Written by Richard Kane   

Michael Scheuer on opposing forums like Antiwar.com, and The Glenn Beck program claims that Bin Laden is a lot more dangerous than Americans realize. It is surprising that some opposing forums nevertheless report favorably on Michael Scheuer

That bin Laden is smart, clever and dangerous is something I more than agree with. But Michael Scheuer’s so-called solutions I find very problematic. He fixates on the southern border which is more guarded than the Northern Border. Al Qaeda attacked British subways and Spanish commuter trains without use of false ID’s. The shoe and underpants bomber ID’s. were real. Al Qaeda knows that any criminal can earn benefits from turning them in. Any dark-skinned emigree without a Spanish accent could earn them money. Back when it comes to spies, real ID’s have always been a premium. The real Russian spy who stole the Atomic Bomb for Russia, was born in the US and went to Russia as a little boy with his parents. Slipped back in the US and got a real chemical degree, because Stalin was suspicious that nuclear science articles stopped being published. George Koval’s supposed limited education plus what seemed to be enormous learning skill enabled him to become in charge of security at the bomb project. Google George Koval with NY Times, Wikipedia, or Russian Medal for more detail.

Now that the Cold War is over, we know that the US made many errors in judgment, and that the USSR was never trying to destroy the US. Lefties never made good spies. Robert Hanson, their most successful spy’s cover, was that of an anticommunist Catholic fanatic who used to urge other CIA members to attend Mass and anti-abortion activities. Al Qaeda plays for keeps with the US not with surrogate nations.

So far al Qaeda has had great success giving good information that got fellow al Qaeda members killed before screwing up US efforts like killing five top US CIA operatives, because of a false tip, probably from someone who provided good intelligence previously. The US bombed a Taliban elder who was urging the Taliban to negotiate and compromise with the US. The US should have lavishly compensated his relatives in apology. Al Qaeda loves to put on uniforms and establish elaborated disguises, such as in Iraq, what appeared to be a US official and a translator and several Iraqi government soldiers coming to the house of an Awakening Council member (which switched sides against al Qaeda) and killing all the adults. After the young children reported this, in following attacks, entire families of Awakening Council members were killed.

So the US has a serious problem as I see it. The only people who call al Qaeda clever and dangerous are the Dick Cheney’s and Michael Scheuer’s, who offer self-defeating strategies for dealing with the danger.

Michael Scheuer came to Philadelphia with a splash. The free events at the library and University of Penn bookstore were announced ahead of time in the Metro, something the Metro rarely does. His speech at the World Affairs Council was announced in the Philadelphia Inquirer, as an event worth attending. PBS’s “Radio Time” had him as a guest.

Scheuer claim Bin Laden could cares less about our values, I believe is true with a strong qualification. Muslims watching soccer on a giant indoor TV screen in Pakistan were blown up, as was visiting sports teams. Bin Laden cared very much that young Muslim girls before 9/11 all over the Muslim world covered their hair and face a little less then their parents did, and is proud of his belief that 9/11 and the US’s response attack on Afghanistan and later Iraq made young Muslims en mass at least slightly more observant. He is proud of any drift toward militancy that he thinks he can give himself some credit for, including such militancy resulting from US attacks on the Muslim World.

It’s a little strange that Muslims who drink like the 911 hijackers and one at least attended brothels, are very upset that observant Muslims bend a little. Bin Laden is a rare and powerful exception, but I disagree with Michael Scheuer’s scoffing that bin Laden might be more dangerous as a dead martyr. I personally think that if he starts to get senile, or knowingly close to death he might try to set up a situation where he is killed by the west first.

Michael Scheuer harps on the idea that Muslims hate the US because of helping Israel and involvement in the middle east. First of all Sufis like the Imam who wants to build a downtown NY mosque interfaith community project don’t believe in hate, not toward Israel nor the US. Muslims everywhere are upset that there are many Muslim factions instead of just one common faith. Many Muslims who come to the US are overjoyed that over here Shiites and Sunnis get along with each other, and act like they are the same faith, and long to promote this part of America back to their homeland. Some who hate Israel feel the US is gullibly being lead around by the noise by Israel. The Muslims detained as a supposed Iranian spies, blamed Israel not the US for their troubles. When al Qaeda decided to form al Qaeda of Palestine, and at other moments, the US missed the opportunity to hire Muslims who hate Israel but admire the US, or Hamas or Iran to infiltrate al Qaeda.

Some claim bin Laden’s involvements with 9/11 is a myth or at least his slightly approaching omnipotent power is a myth. However, besides very carefully executed attacks on the West in Spain and England. There is persistent very carefully executed carnage against Awakening Council members, Shiites religious sites were attacked back when it seemed the US was about to broker peace between the Shiites and Sunnis of Iraq. Sufis who believe Islam has more to do with love than with power are, in Pakistan, in constant danger of their religious sites being suicide-bombed while they worship there. The claim that there are no al Qaeda troops in Afghanistan can only be true if you put suicide-bombers and those who supply and outfit them in a different category than troops.

A number one al Qaeda goal is to bankrupt the West, especially America. As long as it looks in bin Laden’s eyes that his goals are right on schedule there is less reason for him to plan a huge attack. If, for instance, there ends up incredibly good news out of Egypt or the US policies domestic and foreign no longer seem to be heading for bankruptcy, then the more professional wings of al Qaeda may become desperate for a huge attack on the US. Ironically the more it looks like Obama is solving the US problems and getting the Muslim world in general to oppose al Qaeda the more likely becomes a huge attack. The more President Obama fails and the US looks like its heading for currency collapse the more creative terrorists like bin Laden can relax. Sabotaging US attempts to leave Afghanistan if US currency starts to collapse is a real danger.

The World Trade center was the center of US business. Soon after the attack the stock market rose rather than collapsed. Commuters using subways in London and commuter trains in Madrid were attacked. To the extent people are scared into commuting in cars in the future, or not going to work, the economy is attacked. The amateur al Qaeda members who constructed the failed package bomb bragged about all the millions it forced the US and the West to spend compared to the little they spent to create and send the package bombs. Bin Laden is happy that a volunteer army is so expensive, and hiring contractors even more so. Bin Laden is clearly not interested in doing something that would lead to a draft which would lead to a less expensive US fighting force.

No! Michel Scheuer, al Qaeda has no intention of attacking the US in such a way as to be a wake up call in your eyes.

It’s claimed that wars aren’t declared anymore. However, France declared war on al Qaeda, and bin Laden in a responding video declared war on France. (Google it if you don’t believe me.) France actually cut military spending while preparing for an al Qaeda attack which over six months after a bin Laden video threatened to attack France hasn’t occurred. France has been very careful and successful in fighting terror. Almost 5% of France is Muslim. France, unlike the US, knows what it is doing. I think we need to accept French leadership in the anti al-Qaeda fight, and somehow adopt the French model of spending less and less money as we take opposing al Qaeda ever more seriously. I would like to see French advisers advising US al Qaeda experts, the US should let those who know what they are doing take the leadership.

Even though some Muslims and some Christians believe that eventually their beliefs will be everyone’s, bin Laden, like Michael Scheuer claims, has no plans to help Islam control the West. I believe that Michael Scheuer is extremely dangerous to our future because what he claims is wrong is so important while his so-called solutions are more than a little self-defeating.

Like the instigators of a barroom brawl al Qaeda has amazing success in getting people to fight with each other. Muslims being chased out of the West would be great news from bin Laden's point of view providing it would lead them to become more observant. The west kicking both Muslims and Jews out, to so-called fight their wars in their part of the world, not ours, would be a dream come true from bin Laden's point of view.