By Clyde Noel

Town Crier Correspondent

Richard Holbrooke, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told the 2,500 people at Flint Center last Tuesday that our immediate future looks grim. Some people in the audience were aghast at the information and views he presented.

The Foothill College Celebrity Series had the appropriate speaker for the current situation. Holbrooke is constantly on television with his analysis of the Afghanistan situation.

“The Bush administration put troops in Afghanistan, but no one can predict at this point what the final action will be and whether it will be short or long in duration,” Holbrooke said. “I predict we will succeed in bringing down the Taliban and the manhunt for bin Laden will also succeed, but neither will guarantee we will be safe here at home.”

Holbrooke said we are heading into the most uncertain period of our lives. There are many aspects of the situation that are unpredictable, he said.

The greatest variable is whether or not we will unintentionally trigger what we most want to avoid - a religious conflict between Islam and the West. We want to avoid this particularly because Islam is part of the West, Holbrooke said.

Overthrowing the Taliban is not the end of the problem, it’s just the beginning, Holbrooke said. He added the Taliban are a motley group of mullahs and militia; they are not a real government.

Holbrooke said that the ramifications on the international front are staggering. There have already been quick changes in U.S. foreign policy. We have lifted sanctions on Pakistan and India, sanctions imposed because of their nuclear weapons development programs, he said. Pakistan’s General Musharraf has agreed to side with the United States in this conflict.

The Sudan also came under discussion because that was where Osama bin Laden was hiding until 1998, when the Sudanese expelled him and he went to Afghanistan.

The Sudan has received very little attention, but Holbrooke said bin Laden’s network has its roots there - and we are now talking to the Sudan because it is valuable to our cause.

Homeland security is ill defined, and it is not clear what it is or how we implement it, Holbrooke said. There are some 40-45 agencies, all of which are jealous of one another and traditionally have not often shared information. When it comes to sharing information with other countries it gets even worse, he said.

The effect of the terrorist action on the economy has been enormous, Holbrooke said. The Clinton surplus is gone, and the United States will again be in a deficit mode.