Posted on 07/08/2006 3:40:21 PM PDT by blam
Agent who led Bin Laden hunt criticises CIA
Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
Saturday July 8, 2006
The Guardian (UK)
The man who led America's hunt for Osama bin Laden has said the CIA was wrong to disband the only unit devoted entirely to the terrorist leader's pursuit - just at a time when al-Qaida is reasserting its influence over global jihad. Shutting down the Bin Laden unit squandered 10 years of expertise in the war on terror, said Michael Scheuer, who founded the unit in 1995 and arguably knows more about Bin Laden than any other western intelligence official. He believes the unit was dismantled because of bureaucratic jealousies within the CIA, and that the closure delivers a further setback to a pursuit that has been squeezed for resources for the past two years.
"What it robs you of is a critical mass of officers who have been working on this together for a decade," he told the Guardian. "We had a breed of specialists rare in an intelligence community that prides itself on generalists. It provided a base from which to build a cadre of people specialising in attacking Sunni extremist operations, who sacrificed promotions and other emoluments in their employment in the clandestine service, where specialists were looked on as nerds."
A 22-year CIA veteran, Mr Scheuer became aware of Bin Laden in the 1980s when the Saudi-born militant was on the fringes of the US-backed mujahideen fighting the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. In 1995, when western intelligence agencies knew little about Bin Laden, Mr Scheuer was charged with setting up a unit that would track what support he was giving to Islamist groups, and determine whether he was a threat. Mr Scheuer left the agency in 2004 after writing a scathing book about its counter-terrorism...
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
I didn't pick up on that during the interview.
Read "Jawbreaker."
I watched the first 8 or 9 minutes and it sounded good to me. He was not bashing W. He did say Clarke was an idiot as well as Tennet. Didn't whine about the unit being disbanded nor did he blame the admin, just said he thought it was a bad idea.
Seemed like a reasonable guy.
Precisely the point ... ten years and no prize, time to try something else.
Overkill. Jack Bauer would not only find bin Laden, Jack Bauer would kick bin Laden so hard the entire leadership of al-Qaeda would be wearing their butts on their turbans. Then Jack Bauer would start in on their families and their goats and their camels.
On your recommendation, I did watch it. I haven't read any of his books, but I sure didn't have him figured for a conservative R.
I don't know what you're talking about but you really should listen to the 40 minute program.
ping
You had your chance....many of'em...now ya got to go.
Give it to the DoD.
Great post.
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