[bvw]

Well, MS is half a genius. And half a fool. You do not need to walk in your enemies shoes -- (1) you can't and (2) your enemies motivations may not even be known to he himself, so one could walk from Tallahassee to Mandalay in his shoes and still have no idea what he will do next, because he doesn't himself know. What you can do is constrain his actions, and bait and trap.

I don't know MS, but I bet he planned out his whole career. Bun Laden and his cohort did not. They were ever the opportunists -- yes they had plans like offensive coaches have playbooks but not "a plan" like the head coach of a college team has a long term plan for team development. MS doesn't understand them, imo.

[ZacandPook]

In contrast, I thought Scheuer’s 2002 book (titled something like
THROUGH YOUR ENEMIES’ EYES) was great. (though he now doesn’t stand behind some of what he said relating to an Iraqi connection dating back to Sudan).

And I respectfully disagree. Understanding motivation is key to true crime analysis. The best guide to that are intercepted communications intended to be confidential. For example, after the bombing of the Khobar towers, they intercepted a call between OBL and Ayman. OBL even back then was pointing to the detention of this sheik with whom GMU microbiology student was working. OBL told folks on the phone in a series of separate conversations, including when Ayman phoned in his congratulations, that there was a lot more where that came from until our sheik (OBL’s religious mentor) was released.