CIA Terrorist Hunter: Bin Laden 'Great' and 'Admirable'

NewsMax ^ | 11/21/04 | Carl Limbacher

[wagglebee]

In a series of bizarre comments that show the depth of the failed thinking at the nation's premier intelligence service, the former head of the CIA unit charged with capturing or killing Osama bin Laden said on Sunday that the terror mastermind was a "remarkable," "great" and "admirable" man.

"He's really a remarkable man," former CIA agent Michael Scheuer told NBC's "Meet the Press." "[He's a] great man in many ways, without the connotation positive or negative. He's changed the course of history."

Scheuer's book "Imperial Hubris," which the CIA allowed him to publish anonymously earlier this year, was touted during the presidential campaign by critics of President Bush based on its claim that the U.S. is losing the war on terror. Scheuer ran the agency's bin Laden unit from 1996 to 1999.

While he insisted he didn't mean to praise bin Laden, moments later the ex-CIA man told host Tim Russert that the al Qaida chief was "an admirable man. If he was on our side, he would be dining at the White House."

"He would be a freedom fighter, a resistance fighter," Scheuer added, suggesting that the U.S. would welcome an ally who killed 3,000 innocent office workers in a kamikaze sneak attack.

In more revealing comments, Scheuer went on to blame America's "unqualified support for Israel" for bin Laden's rise.

"There is a perception in the Muslim world, and I think there's a perception on the part of many Americans, that the tail is leading the dog on this case," he told NBC. "And perception, for better or worse, is often reality."

In fact, bin Laden bombed U.S. embassies in East Africa, attacked the USS Cole and planned the 9/11 attacks during the height of the Clinton administration's efforts to pressure Israel to cede territory to the Palestinians, a proposal accepted by then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak but rejected by Yassir Arafat.

Scheuer continued as a senior analyst with the CIA's bin Laden unit until Nov. 12, when he went public in-person with his complaints.

[AmericanMade1776]

Reading Imperial Hubris by Michael Scheuer (alias “Anonymous”) is enough to make the most hardened veteran intelligence analyst weep -- particularly those, like me, who saw the effects of imperial hubris among U.S. leaders that caused the deaths of 58,000 U.S. troops in Vietnam. Not to mention the 2 million to 3 million Vietnamese who lost their lives in that war.

On the subjects of “terrorism,” Iraq and Afghanistan, we again see the victory of what historian Barbara Tuchman has called “cognitive dissonance,” preventing U.S. policymakers, who are committed to an ill-advised, ruinous course, from listening to and being guided by intelligence analysts with a wealth of expertise on which to draw. Scheuer is the quintessential analyst. His book is a good example of what we analysts used to do:

Research the “checkables” and commit them to memory; Be thoroughly familiar with the findings of serious scholars in academe and the press; Give sustained scrutiny to the primary source of data on any issue or country by applying the proven tools of the endangered-species discipline of media analysis, supplementing that scrutiny with data from classified sources;

Get a sanity check from colleagues in the field; Write it all up without fear or favor. Unfortunately, this process can be -- and has been -- prostituted by senior careerists driven by what Scheuer calls “moral cowardice.”

The whole idea of having a Central Intelligence Agency is that there be one place in government without a policy agenda -- one place to which the president can go and say “give it to me straight,” with full trust that he will get an honest answer and not what a CIA director thinks the president wants to hear. I worked in that place for 27 years and, with a few significant exceptions, we were able to do precisely that. Indeed, we had career protection for doing precisely that.

Scheuer knows his subject; he led the analysis of al-Qaeda for many years. His bottom line is that Osama bin Laden and his followers are motivated by the Quran-based concept of “defensive jihad,” which Scheuer says is “wildly popular” in the Islamic world. Why so popular? He quotes British journalist Robert Fisk saying in 2002: “Amid Israel’s brutality toward Palestinians and America’s threats toward Iraq, at least one Arab is prepared to hit back.”

Scheuer notes that U.S. policy has been the “most effective recruiting tool imaginable” for bin Laden, and that the invasion and occupation of Iraq were “icing on the cake,” sweetened still more by President George W. Bush’s awarding to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon the epithet “man of peace.”

Scheuer adds that in addressing the likelihood of large civilian casualties resulting from al-Qaeda attacks, cleric supporters and bin Laden himself offer a defense. This is how bin Laden puts it:

Each American is “free” to select leaders ... [and] give consent to the policies the government adopts. This includes the support of Israel manifesting itself in many ways including billions of dollars in military aid. By electing these leaders, the American people have given their consent to the incarceration of the Palestinian people, the demolition of Palestinian homes and the slaughter of the children of Iraq. ... Polls show the American people support the policies of the elected government. ... This is why the American people are not innocent. The American people are active members in all these crimes.

So why do they hate us? The administration continues to insist, “They hate our freedom.” Small wonder that real experts like Scheuer have been dissed.

If there be any good news in all this, it is only that Scheuer was allowed to publish his critique of ignorant ideologues running U.S. policy and sycophants at senior intelligence and military levels who “go along to get along.” This occurs despite the fact that young Americans are dying every day in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Scheuer is an analyst, not an undercover agent, for the CIA. Because of the political sensitivity of his topic, he was asked to publish his book anonymously. Since its release, Scheuer has been widely interviewed and his identity revealed.

