Michael Scheuer

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Michael Scheuer was a CIA employee for 22 years, whose duties included being head of the Osama bin Laden unit, from its inception in 1996 until 1999. He also authored two books anonymously, until being identified by the media in the summer of 2004.

His second book, Imperial Hubris was extremely critical of the War on Iraq, and the policies of GW Bush, which Sheuler viewed as being a plus for Al Qaida.

Scheuer quit the CIA in late 2004, and has been on many news programs offering his analysis that at times seem contradictory, as does his claim of being a lifelong Republican because he is a strict constitutional constructionist [1]. Despite this he ardently advocates intense covert intelligence operations in the war on Terror, and assents to the practice of renditons. [2]

One of the reasons for his leaving was that Porter Goss, the GW Bush appointee who replaced George J. Tenet as CIA head, sent out a memo just after the November 2004 elections stating that the CIA's job was to support the president, which caused consternation within the agency. [3]

Scheuer's view that the current conditions have been spawned by the policies of five different presidents isn't a resounding cheer for Republicans either:

In a book review of "Imperial Hubris", the Boston Phoneix stated,

"While much of Imperial Hubris isn’t necessarily polemical, it does lead to a provocative conclusion. One thrust of the book is that at least three decades of US foreign policy fed what has become an intractable worldwide defensive Islamist insurgency, whose violent strain is performing what it considers a jihad in defense of Islam"
Jason Vest, "The secret history of Anonymous: The author of Imperial Hubris is unmasked and says he fears for his job at the CIA, not for his life at the hands of Al Qaeda", The Boston Phoenix, July 2, 2004

Scheuer is currently listed as a Jamestown Foundation terrorism analyst [4].

Publications by Scheuer

Books

Antiwar dot com

Jamestown Foundation publications

Washington Times

External Sources

  • Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity About, organizational web page, accessed May 5 2013.