Vox Verax writer Maertens speaks on terrorism at MSU Mankato
“When I was in the government, I could not criticize the government. I hope to make up for that now.” — Tom Maertens
by Leigh Pomeroy
Tom Maertens won't blow his own horn; he merely wants to set the record straight.
When he worked in the George W. Bush White House he knew trouble was brewing when his bosses showed more interest in a provocation with Iraq than in trying to combat terrorism and finding Osama bin Laden. Nevertheless, he knew his job as U.S. Department of State Deputy Coordinator for Counterterrorism was what he had to focus on, and in that position he helped develop the policy response to the attacks of September 11.
Though he says his retirement after 30 years with the Foreign Service in 2002 had nothing to do with his growing concern about White House policies, being retired has allowed him to finally say what he thought rather than echo the official U.S. government line. This he began doing as early as March of 2004, when popularity for President Bush and his war on Iraq were near an all-time high.
Maertens hasn't stopped trying to expose the truth. As he said Monday to a packed auditorium on the campus of Minnesota State University, Mankato, “When I was in the government, I could not criticize the government. I hope to make up for that now.”
His ensuing speech went on for 90 minutes, covering what appeared to be a semester's worth of material ranging from the history of the conflict in the Middle East to the latest technology in biological warfare agents. Fortunately, for an audience that appeared to be overwhelmed by the onslaught of information — and for anyone else — Maertens accompanied his speech with a thorough PowerPoint presentation, which is now on his internet site, tommaertens.com.
After the speech he was able to take a handful of questions from members of the audience, some of whom appeared to want to give speeches of their own. But while his words evoked a passionate response from many in attendance, unlike with past presentations he has made, there seemed to be few who disagreed with his message.
A personal note:
I first met Tom Maertens on a high school soccer field as we watched our sons play this uniquely international game. He was so self-effacing that I would have never guessed that just a year earlier he was crafting counterterrorism policy in the White House.
It was shortly thereafter when he began to show me and I began to see some of his articles being published in the Mankato Free Press, Minneapolis Star Tribune, St. Paul Pioneer Press and elsewhere. They were quite critical of the President and his policies at a time when such criticism was rare, especially from those who had served in the government. In fact, I remember asking him if he wasn't fearful of his and his family's safety.
He seemed nonchalant about any possible danger, and though he received a few angry and even threatening phone calls in the past, those have all but abated.
It is a strength of our democratic system when someone like Tom Maertens can speak out and tell the truth about his — and our — government without fearing for his life, well-being or property. This we take for granted, because in many other countries in the world what Maertens has done as a former government employee could make him subject to the torture tactics he has often condemned.
Yet at the same time it is a weakness of our system that thousands of patriotic Americans like Maertens, either former or current members of government or the military, or just ordinary citizens, can only speak from the sidelines while incompetent men and women driven by narrow political ideologies, religion-based reasoning, egotistical hubris or sycophantic drives call the plays on the field.
Though Mr. Maertens can say that he has been right all along while Messrs. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Hadley and Mme. Rice, et al., have been wrong, that doesn't do a whit of good for the tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of people who have been killed, and the millions of lives that have been negatively affected by U.S. policies since 2001.
President Bush talks about spreading the benefits of democracy worldwide, but right now his policies have given the word "democracy" a very bad connotation around the globe. Yet democracy still works — even if imperfectly — in the United States, at least enough to allow public servants like Tom Maertens to acquaint the rest of us with the truth about its failings.
More coverage of Maertens' speech is available from the Mankato Free Press and the Minnesota State University Reporter. Many of Mr. Maertens' articles are available online at his website.
by Leigh Pomeroy
Tom Maertens won't blow his own horn; he merely wants to set the record straight.
When he worked in the George W. Bush White House he knew trouble was brewing when his bosses showed more interest in a provocation with Iraq than in trying to combat terrorism and finding Osama bin Laden. Nevertheless, he knew his job as U.S. Department of State Deputy Coordinator for Counterterrorism was what he had to focus on, and in that position he helped develop the policy response to the attacks of September 11.
Though he says his retirement after 30 years with the Foreign Service in 2002 had nothing to do with his growing concern about White House policies, being retired has allowed him to finally say what he thought rather than echo the official U.S. government line. This he began doing as early as March of 2004, when popularity for President Bush and his war on Iraq were near an all-time high.
Maertens hasn't stopped trying to expose the truth. As he said Monday to a packed auditorium on the campus of Minnesota State University, Mankato, “When I was in the government, I could not criticize the government. I hope to make up for that now.”
His ensuing speech went on for 90 minutes, covering what appeared to be a semester's worth of material ranging from the history of the conflict in the Middle East to the latest technology in biological warfare agents. Fortunately, for an audience that appeared to be overwhelmed by the onslaught of information — and for anyone else — Maertens accompanied his speech with a thorough PowerPoint presentation, which is now on his internet site, tommaertens.com.
After the speech he was able to take a handful of questions from members of the audience, some of whom appeared to want to give speeches of their own. But while his words evoked a passionate response from many in attendance, unlike with past presentations he has made, there seemed to be few who disagreed with his message.
A personal note:
I first met Tom Maertens on a high school soccer field as we watched our sons play this uniquely international game. He was so self-effacing that I would have never guessed that just a year earlier he was crafting counterterrorism policy in the White House.
It was shortly thereafter when he began to show me and I began to see some of his articles being published in the Mankato Free Press, Minneapolis Star Tribune, St. Paul Pioneer Press and elsewhere. They were quite critical of the President and his policies at a time when such criticism was rare, especially from those who had served in the government. In fact, I remember asking him if he wasn't fearful of his and his family's safety.
He seemed nonchalant about any possible danger, and though he received a few angry and even threatening phone calls in the past, those have all but abated.
It is a strength of our democratic system when someone like Tom Maertens can speak out and tell the truth about his — and our — government without fearing for his life, well-being or property. This we take for granted, because in many other countries in the world what Maertens has done as a former government employee could make him subject to the torture tactics he has often condemned.
Yet at the same time it is a weakness of our system that thousands of patriotic Americans like Maertens, either former or current members of government or the military, or just ordinary citizens, can only speak from the sidelines while incompetent men and women driven by narrow political ideologies, religion-based reasoning, egotistical hubris or sycophantic drives call the plays on the field.
Though Mr. Maertens can say that he has been right all along while Messrs. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Hadley and Mme. Rice, et al., have been wrong, that doesn't do a whit of good for the tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of people who have been killed, and the millions of lives that have been negatively affected by U.S. policies since 2001.
President Bush talks about spreading the benefits of democracy worldwide, but right now his policies have given the word "democracy" a very bad connotation around the globe. Yet democracy still works — even if imperfectly — in the United States, at least enough to allow public servants like Tom Maertens to acquaint the rest of us with the truth about its failings.
More coverage of Maertens' speech is available from the Mankato Free Press and the Minnesota State University Reporter. Many of Mr. Maertens' articles are available online at his website.
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