Posted on 11/14/2004 7:00:31 PM PST by TFine80
"Bin Laden's point was driven home for him by U.S. actions. The first was in the contradiction between U.S. pressure on Al-Jazirah to censor or refuse to broadcast tapes from bin Laden and his lieutenants, and the secretary of state's February 2003 rush to publish a not-yet aired bin Laden tape so it would 'prove' to the UN Security Council the reality of al Qaeda-Iraq cooperation. '[T]he administration pounced on the [bin Laden] tape,' Maureen Dowd wrote in the New York Times. 'In the past, [U.S. National Security Adviser] Condi Rice has implored the network not to broadcast the tapes outright, fearing he might be activating sleeper cells in code. . . . But this time the administration flacked the tape. . . So the Bushies no longer care if Osama sends a coded message to his thugs as along as he stays on message [re: al Qaeda-Iraq cooperation] for the White House'
There are dozens of other examples of bizarre bias in the book. I guess the Bush people were afraid to fire him before the election, but the jerk needed to go. The book is basically one big excuse for CIA incompetence, and this guy is truly pathetic. He makes me worry about the CIA, but I pray he is atypical.
As I've said on other threads, he's just making the rounds of the talk shows plugging his book. There's a whole industry now based on the fact that if you attack the Bush administration you get free publicity from all the talk shows and a good place on the table in Barnes & Noble.
It's a marriage of left-wing politics and shameless greed. This guy is hoping to strike it rich.
If this guy was a great as he says, he would be over there now catching OBL and claiming the $50 million reward.
What is your nationality, my friend?
Exactly - he's supposed to be one of the world's leading experts on Osama, so if he's so smart how come he can't go off to catch Osama and win the reward. Guess it's easier and safer to make yer millions flacking a book and yakking on TV talk shows.
btw, how could ANY credible intelligence expert EVER quote Maureen Dowd as an authority on ANYTHING???? What a bozo!
Since you are new, your credibility is 'zero.'
I suspect there may be a ZOT in your future.....you smell troll like.
the CBS story explains more than once that OBL was dangerous for 8-10 years PRIOR to 911. This guy was fired from leading the OBL team in 99 and brought back on 912. All the rest of his story makes the CIA look very bad.
Is the woodwork you guys are crawling out from under custom millwork? Lot of agency defenders around. No satellite shots to look at tonight?
I have a feeling that guy was an Arab or Muslim... I looked though his messages. There was something really spooky about them.
I haven't read Imperial Hubris yet, but I plan to. Scheuer's "Through Our Enemies' Eyes - Osama bin Laden, Radical Islam, and the Future of America" is pretty good. It was essentially written prior to 9/11 but was published in January, 2002, I believe.
Imperial Hubris may be wrong-headed. I won't know until I read it. Scheuer knows what he's talking about. He may be wrong, but we need to understand the other view-points, IMHO.
To all those aruging that "if Scheuer is so smart, then why hasn't he found OBL and claimed the reward?". How about making a coherent argument? You demean yourselves and this august forum with such a childish retort.
this guy knows that W will clean up the CIA and that is what 's got his panties in a tear. OBL is a concern NOW not then! Time to dismantle the clintonista bureaucracy thae CIA has become.
The US is not an Imperial country. Never was and never will be.
I wish some critics would actually learn about different cultures around the world before pronouncing their wisdom on us.
I have been to the Middle East and the culture is sorely lacking. I have studied the history and have a level of admiration for Arab culture but the reality is far different.
Backwards Islam is not compatible with the modern world. That's how it is. If they want a reformation of the backward idealogy that is Islam, that's fine with me!
Look at Europe, witness the REALITY. Then, you can talk about the Moonbat book.
Arioch7 out.
I agree that he knowing what he is talking about.... However, it seems to me that making excuses is one of major motivations and his desire to attack the President is not helpful.
"To all those aruging that "if Scheuer is so smart, then why hasn't he found OBL and claimed the reward?". How about making a coherent argument? You demean yourselves and this august forum with such a childish retort."
Calm down, it's a flippant remark (I was among those who made it) but it fronts for a whole cluster of arguments about the failures of the CIA bureaucracy and the Clinton-lites to deal effectively with the rise of Osama in the '90s. We don't have to delve into a detailed argument every time we comment on this type of forum. We've been hearing John 'Hanoi' Kerry bleat for months about how he would have nailed Osama at Tora Bora (if he was even there). If this retiring CIA guy knows what needs to be done, he sure hasn't convinced enough other people in the government that he has the answers. Maybe he does have good ideas, maybe not, but I wasn't favorably impressed with how he tried to help Kerry win the election. One thing I am sure of is that the Kerry approach would take us back to the 1990s in too many ways.
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