Michael Scheuer, the former head analyst at the CIA’s bin Laden unit, has weighed in on the controversy surrounding the Republican Presidential debate held Tuesday May 15, when Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) stated that American foreign policy was a "contributing factor" in the 9/11 attacks.
"They attack us because we’ve been over there; we’ve been bombing Iraq for 10 years." Paul said. He was then denounced by former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani who said it was "absurd" and that he’d "never" heard such a thing before demanding a retraction.
In an interview with Antiwar.com’s Antiwar Radio on May 18, Scheuer, who was the head analyst at the CIA’s bin Laden unit, Alec Station, and authored the books Through Our Enemies Eyes and Imperial Hubris, said "I thought Mr. Paul captured it the other night exactly correctly. This war is dangerous to America because it’s based, not on gender equality, as Mr. Giuliani suggested, or any other kind of freedom, but simply because of what we do in the Islamic World a€" because ‘we’re over there,’ basically, as Mr. Paul said in the debate."
Scheuer also agreed with Dr. Paul’s statement in the debate that the war in Iraq was a diversion from capturing or killing Osama bin Laden and that bin Laden was "delighted" that the U.S. is occupying Iraq as it has become a training ground and recruiting tool for new jihadists joining the movement.
Keep ‘em coming, Scott – you’ve been busy lately with some good stuff, including today’s article at antiwar.com.
Do you have any idea how many people are listening/downloading your shows?
I’m amazed at all the great guests you’ve had in recent months.
I enjoy Scheuer a lot, but there are a couple of things I really disagree with him about. For example, he says that Bin Laden is pretty much the only intelligent charismatic Muslim leader out there. He is so wrong here! Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah is a huge figure, way more popular than Bin Laden. He is a phenomenal speaker, has a stellar reputation for honesty and courage, as warmth and charm (whereas Osama has about as much warmth as refrigerator) and, unlike Osama, Nasrallah is truly an Islamic scholar. Even more importantly in the Muslim culture, Nasrallah does *not* have innocent blood on his hands (at least none proven). Yeah, yeah, I know – Israel and the US State Department call Hezbollah “terrorists” which is fine by me, but can they actually pin any terrorist action on Hezbollah? And please don’t give me the Argentinian bombings as proof of anything as I happen to know Buenos Aires quite well and know that 1) you can make any Argentinian court say literally anything (give me one week and $10’000 and I will have an Argentinian judge placing the blame on little green men from Mars), and I know how there are plenty of local, Argentinian, interests capable and more than willing to blow up anything Jewish in Buenos Aires. Besides, Hezbollah *denies* being involved in these bombings and they have never, ever, denied being invloved in any “resistance operation”. Lastly, these bombings do not at all fit into any Hezbollah strategy I can think of. So until proven otherwise, I will not buy that Hezbollah is behind these bombings, nor do I consider them as a terrorist organization and, more importantly, nor do the vast majority of Muslims in the Middle-East. Anyway – sorry for the long disgression – my point is that unlike Osama, Nasrallah is not considered a person with innocent blood on his hands.
I also disagree with Scheuer when he says that no matter what the US does the hate for the USA has reached a peak in the Muslim world. That is not the case, quite to the countrary. Sure, besides a few corrupt potentates nobody has any love for the USA in the Muslim world, but that does *not* mean that most Muslims are willing to proactively fight the USA. However, the more the US is involved in the anti-Muslim wars (because that is what they are) the more people will actively take up arms. So I fully side with Scott here: if Ron Paul was sitting in the White House and the Imperial wars terminated, there would be a sharp decline in anti-US attacks.
I get the feeling that the Israeli crazies are about to turn Gaza into a major bloodbath and that the US and Israel are using Mohammed Dahlan’s thugs to try to crush Hamas in a full scale assault on Gaza. Should that happen you can expect another huge blowback. Ron Paul could have prevented that.
[...] Horton has a fascinating interview with Michael Scheuer, former head of the CIA’s Osama Bin Laden [...]
Hat tip to Mr. Blog Kaiwaldron’s blog. This is incredible! I never thought I’d say anything good about old Bill….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OeeevXtlDY&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fblog%2Ekaiwaldron%2Ecom%2F2007%2F05%2F19%2Fbill%2Dmaher%2Dron%2Dpaul%2Dis%2Dnew%2Dhero%2F
I noticed Mike Scheuer mentioned oil briefly. It reminded me of this.
The BBC reports…
“People on the island of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea have found their own solution to high energy prices – the humble coconut.
They are developing mini-refineries that produce a coconut oil that can replace diesel.
From police officers to priests, the locals are powering up their vehicles and generators with coco-fuel.
Inquiries for the coconut power have come in from overseas, including Iran and Europe.
For years, the people of Bougainville have been dependent on expensive fuel imported onto the island.
Shortages have often caused many businesses in this part of Papua New Guinea to grind to a halt. High energy costs have not helped either.
Increasingly, locals are turning to a cheaper and far more sustainable alternative to diesel. Coconut oil is being produced at a growing number of backyard refineries.”
Funny what you can achieve if you don’t have time to invade anyone.