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In his talk at Yale, the 15th David and Goldie Blanksteen Lecture, Barak said it became clear after Sept. 11 that "nothing about terror can ever be taken for granted or regarded as unthinkable or inconceivable."
Combating terror will require "a determination to think and act outside the box," he said, adding that he learned this lesson during his more than 30 years fighting terrorists as a soldier in the Israeli army.
"We are facing an irrational force," he stated. "We have to avoid even a single thought of wishful thinking. ... Can any one of us think that the terror groups which used jet airplanes would shrink from spreading anthrax or smallpox over a major Western city, or use a small stolen nuclear device the moment they can acquire one?"
Predicting that this war without "definite, normal frontiers and an elusive enemy" may take years or even "half a generation," Barak said that terrorism cannot be defeated "without the last drop of resolve."
"A fully concerted effort on all levels is the only path to success," he stated. "Intelligence agencies, military operations units, economic steps, diplomatic maneuvers -- each have a part in the battle. But there must be an unflinching political will, an unyielding spirit of leadership: calm, inspired, steady under pressure, tenacious, determined and self-confident, however tough the going sometimes gets."
Barak said that the U.S. strike against the al-Qaeda terrorist group and the Taliban in Afghanistan has "already set an example to other terrorist groups and other [terrorist] hosting regimes in regard to the price that will have to be paid for standing on the wrong side of the divide."
Heavy security involving Yale and New Haven police officers, bomb-sniffing dogs and metal detectors was in place for the campus visit by Barak, who was Israel's prime minister from to 1999 to 2001. His visit was sponsored by Friends of Israel and Yale Hillel.
During his talk, Barak also addressed the more divisive issues of a U.S. military attack on Iraq to oust Saddam Hussein and the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.
He said that Hussein's nuclear weapons program "provides the urgent need for his removal," and stated that the Iraqi leader's violations of U.N. Security Council resolutions make any attempt to oust him legitimate.
The timetable for compliance by Iraq on weapons inspections should be short and any deadlines should be non-negotiable, Barak told his audience. "A clear American message should follow that the United States will be ready to act, and will expect the Security Council to back it, if immediate and full Iraqi compliance is not forthcoming," he urged.
The former Israeli leader stressed the urgency of removing Hussein from power in the absence of such compliance.
"Those who prefer to wait and hope for the best should contemplate the following: No one really knows how close Saddam Hussein is to a crude nuclear device," he said. "It was a crude nuclear device that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Few will doubt that Mr. Hussein would be ready to use nuclear weapons against American assets, allies, or against Israel ... He used lethal nerve gas against his own fellow citizens."
Barak also predicted that the removal of Hussein would create "forward movement on the Israeli/Palestinian issue" and "change the geopolitical landscape of the Middle East as a whole."
He had harsh words for Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, calling him a "terrorist thug" who "doesn't have the character" to make the right decision about peace and "doesn't want peace." Barak reminded his audience that Arafat rejected an offer at Camp David in 2000 that would have resulted in an independent Palestinian state.
"At the most profound level, Arafat does not recognize the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish state, as an expression of the collective will of the Jewish people," Barak asserted.
He criticized the Palestinians for "trying to impose upon Israel suicide bombs as a new diplomatic tool" and said that "Israel will never yield to this terror."
In regards to Israeli policy toward the Palestinians, Barak said his nation should have a three-pillared strategy: The first of these, he said, is to "strike at terror anywhere, anytime, no matter how close to Arafat." However, Israel should not strike at the Palestinian people, whom, he said, "are our neighbors, part of the agreement, and will be there forever."
The other pillars include an open door to peace negotiations, with the sole condition that there be an absence of violence, and an Israeli "disengagement" from the Palestinians by erecting a giant fence along the Gaza Strip to keep out terrorists.
In addition to meeting the challenge of terrorism, Barak urged his audience not to lose sight of other important global issues: poverty, the plight of those who live under corrupt political regimes, the AIDS crisis and substandard education in much of the world.
"We have to develop a world sense of community," he concluded. "We must be ready to act on a global basis, to lift up other people's children as well as our own."
-- By Susan Gonzalez
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