FORMER CIA OFFICIAL: GIVE BIN LADEN ISRAEL

The Dissident (Wall Street Journal)
Michael Scheuer, who recently departed the CIA, appeared with Tim Russert on "Meet the Press" yesterday. The erstwhile senior analyst and anonym (author, in the latter capacity, of a book called "Imperial Hubris") offered the theory that American support for Israel is to blame for al Qaeda's terrorism:

Scheuer: I think we need to take a position with Israel that suits American interests.
Russert: Such as?
Scheuer: Such as perhaps being more insistent on some arrangement with the settlements. Certainly, no one is going to withdraw the protective umbrella of the United States, but at some point, Americans need to look after their own interests first.
Russert: But do you believe that being "tough on Israel" would in any way change Osama bin Laden's agenda or desire to destroy America?
Scheuer: His agenda is not to destroy America, Mr. Russert. He simply wants us out of his neighborhood. He wants us out of the Middle East. And I'm not--no, it would not change his agenda, but my point here is that America has a choice between war and endless war with the forces led by Osama bin Laden. And at some point, we need to take actions in our own interests that limit his ability to grow in power and popularity in the Muslim world.
Russert: But if America removes itself from the Middle East, isn't that appeasement to--
Scheuer: No, sir, I'm not suggesting that we remove ourselves from the Middle East.

Scheuer also made some truly bizarre statements about bin Laden, whom he called "a remarkable man, a great man in many ways . . . an admirable man." Scheuer added: "If he was on our side, he would be dining at the White House. He would be a freedom fighter, a resistance fighter"--though he insisted that all this was "not to praise him" but merely to "take the measure of the man and the power of his words."