CIA Agent: Nuke Attack Surely Coming

News Max ^ | 11-15-04 | Dave Eberhart

[hope]

Reprinted from NewsMax.com

CIA Agent: Nuke Attack Surely Coming

Dave Eberhart, NewsMax.com
Monday, Nov. 15, 2004

Former CIA agent Michael Scheuer told CBS “Sixty Minutes”’ Steve Kroft Sunday that the U.S. fumbled ten chances to kill or capture terror chief Osama bin Laden – before 9/11. Now, he is convinced that the international outlaw will attack the U.S. homeland with some sort of nuclear weapon of mass destruction.

"They're intention is to end the war as soon as they can and to ratchet up the pain for the Americans until we get out of their region.... If they acquire the weapon, they will use it, whether it's chemical, biological or some sort of nuclear weapon," said Scheuer.

In his first television interview without disguise, Scheuer appeared most aggravated by a missed opportunity to level a hunting camp where bin Laden was holding court with several Arab princes.

“If they were eating goat with bin Laden, you know they were up to nefarious purposes. What were a few less Arab princes when considering 3000 dead Americans?”

At one point, the gung-ho agent was dismissed from the bin Laden project at the CIA that went by the code name “Alec.” He told Kroft that he was considered “too persistent” and constantly lobbied his superiors about their “unwillingness to take risks.”

But after 9/11 he was brought back aboard.

His attitude about U.S. policy has not gotten much better. He holds former CIA director George Tenet responsible for 9/11 and lambastes former White House security aide Richard Clark for “constantly denigrating our intelligence.”

"One of the questions that should have been asked of Mr. Tenet was why were there always enough people for the public relations office, for the academic outreach office, for the diversity and multi-cultural office? All those things are admirable and necessary but none of them are protecting the American people from a foreign threat," said Scheuer.

Scheuer thinks it is a grave mistake for the administration to advertise bin Laden as a “thug or gangster.”

“He is not irrational but a worthy opponent,” Scheuer insisted, going as far as to say that bin Laden was in his opinion “a great man.”

“His greatness comes from his ability to influence the course of history.”

"Until we respect him, sir, we are going to die in numbers that are probably unnecessary, yes. He's a very, very talented man and a very worthy opponent," he added to Kroft.

Scheuer coyly admitted to CBS that he was the "anonymous" author of two books critical of the West's response to bin Laden and al Qaeda, the most recent of which is titled Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror.

The CIA allowed him to write the books provided he remain anonymous, but now is allowing him to reveal himself for the first time on Sunday's broadcast; he formally leaves the Agency on Nov. 12.

Other points from the interview:

• Osama bin Laden now has religious approval to use a nuclear device against Americans "[Bin Laden] secured [authority] from a Saudi sheik...a rather long treatise on the possibility of using nuclear weapons against the Americans," says Scheuer. "[The treatise] found that he was perfectly within his rights to use them. Muslims argue that the United States is responsible for millions of dead Muslims around the world, so reciprocity would mean you could kill millions of Americans"

• He stated his opinion that bin Laden’s “genius” was to define American policies to be hated. Growing violence has been the result. “We are not making strong headway,” he opined. He used Saudi Arabia as a country touched by the new reality of fear. “It was at one point the safest country in the world.”

• The only choice we have at this point is a choice between “war and endless war,” he said.

• As to the U.S. relationship with Isreal, “The tail is leading the dog.”

  The retired CIA man admitted that he was not invited to cabinet meetings during the Richard Clark period at the Clinton White House.

  George Tenet and Richard Clark were invited to appear on the program but declined to do so.

  Editor's note:
  

• NewsMax Book Predicted 9/11: Find out about this in "Bitter Legacy" – Click Here Now!
  

  Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
  

  War on Terrorism
  

  106-106-106

[Max Combined]

"They're intention is to end the war"

They're or their?

[section9]

Am I the only one who thinks that all of this chaos and finger-pointing at the CIA + these nuke warnings that seem to be coming every day now == bad news....

I don't want to panic, but the government has not been very reassuring of late.

Before you go and purchase your iodide tablets, understand what's going on. Bush won the election. That means one of the CIA's most vocal critics, Porter Goss, will keep his job as DCI. Goss has carte blanche from Bush to clean the Augean Stables. Kerry was going to fire Goss and put in someone friendly to the Agency beuracracy. The deadasses at Langley who got royally buggered by bin Laden and AQ for ten years are going to get a serious reaming, at the President's request.

