Barak lauds Bush’s ‘willingness to act’

Monday, Feb. 9, 2004 | 11:03 a.m.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak Sunday praised the Bush administration's handling of the war against terrorism and also defended the president against accusations that he misinterpreted intelligence before the invasion of Iraq.

Barak, in an exclusive 30-minute interview with the Las Vegas Sun, said the world is safer because of the removal of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Along with President Bush, Barak praised Great Britain Prime Minister Tony Blair.

"The fact that we can live slightly more secure in the world these days is the result of the courage, determination and leadership of President Bush together with Blair," Barak said. "It is only their willingness to act, however questionable the justification, it is, in retrospect, that we do not have Saddam Hussein in power in Baghdad.

"The Iraqi people have been liberated. Israel is a slightly safer place to live in and we have begun to feel the impact of the decision. I'm fully confident that history will justify this as a major step forward."

Israel's 10th prime minister, who served in his country's highest post for 20 months from 1999 to 2001, was the keynote speaker Sunday evening at the Jewish Federation of Las Vegas' Champions of Freedom Dinner Gala at The Venetian.

In the interview before his speech, Barak defended Bush, Blair and other world leaders who believed Saddam possessed weapons of mass destruction. Barak, Israel's most decorated soldier and at one time head of its intelligence services, said the fact that weapons of mass destruction have not yet been found in Iraq does not mean there was no justification for last year's United States-led invasion of Iraq.

"I don't believe there was any deliberate misinformation at any level," Barak said. "I know for sure that the same information the Bush administration got from (CIA Director George) Tenet, Blair got from his services and we got from our intelligence community. And I believe even the German and French and Russian intelligence services told them the same."

Barak said it is not uncommon for intelligence information to be innocently misinterpreted when it is passed from one country to another. It was clear to him that Saddam, at one point, possessed weapons of mass destruction.

"It was clear he had these activities going back to the previous war and several years later, as we heard from his sons-in-law when they escaped," Barak said. "Saddam's own behavior encouraged exactly this perception."

Beefing up human intelligence is "easier said than done," Barak said.

"Yes, we're lacking," Barak said of human intelligence. "We do not have all these satellites so we try to penetrate through human intelligence. It's not easy. It's easier for a superpower to launch a KH-11 (intelligence satellite) worth several billions or administer eavesdropping systems around the globe than penetrate a radical Muslim sect."

Just as difficult, he said, is the ability to make one's borders completely secure from terrorism.

"After a generation we know we're not fully protected 100 percent," Barak said. "However you want to invest in it, the bureaucracy, the organization, the airport security, port security, a lot of these changes take several years and you're still not fully secured."

Barak, in fact, said he would not be surprised if terrorists attempted another attack on American soil prior to the November presidential election.

"The terrorists have a major challenge of trying to hit on American soil once again before Election Day in order to shatter the perception of a better, more protected country," Barak said. "I think they will try. Hopefully, it would be intercepted or they would fail, which can easily happen. They will not try to repeat the kind of event of 9-11 since they cannot.

"They are under heavy pressure. Most of their infrastructure has been destroyed and even their leaders have to hide in the caves in Afghanistan."

Educated both in Israel and at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., where he earned a master's degree in engineering-economic systems, Barak rose through the ranks of the Israeli Defense Forces.

Playing key roles in every major Israeli military action from the 1967 Six Day War forward, Barak went from tank brigade and armored division commander to head of intelligence.

He also played a major role in the 1976 rescue of Israelis and other passengers from a hijacked Air France airplane at the Entebbe Airport in Uganda. He ultimately became a lieutenant general, the highest military rank in his country, and the Israeli Army's chief of staff.

His political stock rose rapidly beginning in the mid-1990s, when he was interior minister and then foreign affairs minister. By 1996, he was chairman of the left-leaning Labor Party. Three years later, he formed the One Israel Party by combining the Labor Party with other political factions.

Barak was elected prime minister of Israel in May 1999. He vowed to make peace with the Palestinians and pull Israeli troops out of Lebanon.

But his 20-month tenure was rocky, punctuated with bloody violence by Palestinians that forced Israelis to question their own security and the viability of the peace process itself. Critics charged that Barak, who served simultaneously as defense minister, couldn't stick to many of his campaign promises.

Barak did make good on his promise to pull Israeli troops out of Southern Lebanon, where they occupied a safety buffer zone for almost 20 years. Despite criticism that the pullout enabled Syrian-backed Hezbollah terrorists, who occupy Lebanon, to move that much closer to Israel's northern border, Barak defended his decision.

"I'm very proud of that decision," Barak said. "It was a determined decision to put an end to a tragedy where we ended up being there for no reason."

At one time, Barak was deputy commander of Israeli forces in Lebanon. Since then, about 1,000 Israelis, mostly soldiers, died in conflicts tied to that occupation, he said. He said he did not want the sons of Israeli soldiers who first occupied Lebanon to continue to die there while he was prime minister.

