Posted on 11/21/2004 10:33:22 AM PST by 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.
As astonishing as it is nauseating.
Now, maybe we will find Bin Laden. That was his job. Policy was not his job. Carry on Mr. Goss.
Yeah, the word "great" has no "connotation positive or negative."
Duh.
I guess this explains why this f*cking @sshole never caught OBL, he was too enamored of the piece of sh*t who wants to kill every person in America!
How quickly even deeply buried VIACOM-paid traitors forget.
Now he's looking for a job in the private sector. I have an opening in my office. I would love to get my hands on that mope and teach him how to work for a living.
Well, at least he's out of the CIA.
His sentiments and actions are the reason why he was kicked out of the CIA.
The CIA is a part of the Executive branch, headed by the President. These buffoons think they can all pursue their individual agenda. I submit that anybody in the Executive branch serves to support the current administration's policies and agenda's, not the former or 'potential' future president's views. If you don't like working for the man, get a new job.
I think the term for high level appointees is "they serve at the pleasure of the President". Not "serve to undermine the President".
C.I.A-holes strike again.
I think he should serve the remainder of his pathetic life in Leavenworth "at the pleasure of the President."
He rambles on and on beating around the bush until his central argument is coaxed out of him:
The JEWS have too much influence in this country and the JEWS have the US too cozy with the JEWish state.
Thus the cause of many of our international problems.
Yet they persecute Ashcroft, Bush, Cheney, Rice, etc.
...Well, I hope he scrubs off the cave mold before he turns up at the White House.
Michael Scheuer (R), former chief of the CIA (news - web sites) Counterterrorist Center's unit focusing on bin Laden, appears in an interview on November 11, 2004 in Washington with Steve Kroft During a 60 Minutes interview to be broadcasted on Sunday, November 14. The CIA analyst who wrote a book that criticized the U.S. war on terror has resigned from the spy agency after it effectively banned him from publicly discussing his views, his publicist said on Thursday.
I would trust Barney Fife over those guys.
Sickening.
And this loony left, totally amoral, smug, self satisfied liberal skunk was in a position of power in the CIA?
Makes one shudder.
The mind boggles.
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