Posted on 06/28/2004 4:05:02 AM PDT by chambley1
By Nicholas F. Benton (nfbenton@fcnp.com)
An anonymous CIA analyst broke the contents of a scathing new manuscript on CNN yesterday that will hit bookstores next week calling the Bush administration's invasion of Iraq "the best gift we could have given to Osama bin Laden."
The anonymous intelligence specialist, described as "an active CIA official," discussed the book, entitled Imperial Hubris, with CNN's David Ensor on the news channel late yesterday. Only the silhouetted outlines of his darkened face were discernible on screen, but he spoke with a chilling clarity and obvious appreciation of the capabilities and motivations of bin Laden and the al Qaeda networks.
He not only asserted the Bush administration is seriously misguided in terms of appreciating al Qaeda's goals and abilities, but he claimed that its approach to foreign policy has significantly strengthened the hand of America's still extremely dangerous terrorist adversary.
"We have not taken the measure of our opponent," he said. "We have grossly underestimated this threat."
He predicted the al Qaeda networks are both capable of and intend to attack the continental U.S. again with an impact greater than Sept. 11, 2001. "They will use weapons of mass destruction," he said.
Insofar as it has been the objective of bin Laden's offensives against the U.S. not to overthrow our form of government and destroy our nation, but simply to "get us out of the Muslim world," the analyst asserts, the U.S. invasion of Iraq has only strengthened his hand, underscoring the need to achieve al Qaeda's goals in the minds of countless fresh recruits to the cause.
Bush, he said, "is misguided to think that bin Laden hates us and our democracy."
"He's far more calculating than that. Khomeini was like that, hating democracy, voting and equality for women. But not bin Laden. He doesn't hate us for what we are, but for what we do," he said.
Among the U.S.'s crimes against the Muslim world that he wants to stop, the analyst said, are the U.S.' presence on the Arabian peninsula and support for Russia, China and other tyrannies that suppress the Muslims under their control.
"Bin Laden represents the Islamic resentment for the U.S.'s policies, not our system of government. It's a great mistake to think of him as a ranting mullah. He's very calculating and specific, and focused on the actions of the U.S., not our beliefs or systems," he went on.
"There is no more perfect validation of this than that we went to war in Iraq," he added. He said he considered that if the status quo is continued in Iraq, then "the war will go far into my children's lifetime."
"This is not a war with terrorists, it is a war with U.S. policies," he emphasized.
The publication of this scathing indictment of Bush administration miscalculations is apparently being sanctioned by the agent's superiors at the CIA, who know the individual in question to be mentally tough and brutally frank. From the CIA's point of view, giving an airing to differing points of views is good for the overall process.
In this case, the "deal" with the agency was that the author of this report will remain anonymous.
But the analysis comes on the heels of the 9/11 Commission's final report that, itself, blew away and thoroughly discredited the Bush administration's claim that the invasion of Iraq had something to do with the war on terror and the effort to find bin Laden and dismantle the al Qaeda network.
The notion that the invasion of Iraq had more to do with Halliburton than terrorism is seeping deeper and deeper into the consciousness of the average American citizen. The deeper it goes, the more ingrained it becomes and it will not be washed away with vacuous gestures and disclaimers from the president or his cabinet.
While more and more Americans are wising up to the fact that the 9/11 attacks were exploited by the Bush administration to justify a largely self-serving military adventure into Iraq, it has yet to be appreciated just how all of this has put the lives of possibly tens of thousands of American civilians directly into harm's way.
The author of Imperial Hubris begins to bring this frightening reality much closer to home.
Why does this quote and certain others in the article just like it sound suspicioulsy like the claptrap coming from the left since 9/11?
Indeed. Anyone who believes this piffle should see the history of Europe between the founding of Islam and the Crusades. What they did to the Europeans while said Europeans were largely sitting around minding their own business makes 9/11 look like a bad day at the office.
But they will be abjectly mistaken here. We do not cower at such compulsion and blackmail and will only become firmer and more resoulte in our desire and efforts to destroy the enemy. So on that count, the Annonymass analyst may be more correct.
