Is the CIA Anti-Bush?

Posted By Blackfive

An anonymous CIA Officer, who was removed from the hunt for OBL in 1999, wrote a book titled "Imperial Hubris" that questions and attacks the policies of the current administration - specifically related to Iraq. "Anonymous" is still employed by the CIA. I'll have some further discussion after the article.

Anonymous and Angry
Unnamed CIA Official Takes Aim at Bush’s War on Terror
By Jake Tapper

June 23 , 2004 — A new book written by a senior CIA official using the pseudonym "Anonymous" offers a scathing indictment of how the United States is fighting the war on terror.

Still an employee of the CIA, the author was only allowed to write the book, Imperial Hubris, and talk to the media on condition that he not reveal his identity.

"I wrote it because I think America is in trouble," he said. "We have not yet appreciated the dimensions of the problem or the size of the problem."

He also slams the war in Iraq, calling it "an avaricious, premeditated, unprovoked war against a foe who posed no immediate threat."

Continued in the Extended Section

"Anonymous" was formerly in charge of the CIA's efforts to track down Osama bin Laden. The war in Iraq played into bin Laden's hands, he writes, by fostering further hatred of America.

That notion, of course, contradicts the view held by the Bush administration.

"One of the most evil and brutal regimes in history no longer exists," said President Bush in a speech last week at Fort Lewis in Washington state. "Iraq is better off today; America is more secure today because Saddam Hussein sits in a prison cell."

"It's an unusual book. It's very rare to see somebody in his position inside the intelligence community come out in such a full-throated way," said Steve Coll, managing editor of The Washington Post.

The 22-year veteran of the CIA paints an apocalyptic picture of the future. He claims the United States is not waging war on terror forcefully enough in Iraq and Afghanistan — and here in America as well.

"Bin Laden is in the Islamic mainstream," he writes, predicting the war on terror will mostly be fought on American soil.

Defenders of the administration today struck back.

"It's not the job of the CIA to do horoscope-like predictions. It's the job of the CIA to give policy-makers tools to fight those threats," said Danielle Pletka, vice president of foreign and defense studies at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank. "Better to spend less time writing books and more time fighting terrorists."

The anonymous author also disagrees with other central premises of U.S. policy.

"We need to face the fact that Muslims are angry at us not because of who we are, not because we vote, not because women go to school, but because of what we do in the world," he said.

Within the intelligence commuity, "Anonymous" has both supporters and detractors. His detractors note he was removed from the hunt for bin Laden, perhaps freeing up his time to write a book.

Having spent some time in the intelligence "community", I am very surprised that the CIA allowed this book to be published. That means that I know what documents that you have to sign and what approval process you must go through to get a book published. