Imperial Hubris: Why the West Is Losing the War on Terror

Has some points, but mostly overcritical of the U.S.

This book where the author first chose to be Anonymous (and I can see why) comes off, despite making a few good points, that the U.S. needs to treat the 'war' on terror, especially on the likes of Bin Laden, as a war. Unfortunately, as many have said, Anonymous, Michael Scheuer has become an apologist for Bin Laden and Muslims his suggestions-basically that the U.S. must leave 'Muslim' lands and leave Israel 'twist in the wind', i.e., abandon Israel (wonder how that would go over in the Jewish-American parts of this country, say, New York, for example), and other half-baked [to be polite or they won't let me put this review on their site] ideas might make him feel better but I have news. Even if the U.S. did what he's suggesting, it would still be locked in a 'convert or kill' battle with radical Islam. It's like the Middle Ages, all over again, only with even more horrific consequences. There are Muslims, just as there are others, who want to be left alone and practice their faith. There are those who want to take over the world, like Bin Laden, and who this guy would probably would like to see it happen. There are non-Muslims, so-called Christians, who are fighting a new 'crusade' that are every bit as radical as these Muslims who follow Bin Laden and others like him. Let's send all of these idiots, the Bin Ladens and their Western equivalents to perdition. That way a book like this wouldn't have to be written because everybody could get along without the others. [Wishful thinking I know.]

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Mr. Scheuer Is ANGRY!

IH is one of the Angriest books I've ever read. Scheuer, the former head of the CIA's Bin Laden Unit, is angry at many people, including both the Clinton and Bush Administrations, over the mistakes each made that led to 9/11. Scheuer's opinion of Bin Laden himself seems to border on ' admiration '. He repeats, and repeats, and repeats, that the reason UBL enjoys the support he does is that he is seen as what Scheuer himself sees him as: An honest, sincere, and unpretentious man, who sacrificed a life of comfort and privilege in order to lead other freedom fighters in their cause. While the West in general, and the US in particular, has a history of (what many outside the US see as) illicit intervention in the affairs of sovereign Muslim nations. Scheuer's opinions are, of course, open for debate. But what is certain is that in order to win the War On Terror, we must understand the enemy, and this book is a startling paradigm shift in that direction.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

An Essential Read

A friend who has four sons dropped it by with a good recomendation. I read it and found it's contents to be essential for my understanding of things I should have been paying closer attention to. I also have four sons. The subject matter is most serious and should be read by all of us who have not given the war issue the attention it surely deserves.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Imperial Hubris in overshadowed by 'Imperial Designs' by Gary Dorrien

Not bad, but more of the same. It could be more well written, however, it underscores many contentions of Empires and Imperialism. A better read is 'Imperial Designs' by Gary Dorrien, which explains the PNAC (Project For A New America), and the neo-conservative Christian movement/agenda for a 'New America' that is going on now under President Bush and his faction. Furthermore, the abovementioned illuminates the plan by this movement, which is abounding in society today.

Unfortunately Not Worth Reading!

I found out about this book through an article in Time magazine. The book is much more theory than facts. I found that much of what the author talked about what his opinions on Bin Laden and the esteem in which he holds him. No wonder the CIA had problems. If you want a true insider book that is based on facts and not theory, I highly would recommend either one of Robert Baer's books. He truly has a better grasp on the situation. I would also recommend Zbigniew Brzezinski's book The Choice. Brzezinski is a former head of the NSA.

bin Laden-Lover exposed

As a conservative who is not happy with the direction the incumbent president is taking the country, I anticipated that this book would heap coals on the flames of my dissatisfaction. Much to my surprise, however, I encountered an an author who appears to be totally enthralled by the man he failed to track down while at the CIA. Rather than take my word for it, read a sampling of the Michael Scheuer's adjectives to describe bin Laden. Some are Scheuer's own words, and some are his acknowledgement of the accuracy of descriptions written by others: P. 117 first-rate innovator Executive terrorist Rational, logical, amoral,business-like The quintessential product of 1990¿s and globalism p. 118 innovative military man warrior-CEO heroic admirable and self-effacing character p.119 well-spoken, austere, brave, and self-effacing hero eloquent p, 120 quiet, amiable, pious man a handsome, well-mannered, and nice, cultured person p. 122 a calm young man to a great degree he possessed a certain charisma a tall, thin, gracious man a kind and humble man a pious scholar a man with tender emotions The thing that sent me over the cliff on this book was the author's comparison of bin Laden to Abraham Lincoln, with respect to Lincoln's 'belief in a moral universe in which men could know right from wrong and act accordingly...I would argue bin Laden believes in the same universe, and that Muslims love, repsect, and support him because he speaks of and defends that reality.¿ Am I missing something here, or is this guy star-struck by the murderer he was charged with bringing to justice? He fails to find the man, then makes millions writing a book singing the man's praises, while expressing disdain for the very the government in which he served? Only in America. Thank God the guy is out of the CIA. Our chances of killing bin Laden have to be better now that this apologist for the enemy is out promoting books.

A Dissenting Perspective

In ¿Imperial Hubris¿ and it¿s predecessor, ¿Through Our Enemy¿s Eyes¿, Michael Scheuer (¿Anonymous¿), formerly of the CIA¿s Bin Laden Desk and now an ardent critic of US policy vis a vis ¿Muslims¿ (always used by him as if these 1.5 billion individuals share an absolute commonality of purpose and perspectives) argues that, through a combination of benighted, misguided and self-defeating policies, Osama bin Laden has emerged as the avitar of outraged and appropriately vengeful Islam. The premise of this book is that the US (in particular) and the West (in general) are being targeted for very specific foreign policy decisions, rather than for espousing what is for Islamists, a fundamentally antithetical world-view (a ¿clash of civilizations¿). The text is structured around a series of excerpts from various bin Laden communiqués, accompanied by the author¿s interpretations, each ending with, ¿Promise made, promise kept¿, repeated ad nauseum like a mantra. Regrettably, the book is tendentious, polemical and fails to muster sufficient data make the case. To accept the author¿s premise, the reader must either be genuinely uninformed on the topic or simply delusional. To support the perspective that bin Laden¿s effort is an appropriate and measured response designed to change specific US policies, the author ignores a large body of well-known and explicitly documented evidence that demolishes his logic. It¿s also frankly repellant and perverse to suggest that somehow, the events of September 11, 2001 were justified by US policy. Take, just as one example of error by omission, this quote excerpted from a pamphlet by Abdallah Azzam: ¿This duty (viz., jihad) shall not lapse with the victory in Afghanistan and the jihad will remain an obligation until all (my emphasis) other lands which formerly were Muslim come back to us and Islam reigns within them once again. Before us lie Palestine, Bukhara, South Yemen, Tashkent, Andalusia¿¿. Azzam was a well-known and central figure in the Afghan mujahadin. In addition, bin Laden and Azzam worked together to establish the Sidda training camp for mujahideen in Peshawar during the Afghan war, indicating commonality of interest and purpose. As such, it is not surprising that numerous statements issued by or in behalf of bin Laden¿s organization indicate Azzam¿s ideology has been incorporated into or is identical to Osama¿s Islamist world-view. These and a plethora of similar proclamations are hard to reconcile with Scheuer¿s fundamental thesis that Osama¿s is a directed, temperate and reasoned response to very specific issues. Scheuer takes as facts arguments that need to be proven. He makes no effort to note or explain statements such as Azzam¿s, much less find and cite contrary evidence contrary to his theory from Osama or his paladins. In fact, bin Laden¿s statements have been quite consistent when read in context. Take this one, for example: in a 'Letter to America' written by Osama Bin Laden, the terrorist leader stated: 'What are we calling you [Americans] to, and what do we want from you? The first thing that we are calling you to is Islam ... It is the religion of Jihad in the way of Allah so that Allah's Word and religion reign Supreme. ... The second thing we call you to, is to stop your oppression, lies, immorality and debauchery that has spread among you. We call you ... to reject the immoral acts of fornication, homosexuality, intoxicants, gambling's, and trading with interest.' (The Observer, U.K., Nov. 24, 2002). As can be seen, Osama has made no concessions, either of a strategic or tactical nature which would serve to repudiate these revanchist claims. His repeated statements amount to a declaration of war against existing Muslim governments, Israel, Russia, China, the Phillipines, and of course, the USA. For Scheuer to a

Analytic Hubris

Anonymous should be an expert on Usama bin Laden and al Qaeda, after spending as many years as he has studying these topics. Unfortunately his view of a very complex issue flows from a very narrow context. While well-written, his 'analysis' is merely theory at its best. At its worst, however, the presentation of his analysis is an attempt to 'exploit' a general public that: 1) has a decreasing knowledge level of it own history and values; and 2) has even less knowledge of the history or values of other countries, especially the Middle East. There is a huge difference between 'analysis' and 'policy making.' While interesting, I'll balance anonymous' analysis with many others I have read.

An opinion piece at best

The book presents a generally coherent and cogent opinion of the world situation. Unfortunately it is not as fact based as some other books, such as 'Sleeping With The Devil' and there is not sufficient basis for the results predicitions that the suggestions are expected to produce.

Amazing

It's a great book. It laids down all the facts and addresses why there are more insurgencies and why we are hated. If your in to terrorism analysis or politics, a must read.

A Foreign Policy Must Read

Imperial Hubris lets us look at the 'War on Terror' thru a different light than what the U.S. public has been fed by the Bush Administration. Why are we allied with puppet states all over the Persian Gulf? For cheap oil prices! Our policy in the Middle East is transparent to all Muslims as one of exploitation. In the name of Democracy we support nation building in Iraq at the same time supporting the most repressive government in the world, Saudi Arabia. The 'War on Terror' states we have no idea what we are up against and have the completly wrong approach to fighting this war as Anonymous discusses in this chilling account of the painful lessons we may learn in the near future if we continue with our present policy in the Mid East. A good part of this books analyzes Bin ladens statements as well as listing victories on both sides in the past few years. Oh what disasters we could avoid if we were all literate in History! Well done piece by Anonymous!

Phenomenal

Phenomeanl read. If you've paid any attention at all to the shifting justifications for war and wondered about them, this book is for you. If you wondered why the US raced after was before actually dismantling al Qaeda and whether that decision was a sound one, this book is for you. If you want to understand why there are growing insurgencies in both Iraq and Afghanistan despite the administration's claims that everything is fine, this book is for you. If you are interested in the truth about the 'War on Terror' as it is currently being 'fought', this book is for you. To pre-empt the inevitable right-wing hackjob on this book: All you have to do is read the British (NOT French or German) press and see how the War on Terror is being assessed outside of Washington and the punditocracy's slavish adherence to Administration rhetoric. Seriously. Only the 'echo chamber' of conservative collumnists, the Weekly Standard, and those incompetent, arrogant neo-conservatives keeps this country--the US--from waking up to the complete bungling that has characterized the war on terror. Remember, the Russians still insist that all is stable in Checyna, too.

This book may be more important then the 911 commisions report.

After Sept 11, we all wanted to know thing are under control, Afganistan is no longer a threat, and that we will no doubt beat 'new' threat to US Security. If thats what you want, don't read this book. If you want the truth, this is a must read. Its nice in our fairy tail world to think we are under attack for who we are, attacked due to our freedom and Democracy. The fact is we are hated for our actions, and this book lays out how this is true and why that makes it all the more of a Danger. If you want to have a warm fealing inside, and think you are safe, don't read this. If you want to know the truth and see our leaders react to the truth, read this well thought out, book. It may be the only way American makes it out of this war as it would like to be.

Eye Opener

This is definetly the best political action book I've read, it's almost scary to know how were losing the war on terrorism, but this is a great read.

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