forumtruth.org, $20 for Forum Truth members, $25 for non-members.

How do you feel the talks with Iran about its uranium enrichment have been going?

Slow, but at least they’re going. During the Bush Administration we took the position that it was beneath us to talk to Iran. On the day Bush took office in 2001 Iran had no nuclear program, but by January 2009 there were over 500 centrifuges in Iran. So the policy of disengagement didn’t seem to be very effective.

What do you think is our biggest direct threat in the Middle East?

Pakistan. Pakistan is the blanket containing every thread that is necessary for any organization that wants one to get a weapon of mass destruction. They are the number seven nuclear state and the security of their weapons is suspect. Pakistan has a very unstable government and a shaky relationship between civilians, government and military. It has a 60-year hatred of India and that has been their reason for developing so many weapons. They have had a history of active proliferation of nuclear weapons. Part of the reason that the president is taking the time he is to decide what to do in Afghanistan is because people are urging him to see Pakistan as an annex for Afghanistan. In other words, what do we have to do in Afghanistan to contribute to what we are trying to achieve in Pakistan? Afghanistan is not nearly as important as Pakistan. Joe Biden raises the question that for every dollar we’re spending in Pakistan, either military or non-military, we’re spending $30 in Afghanistan. Is that the appropriate allocation of our resources?

Do you think our intelligence on the relationship between the Taliban and al-Qaida is adequate after eight years in Afghanistan?

It’s probably better than what it was in 2001, but it’s not adequate. We still have a serious shortage of people in our intelligence services that understand the language of the people in that region, and also who can get that information and process it for good analysis. We used an intelligence model based on what we had in the Cold War where you recruit Afghans who are willing to become our employees and gather information that we want. In the case of central Asia it’s difficult to recruit those kinds of people.

Do you believe the Iraq War has diminished or heightened the risk of another attack on U.S. soil?

It dramatically increased the likely odds of another attack. It took our attention away from the people who attacked us on 9/11 at the very time when we were in the position to annihilate al-Qaida. It has also given al-Qaida the ability to prosper. In 2001 al-Qaida was more like a hierarchy with Bin Laden running operations from one state. Now it is more like a franchise that exists with many operations in 60 countries. I explain it as al-Qaida used to be General Motors and now it’s McDonalds. And of course we lost thousands of our best fighting men and women and our ability to get some of our best allies to join us. And the whole business of going to war over WMDs and finding that there were none creates a great deal of cynicism over what the U.S. says. During the Cold War all we had to do was claim proof of a country posing harm and other countries would line up behind us. We’re now well beyond the time where countries are willing to say that if the U.S. makes a declaration of proof they will accept it. One of the other problems was it demonstrated that our leadership didn’t know or wasn’t interested in the history and cultural development of the country. They thought democracy would flourish, but that is not the type of place we’re dealing with.

Do you support a health care public option?

I think it’s a very minor issue. It would only affect 2 percent of the population but it’s become the centerpiece of the debate. If I were in the Congress I would vote for a public option. The veterans program is a great example of a public option. One out of three Americans are already covered by one, so it’s surprising that it’s so incendiary. It’s actually like that joke that’s not a joke when people say, “Keep the government out of Medicare,” and they don’t understand that Medicare is a government program.

Do you think members of the Democratic caucus who support a Republican filibuster on an up-or-down health care vote should be stripped of their leadership positions?

No. Frankly the Democrats can’t afford to drive Democrats out of the caucus for any issue because they will need them on other issues. There are so many more issues in the health care debate that really are more important to most Americans than the fact that 2 percent might have a public option in addition to the 30 to 35 percent who already do.

As a member of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission what have you found to be the most disturbing factor that helped to bring about the financial crisis?

We’ve only had two meetings, so we’re probably not far enough along to answer that question. But most people would put in the list that we relied too heavily on the market to be self-regulating. The fact is things like greed trumped regulation. We need to figure out exactly what caused the problem and then figure out how to fix it. Our job with this commission is to diagnose the problem.

Will this interview be recorded in your logbook?

Yes, it will be. It will be in the book 11/09A, a book that was started in November and will go for probably the next week. By my watch we started at 11:05 and we’ve talked for about 45 minutes, so that’s where you’ll be entered. This book will eventually make its way to the University of Florida library. So your grandchildren will be able to go there and look it up and say, “This was my grandpa’s greatest moment.”

Full disclosure: Creative Loafing Editor Cooper Levey-Baker sits on the Forum Truth board.

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