Barak said the pullout also removed the legitimacy of Hezbollah attacks against Israel.

"Since the pullout from Lebanon the invisible wall of illegitimacy to attack Israel is much more effective than the security zone," he said. "The only legitimacy for the Hezbollah to shoot into the Galilee (in Northern Israel) was that we were inside Lebanon. We didn't have a claim to one square foot of Lebanon.

"Our presence in Lebanon could not stop them from shooting over the heads of the security zone. When we first entered Lebanon we were accepted by the Shiite population but there was no Hezbollah. The phenomenon of Hezbollah was created by our continued presence in Lebanon. Our extended presence modernized them and made them more effective."

Today, he believes the Hezbollah has since been weakened by the war against terrorism and that world pressure has been increasing on Syria to withdraw its influence in Lebanon, which separates Israel from Syria.

Barak also said he supports a controversial proposal by his successor, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, to pull Israeli settlements out of the Palestinian-dominated Gaza Strip. Barak said he made the same recommendations in 2000 after he met at Camp David with then-President Bill Clinton in what turned out to be an unsuccessful attempt to achieve peace with the Palestinians.

"It is a very painful and very important moment," Barak said of the proposed removal of settlements. "It is about settlements that were sent into the birthplace of our civilization by a series of Israeli governments. And now they've been asked to prepare under certain circumstances to pack and be moved.

"It is important because it represents coming to live with reality on the good side. It is urgently needed."

There are still problems with the "fine print" of the proposal to pull settlements out of the Gaza Strip, Barak said, but he also remarked that Israel cannot be paralyzed either in its quest for peace with the Palestinians.

"I proposed it three years ago after Camp David when it became clear that we do not have a partner in (Palestinian leader Yasser) Arafat, neither to make peace or destroy terror," Barak said. "I said at the time the fact that Arafat does not want to make peace -- you cannot impose peace, it takes two to tango -- should not paralyze Israel.

"We have a compelling imperative to disengage from there and to set a border where we will have a solid Jewish majority for many generations to come. A Jewish state cannot do it without trying, at least, to do it through negotiations. That's exactly what we have tried and we have failed.

"At the moment of truth we found that Arafat does not want to correct 1967, namely the Six Day War, he wants to correct 1947, the very establishment of the State of Israel. That is something we will never accept."

Along those lines, Barak said he supports the placement of a barrier separating Israeli settlements in the West Bank from neighboring Palestinian communities.

"By building a fence we're not trying unilaterally to build permanent borders, but we are doing it out of self-defense, out of no choice because Arafat does not want to make peace," Barak said. "In the meantime, we're leaving the door open for resumption of negotiations."

As for how Israel should continue trying to deal with Arafat, Barak said his country should rely on advice it was given from Russian President Vladimir Putin to simply ignore Arafat.

"When you talk about (Arafat) too much, you elevate him," Barak said. "To the best of my belief there will be no peace with the Palestinians as long as he is active. It's not up to us to get rid of Arafat. It's up to the Palestinian people.

"If we left our fingerprint on his disappearance, it might backfire on us in more than one way. So we have to be patient but not paralyzed."

After losing by a landslide in a special election, Barak was replaced in March 2001 by Sharon of the right wing Likud Party.

"It was quite frustrating for me to feel that my own electorate, the left wing, did not support this when I proposed it," Barak said of the settlement pullout from the Gaza Strip. "They didn't show up at the election so I was defeated by Sharon. But now Sharon, after 1,000 people have been killed, reached the same conclusion basically."

Sharon is now embroiled in political high drama, with police questioning his role in a bribery probe. There has been speculation that Sharon could be forced to resign.

Barak was unwilling to second-guess the police investigation, saying they have to do their job. Despite their sharp political differences, he had high praise for Sharon's leadership skills.

"Personally, I don't believe that he will be indicted," Barak said. "He's a very strong man. I don't think the pressure upon him will derail his judgment as a leader."

Still, Barak left open the possibility that he would once again be willing to serve as prime minister if the opportunity arose. In Israel, it is possible for former prime ministers, including those who have lost prior elections, to return to that office.

Barak now spends his time involved in asset management and hedge funds and is working with some companies that do business in Europe.

"There are certain moments when I feel I could do it better," Barak said of Israeli political decision-making. "But I suspect that is very human. I basically feel very good with my pause from political life.

"I've told the public I feel like a reservist officer. I know I might be called on for duty. But I expect not to be called unless it is absolutely necessary."

At the gala the Jewish Federation honored Dr. Leon and Faye Steinberg with its first annual Hank Greenspun Founders Award for their contributions to the Jewish community in Las Vegas. The award is named after the late founder and publisher of the Las Vegas Sun.

Sun Executive Editor Mike O'Callaghan, a former Nevada governor, was also honored with the federation's David L. Simon Bridge Builder for Peace Award.

Honorary co-chairs of the gala were Sun Publisher Barbara Greenspun and Jayn and Art Marshall.

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