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

Regardless of your political leanings, this book is worth a read. The author unflatteringly lays out how some of our actions are perceived by many muslims today. While much of the motivation for anti-US sentiment is logically flawed, we should strive to understand it. While I disagree with the author's bleak predictions of democracy's future in Iraq and Afghanistan, his points are well researched and presented. I must note that he is an expert and I am not. Bottom line, there is a reason these young men are being convinced to construct and place the roadside bombs that are killing troopers over here, and it's not because they hate baseball and apple pie. It is important for us to understand the motivation for their hatred if we are to effectively counter it. Leave partisan politics at the door and read this book.

As a CIA retiree with some 3 decades of service, I was very interested in what this book had to offer regarding the current American crisis. I was acquainted with "Anonymous" and can attest to his qualifications to write such a book. He is not only an exceptionally gifted intelligence officer, he is also a man of the greatest integrity and dedication. His opinion is most worthy of consideration. Anonymous has presented a compelling argument for the United States to modify its current policies toward the Middle East. He has also noted that there is little if any chance that we will change our policies. It is, therefore imperative that we as a nation resolve to fight and win the current war against the Islamists. We must return to the thinking of an earlier generation when we hated our enemies and had no problem in seeking their total annihilation. We cannot remain averse to casualties of war on either side. Our troops have been trained to fight wars and are expected, unfortunately, to sometimes die for their country. Thank God for these noble men and women. We, the American public and especially our effete leaders, must resolve to destroy our enemies before they destroy our way of life. Anonymous clearly establishes that when a group of people have such hatred for American policy and have vowed to kill us and disrupt our lives for generations to come, it is not politically incorrect for us to seek to destroy that group. It is essential that our leaders read and, if at all possible, understand this book. Given the real threat that confronts the United States today, Imperial Hubris is perhaps the most important book of the past 100 years.

I wish every American had been required to read this book before the recent re-coronation of Dubya. "Anonymous" is now widely known to be Michael F. Scheuer, a longtime CIA veteran specializing in al Qaeda, bin Laden, and Islamic insurgencies. He lambastes both the Bush and Clinton administrations for their lies of ommission regarding terrorism, and he makes a pursuasive argument that our government has actually made things worse, not better. And Scheuer is no leftie dove. He repeatedly calls for the US to do one of two things: either change the foreign policies that give rise to militant Muslim responses, or go after the terrorists with every weapon we have. The author explodes the ridiculous lie that Bush has been pushing since 9-11: that terrorists are insane, irrational murderers who only want to destroy the freedoms that Americans enjoy. This Big Lie, that an innocent America is a victim only because of its very goodness and success, has prevented Americans from confronting the true roots of Islamic hatred towards the US: the several streams of anti-Muslim foreign policy that have been flowing for decades. Everyone needs to read this book, so that we can, as citizens, demand an end to the unwinnable War on Terror. Americans must know the truth about Islamic militancy, so that we can demand sweeping policy change, the only hope of saving lives and avoiding future attakcs.

This is an important book with an exceptionally important message that will be misunderstood by many readers. The author is dead on in his analysis of the long-term effects of our "war on terror" i.e. that our actions will provoke more terror attacks, not protect us from them. He is also wise, but will be reviled by some, for insisting that we need to understand the worldview of our enemies if we are ever to end terror attacks. His analysis of problems in the intelligence community and the abuse of the system is truly insightful. It is simply amazing to hear the CIA analytical arm getting blamed in the press for bad intelligence when in fact the problem was political distortion of clear intelligence that did not support the President's viewpoint. This book is not an easy read and there are times when the author tries to be a little too glib, but it is an important read for anyone who truly wants to understand the problem facing us from terrorists.

The author's arguments run parallel to those presented by the antiwar movement, but he hasn't "co-opted" anyone or anything. The similarities lie only in what is fairly obvious, specifically that the Muslims who attack the U.S. do so for reasons of U.S. foreign policy, not out of hatred of participatory democracy. That observation is not the core argument of the book, but only serves to prepare the reader for the choice to come. The choice is this -- change the policies that make the Muslims hate the US, or wage all-out war on Muslims until they can't or won't wage war against the US. The current "war on terror" isn't all-out war, or for that matter an all-out annoyance. He's talking about war the way Curtis LeMay defined it--total war. Millions of people dead, with no concern for civilian casualties. Think of the incendiary bombings of Tokyo (100,000+ dead in one night) or the bombing of Dresden. Not surgical, targeted war, but carpetbombing until everyone is too weak or dead to attack back. Or... change the policies towards Arab lands that cause them to attack the US. Pull out of the Arabian peninsula. Stop supporting Israel. Stop supporting tyrants and dictators just because they keep the oil flowing. Stop supporting regimes (China, Russia, etc) who are slaughtering Muslims. There are a few more, but you get the point. This would require energy independence, and a will to stop trying to run/enlighten/liberate the world. The author does not advocate one or the other, at least not as far as I can tell. His point is that we have to choose. The status quo will guarantee that bin Laden et al will continue to attack us, and that eventually they will do so with a weapon of mass destruction. All we are doing now is helping terrorist/insurgency organizations like Al Queida in their recruitment efforts. I think this book is fantastic. I can't recommend it highly enough. The author makes his point very strongly, and leaves the reader with little option but to agree that a choice must be made.