Mr Scheuer is an insider, ex-CIA, an expert for decades on anti-terrorism, even prior to the attack on the Towers in 2001. He says things, and critiques in ways, that the Establishment does not tolerate from others because those critics do not carry the desired “insider” status. Of course, they reject his insights, as well, but the gnashing of teeth is less vehement, perhaps.
The book, while still too supportive of many government polices and persons, in my opinion, offers excellent insights into the multiple and entangled root causes of terrorism, of the very poor outcomes of decades of bad US foreign policy and interventionism, and the misguided and erroneous visions of US “leadership” which perpetuate continued loss, failure, instability and blowback. He asserts and defends very well the argument that terrorism is not an attack on American values or freedoms, but rather it is deliberate retaliation for a long series of US actions and presences in lands and among peoples where the US had no business inherent to its own defense or sovereignty. Although written in 2003-4, nothing has fundamentally changed in the still-losing War. Over a decade later, the same failed beliefs, policies and interventions persist at great cost in blood, treasure and international goodwill.
There are many great quotes to be pulled from the book, some of which I will add in the comments section, but this excerpt may be among the most insightful and representative of the work (from pg 251-2):
Perhaps the best book I read while writing this study was Ralph Peter’s Fighting for the Future: Will America Triumph? In it, Peters makes a suggestion that still stuns, haunts, and encourages me. “We Americans must avoid fantastic schemes to rescue those for whom we bear no responsibility,” Peters said. “In dealing with nationalism and fundamentalism we must be willing to let the flames burn themselves out whenever we are not in danger of catching fire ourselves. If we want to avoid the needless, thankless deaths of our own countrymen, we must learn to watch others die with equanimity.” Peters is right, brutally updating the guidance of Washington and Adams. Can any U.S. official, academic, politician, or pundit credibly claim to know what is going on in Iraq’s sectarian and tribal politics, Afghanistan’s tribal and ethnic rivalries, or the tribal-religious-ethnic politics of the Balkans, Rwanda, Liberia, or Congo? Can anyone honestly believe the claim that Washington will broker a “just peace” between Israel and Palestine is anything other than a thirty-year-old, mindlessly repeated mantra? Can anyone even describe the basic elements of the Islamic faith and their impact on world affairs? More to the point, can it be proven that it would make a substantive – vice emotional – difference to U.S. security if every Hutu killed every Tutsi, or vice versa; every Palestinian killed every Israeli, or vice versa; or if Serbs, Croats, and Bosnians exterminated each other to the last person? The brutal but correct answers are: we do not understand these conflicts, and none of them, regardless of who wins, endanger U.S. interests. All evoke empathy and stir emotion, but it is, as always, a cruel world, and each nation’s one mandatory duty is to care for and defend itself.
“For our own welfare and survival, we must watch others die with equanimity” and help after ‘the flames burn themselves out” by focusing our overseas intercourse on trade, sharing knowledge, and donating food and medicine. America must not commit abroad unless genuine national interests are at risk, and she must go to war only for survival and then act to annihilate the enemy. We must let our efforts to perfect self-government and ensure equality for all at home be the example that spurs democracy abroad. We must unflinchingly let foreign dragons devour each other without expending American lives, treasure, and self-respect on an endless series of fool’s errands.”
On pg 210, Mr Scheurer, a bin Laden historian and expert, lists six distinct motivating factors for terrorism, i.e. what could be termed the terrorists’ foreign policy objectives. Scheurer’s point is to make it very clear that the “extremist” actions, while perhaps not justified or moral, are rational and very purposeful. Each of these points requires a fuller understanding of history than what can be acquired in this single book, however, they are starting points for analysis and understanding.
1) U.S. aid to and support of the state of Israel, which has been a threat to Palestinians and Muslims since its creation by the Balfour Agreement in 1917.
2) U.S. and western military presence and occupation in the Arab peninsula and nearby Holy Lands.
3) U.S. interference in Iraq and Afghanistan.
4) U.S. support and/or acquiescence to other governments which are viewed as oppressive to Muslims, e.g. Russia, China, India.
5) Restoration of Muslim control over their own energy resources in their lands, particular petroleum.
6) U.S. installation, support, propping up and protection of governments and regimes in Muslim lands.
In summary and evaluation of these points, the author clearly states that “they do not hate us for our freedoms.” They hate us because we’re over there. They hate us for what the US Gov has done for decades. For its presence. Its interventions. Its skewing of politics and society and economy. Scheurer does not defend any violent acts or even justify these points. He primarily stresses that to not understand the root causes of terror, the geo-political history of the lands and people, and the implications of U.S. foreign policy is to forever perpetuate the same mistakes. The quagmire. That American arrogant ignorance, the Imperial Hubris, will guarantee failure in perpetuity.
pg 215
“‘… international goodwill has been squandered to near zero.’ At this writing, the war on terrorism has failed to defeat the main enemy, lost focus on national interests in favor of a Quixotic attempt to democratize and secularize Islam, and is generating enemies and animosities faster than we can kill or quell them.”
(And that was 12 years ago. How much truer today?)