Raging neo-cons all over the country don’t care for Ron Paul and his assertion that American interventionism in the Middle East is one important factor contributing to the radicalization of an ever-growing number of Muslims into suicidal, anti-American terrorists. But what does the leading expert on Osama bin Laden say?

Michael Scheuer is a 22 year veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). From 1996 to 1999, he was the Chief of the Bin Laden Issue Station (aka Alec Station), the Osama bin Laden tracking unit at the Counterterrorist Center. From September 2001 to November 2004, he served again as Special Advisor to the Chief of the bin Laden unit. His insider perspective and expertise led him to write a book, anonymously, titled Through Our Enemies’ Eyes: Osama bin Laden, Radical Islam, and the Future of America, Revised Edition. We now know that he is also the anonymous author of Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror.

So, if anyone would seem a natural to line up with Giuliani – who has gained his “conservative” following through his tough guy reputation – following his now-famous exchange with Dr. Paul at the South Carolina debate, it would be this guy. But that is precisely the opposite of what has happened.

This day found Scheuer standing beside the castigated Ron Paul, rather than next to the would-be defender of American Empire around the world, Rudy Giuliani. And this is what Scheuer had to say at Dr. Paul’s press conference in the nation’s capital on Thursday: “Foreign policy is about protecting America. Our foreign policy is doing the opposite.”

“Our foreign policy is doing the opposite,” he said. This is exactly what Dr. Paul has been contending – but being ridiculed as being naïve over. But if that quote isn’t clear enough, here is what Scheuer wrote in the book, Through Our Enemies’ Eyes:
“[T]he crux of my argument is simply that America is in a war with militant Islamists that it cannot avoid; one that it cannot talk or appease its way out of; one in which our irreconcilable Islamist foes will have to be killed, an act which unavoidably will lead to innocent deaths; and one that is motivated in large measure by the impact of U.S. foreign policies in the Islamic world…”

The neo-cons need to start reading some books starting with Scheuer’s own works and The 9/11 Commission Report, they also recommend other expert analyses of terrorism and interventionism, such as Chalmer Johnson’s Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire.

Perhaps Dr. Paul’s “conservative” critics could do some reading, as well. If these contemporary works don’t suit them, maybe a few from the conservative canon will suffice – you know, works with authors like Edmund Burke, George Washington, and Russell Kirk, for example. Of course the neo-cons probably consider books as part of the left wing media bias as well. �