Boothe: terrorism has reduced since 9/11 but serious global problems remain

Twelve years after more than 3000 people were killed in terrorist attacks a lot of things are better. But on <a href=”http://610kvnu.com/assets/podcaster/328/2013_09_12_328_14350_2867.mp3″ target=”_blank”>KVNU’s Crosstalk program Wednesday</a> retired CIA senior officer Larry Boothe said some things remain the same.

Boothe said his agency was hesitant to support the war in Iraq because he said the Brits were right after World War II when they divided up the three tribes: the Shiites, the Sunnis and the Kurds and they did not fight each other. Now they are trying to meld them together and it hasn’t worked.

“They are killing anywhere from 50-100 people a month to a month-and-a-half. They’re fighting each other,” Boothe said. “The Sunnis are blowing up the Shiites, the Shiites are blowing up the Sunnis and the Kurds are strong enough that they’re just standing there at the border saying, ‘don’t try to come across here because if you do we’ll take care of you.'”

Although terrorism has been reduced since Osama bin Ladin was killed, Boothe said there are still serious problems all over the globe and President Obama does not seem to be going in the right direction.

One of those problems, Boothe said, is what is happening right now in Syria. Boothe said what happened in Syria with chemical weapons is a tragedy.

“But the problem with that is they have a different standard for what is a good life and a bad life. They don’t care,” he explained. “Frankly, they can kill 500, a thousand, 2,000 with sarin gas. But in their culture that just means those people have been well taken care of and they’ve now moved on.”

He said President Obama is getting little support when he talks about a military strike in Syria because Americans are war-weary and they don’t want to get involved. Boothe said he is not impressed with how President Obama has reacted.

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