It was perhaps a mercy to Scheuer that his book appeared before the appointment of Porter Goss as George W. Bush’s director of central intelligence. Goss, as head of the House Intelligence Committee for eight years and a staunch supporter of CIA director George Tenet until Bush decided to dump him, is as responsible as Tenet for the debacle that has befallen U.S. intelligence through politicization and its handmaiden, incompetence.

It will be a boon for the country if Goss ends up being the director of central intelligence with the shortest tenure in the CIA’s history and if a thorough housecleaning of the U.S. intelligence community can begin early next year.

Ray McGovern worked as an analyst for the CIA for 27 years. He is cofounder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity.

National Catholic Reporter, October 29, 2004 http://ncronline.org/NCR_Online/archives2/2004d/102904/102904t.htm

[wagglebee]

Thanks.

[GSlob]

Well, there is a place for passionate warriors, and there is a place for coolheaded analysts. IMHO, the latter could make great "Geheimrats"- Privy Councilors, but these councilors are supposed to keep their input out of MSM, for Lord's sake!. In the sense that one should not underestimate the enemy, he is right - OBL is no baboon, but a smart bloody scoundrel.

[WestTexasWend]

The more you see and hear from this "expert" the easier it gets to understand why the CIA is getting the purge it has needed the past 20 years. They've devolved into tech support for the State Dept.

[AmericanMade1776]

Your are most welcome...it is unbelievable this mans statements.

[FairOpinion]

That's why it's good that Goss is really shaking up the CIA - seems the culture is to admire and root for the enemy. That kind of thinking needs to be eliminated.

[wagglebee]

You would think this man would be grateful to be in America. In most other countries, he would have been taken to a dark cell, tortured for weeks and then shot.

[Diogenesis]

Scheuer: "Osama is very good. My hero actually. Jews are bad.
They must be removed from America and we will wave goodbye to them."

[upbeat5]

I think that the new U.S. Attorney General needs to pick one of these treasonist scumbags and try him for treason. Even if there was not a conviction, it would make a point!

[SunnySide]

I heard Michael Scheuer say that too. More commie "secular" liberal circle jerking ie., manipulating words and events to deflect and confuse the dumbed down global population. Just because man, woman, beast or disease changes history DOES NOT make them or it "great" as secular parasite Scheuer tried to imply it, in a positive light.
Last week I ate lunch at an oriental restaurant. Was given the usual fortune cookie with my bill. The timing of my fortune message couldn't be more fitting for these times.
Fortune message which BTW is for all good men and women to take note:
"Keep on charging the enemy SO LONG AS THERE IS LIFE" .........because the enemy will do the same as witnessed by passive traitor Michael Scheuer on Meet The Press this morning.

---

"Yet they persecute Ashcroft, Bush, Cheney, Rice, etc."

Simply because Ashcroft, etc., BELIEVE, are followers of Jesus Christ! American secularist HATE that.

[Biblebelter]

That weasel Russert missed the opportunity for the perfect follow up question. He should have asked him to compare Hitler with OBL.

[wagglebee]

They tried that after WWII with Alger Hiss, who absolutely was a traitor. It was a disaster, but the left never forgot about it and waited 25 years to completely destroy Richard Nixon.

[elmer fudd]

I listened to this guy last week on Alan Colmes' radio show. It was actually very interesting. He claimed that the CIA supported him writing his book as long as it was an attack on President Bush, but when it became clear that he also criticized the CIA he lost their support.

This would seem to lend credence to McCain's charges that the CIA is a rogue agency.

[WestVirginiaRebel]

What happened to the days when the CIA knew how to deal with clowns like this? Mr. Goss has a Herculean task ahead of him.

[cookcounty]

How does a jerk like this get a job like that?

Memo to Peter Goss:

Please come back and get a bigger broom.........and shovel.

[Syncro]

Clinton spent 8 years emasculating our Intelligence Agencies, making them ineffective and subversive.

Bush is cleaning house, not with a broom but with a 500 horsepower turbo leaf blower.

[Syncro]

Grate Minds...

:>)

[26lemoncharlie]

Treason, Sedation, giving aid to the enemy.

In more revealing comments, Scheuer went on to blame America's "unqualified support for Israel" for bin Laden's rise.

"There is a perception in the Muslim world, and I think there's a perception on the part of many Americans, that the tail is leading the dog on this case," he told NBC. "And perception, for better or worse, is often reality."

This is the Left's agenda in a NUT SHELL, the total destruction of Isreal and the crushing of the US. Making us into a third world country.

This man, along with a few more of his collegues should be tried for treason and a whole lot more. Our Son's and saughter's died because of this man's actions and inaction's

[Diogenesis]

This is not emasculation. This is treason.

Worse, this POS ran the group trying to find Osama.
Thus, he probably does (as does VIACOM) know where he is.

[SunnySide]

Is it just me or does Scheuer have that watered down muslim look about him? Beard n all.... hmmmm?