Imperial Hubris

I recently finished Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror, which was book #10 for me in 2005. The author of the book is listed as Anonymous, but it is now common knowledge that it was actually written by former CIA bin Laden Unit Chief Michael Scheuer.

Scheuer's book is a fascinating read about why we were attacked on 9/11, what it meant, and why he is pessimistic about our future. Scheuer makes the argument that bin Laden is no crazed madman, but rather an intelligent, pious leader of an Islamic insurgency that is striking back at the United States in direct response to our foreign policy (our support for Israel, the occupation of Muslim land by U.S. soldiers, our alliances with Saudi Arabia, etc.). Scheuer points out that bin Laden has declared a defensive jihad against the U.S., a call to arms for all Muslims of the world to come to the defense of their religion. He sees the 9/11 attacks not as a one-time terrorist attack, but rather as a military victory by bin Laden in part of an on-going war that could last for generations.

The book is very harsh on the Bush administration for mishandling the war to this point. Scheuer feels that the war in Afghanistan was mismanaged from the start and that attacking Iraq (the second most holy land in Islam) was a major error that has just provoke more hatred for the U.S. He points out that our entry into Iraq was probably perceived by bin Laden as being 'like a Christmas present you long for but never expect to receive'.

Scheuer is equally harsh on the left arguing that weak politically correct mindedness prevents America from looking at the war as a fight against a worldwide Islamic insurgency and committing to fighting the war the way it needs to be fought. Because he lashes out against people on both sides of the political spectrum, the book has managed to be both attacked and embraced by pundits sometimes within the same review. Scheuer recently posted an interesting review of his reviews that goes into more detail about the book's reception.

Scheuer is not optimistic that things are going to get better anytime soon. He critiques the U.S. for fighting al Qaeda as criminals claiming that the insurgency is growing faster than we can arrest the individuals within it. At the end of Chapter 3, he provides a detailed list of all of the victories by the U.S. since 9/11 and contrasts them with what he sees as victories by al Qaeda. The data presents a valid argument that despite our perception of how the war is going that we are actually losing or at the very least not doing as well as one might think. All in all Scheuer paints a bleak picture for our future. I'll leave you with this depressing quote from the intro of the book:

"I write this book with a pressing certainty that al Qaeda will attack the continental United States again, that its next strike will be more damaging than that of 11 September 2001, and could include use of weapons of mass destruction."