But his other ramblings about Iraq being a gift to Bin Laden miss are off the mark by miles and represent nothing more than the perverted dreams of the liberal politicians and their pundits in the media for all of the reasons I communicated in my prior post.
Hmmm...and I suppose that IMPOTUS X-42's BJ's in the Oval Office stymied al Qaeda's efforts? And his studious ignoring of the Islamazi threat was a hindrance to al Qaeda's plans, right?! And his blatant disregard to the threat posed to the US after the FIRST WTC attack was a serious setback to the World Domination efforts by the Wahabbists?!?!?!
YEESH!!!
Thanks for saying it so well.
My response re the same old enemy tricks:
A few in the press are already attempting to spin the transfer of authority, a free Iraq into a 'vain' effort - will create stories they believe can hurt us - including the lie that our war efforts helped the Taliban and that Saddam's thugs are running the country. Let them. It will force all parties to evaluate the truth, engrave it solidly on their hearts, should encourage the Iraqi allies to stand, strengthen the will of our troops and allies - and open the eyes of a few more sheep around the world to the truth that many of those reporting the 'news' are not, and are not on our side.
If this moron represents the quality of thinking in the CIA, no wonder the CIA has screwed up so badly in recent years.
"Among the U.S.'s crimes against the Muslim world that he wants to stop, the analyst said, are the U.S.' presence on the Arabian peninsula and support for Russia, China and other tyrannies that suppress the Muslims under their control."
That is exactly what OBL said. That makes 'Anonymous' an Arabist. These idiots have this idea that the Arab countries are right and Israel shouldn't exist. An anti-Semetic slob is what he is.
yes, of course, it becomes clear to me now... we should just hunker down and try to stop all terrorist attacks, all the while paying no mind to - and thus leaving entirely undisturbed - the breeding vats from which this vermin are hatched.
The Left simply cannot grasp the fact that we were attacked not from an abundance of hatred, but from a profound lack of respect.
The Left also told us that terror would have to be dealt with at its roots. Democracy in Iraq will be like ROUNDUP (a weed killer which attacks them at their roots)in its effect on the crux of the problem, the Middle East's thirteenth century political and economic systems.
Welcome to the Free Republic. I'm not sure how long your stay will be, so I wanted to get the politeness thing in quick.
Your first mistake was to ascribe my simple response with the classic, catch-all "you folks". How trite...
...which makes the rest of your admonishment (reading the material; applying critical thinking) at the least a novel definition of context, and perhaps even a badge-of-honor that I can humorously wear (for having positioned myself as a flytrap to which a leftist has eagerly sprung, perhaps??? And with such a sparing comment on my own part! I guess my wanting to improve my writing is paying dividends after all...).
Try a little "critical thinking" (I love that catch-phrase... visions of Hegel sprinkled with bits of other leftist claptrap platitudes come to mind...) of your own. Read the original posting. Then read my response. And if you're still not convinced, read the last paragraph of your own posting. My response Stands.
Try to get all these activities in before heading back to the DNC meeting, ok.
CGVet58
"A Lieutenant in the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy"
As I have said...we liberated millions, created a fly-trap in Iraq for the terrorists where we are killing them by the thousands and we have postioned our selves geographically in a strategic position to take on the other two centers of terrosim in the area, Iran and Syria, if need be.
Not bad for that "idiot" Bush...but, as I say, that's just my opwn opinion.
The guy is no liberal. I just finished the book. It is eye-openingly blunt about the danger that we face.
His message has been effectively stifled because the problems and solutions he advocates, and his explication of them, are not PC and are antithetical to our ruling class, whether Dem or Rep.
Here is a link to the book on Amazon.
Yes, he (Mike Scheuer) doesn't strike me as a liberal. He talks of the necessity of inflicting massive casualties on the Islamists.
Notably anti-liberal in this: he decries the law enforcement model of viewing the Islamists as mafia variants.
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