Their intel on AQ was atrocious. Their intel on Iraq was just as bad. They leaked stuff on Bush all year to try to get their boy Kerry across the goal line. Scheur was told he could go on a lecture tour by the powers that be, then when he started pointing fingers at the higher ups in the CIA, they told him to shut up. This is a pantload of sound and fury; the leaks to the Post hit team of Pincus and Milbank from the Agency are the latest in the smokescreen.

The CIA has been invulnerable up to this time. Now, after chronic failure, they are not.

Be Seeing You,

Chris

[Snapple]

I think if the CIA were really scared about some nuclear attack they wouldn't be having a purge.

These bombs emit a lot of radiation. I think we have a lot of technology to detect that.

[RightWhale]

If Alqaida actually does use a nuke inside the USA the war will not end quickly, and it especially won't be a winner for Alqaida.

[matchwood]

Sorry, I became excited when someone appearing on a 60 Minutes show actually criticized Clark and Tenet. I mistook him for a real person for a minute there.

I totally agree with you regarding the aftermath of such an attack - it surely seems likely to happen.

[TFine80]

My fear is that all of this blaming stems from the fact he recognizes the CIA is incompetent....

[mlocher]

I watched this and I thought it was funny how SM somewhat distorted the timeline to almost make it appear that the CIA dropped the ball during the Bush administration

i didn't watch the show (cbs news is nixed in our household), but you are correct...we had at least 3 chances to get obl during clinton's watch...

[MHGinTN]

You fail to realize that OBL wants the non-muslim world at the throat of the world's muslims, to generate the jihad he is seeking. He is more than willing to have US kill millions of muslims, to incite the jihad in his name from the survivors. OBL is a threat to US, but it is the Muslims who ought be scared to death of OBL because he will gladly sacrifice millions of them (men, women, children, it matters not a whit to Osama in his self-deification) to get his worldwide holy war.

[Asclepius]

The story within the story: the President has begun the long-overdue process of purging the CIA. The CIA has retaliated through leaks and rogues and panic-mongering.

Expect things to get worse before they get better.

[alnick]

Where was this jerk before September 11? Why wasn't he leaking info to the MSM then?

That's a good point.

I tend to think that if AQ was capable of that kind of attack, they'd have struck prior to the election. They really wanted Bush to lose that election.

[Fiddlstix]

Why doesn't steve kroft go catch OBL then, he seems to know all about it.

Ditto!

[onyx]

LOL!
Good answer.

I am not even thinking about '08,
but I sure like John Thune. (I know,
senator's are rarely elected president).

[John Lenin]

Is a preemptive strike in the works ? I hope so.

[wagglebee]

I agree!
If Kroft is the premier expert on OBL that he and CBS claim he is, why the hell isn't he over there catching him and collecting the $50 million.

[NeoCaveman]

I am not even thinking about '08,

Think we'll be too nuked to vote? LOL

but I sure like John Thune. (I know, senator's are rarely elected president).

My mom likes him too. I'm noticing a trend here.....

[wagglebee]

Correction: Scheuer not Kroft.

[Snapple]

Good post. I notice on this forum people are always saying to kill the Muslims.

OBL is already doing that. And some people here play right into his propaganda by advocating mass genocide.

Sickening.

[Texas Songwriter]

I would ask all Freepers to engage in a little role playing.Begin Here....AlQuaeda manages to get a small nuclear device across the Rio Grande River and arrives in Houston,Texas. The detonation is located in the Shell Refinery area near the ship channel. Several hundred thousand Americans are killed. Our response is .......? Does this country have the intel or clarity of purpose to stop this war in a moment of time with massive punishment to all nations which harbor islamofascist hatred of America. Are we going to continue to nibble around the edges, sacrificing America's blood and treasure? Will political correctness continue to paralyze us as a nations preventing the leadership from acting on clarity of purpose. What say you?

[Sociopathocracy]

If these loser, socialist CBS creeps really thought that al Qaeda was going to set a nuke off in Times Square, they wouldn't be coming into work. Viacom (and most of CBS) is located at 44th Street and Seventh Avenue in Times Square.