Ex-U.S. official counsels patience with campaign

BRUNSWICK – The former director of U.S. Naval Intelligence warned that the U.S. campaign against terrorism won’t always yield tangible results.

“It’s not going to be taking and holding terrain where you plant a flag and everyone can see that you’ve won the battle,” retired Rear Admiral Mike Ratliff said Thursday in a speech at Bowdoin College.

Ratliff oversaw 17,000 workers and a $2 billion budget as head of the agency. He retired last year after a 30-year career in the Navy and now works as vice president of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute in Wilmington, Del.

Ratliff said Americans must be patient and have confidence that even small, unnoticed gains against terrorism have an impact.

“A democracy has one Achilles’ heel and that is the lack of consistency, to be able to see an effort through to the end,” Ratiliff said. “But, if the U.S. and its people remain determined, we will win this war.”

He predicted that the United States will eventually root out terrorists and send a strong message it won’t tolerate attacks against it.

It’s important to remember that the strikes in Afghanistan are being made in self-defense and are not acts of revenge, he said.

Ratliff said after his speech that student support is crucial to the country’s military actions. The U.S. campaign would be hurt by campus anti-war protests like the ones that erupted during the Vietnam War, he said.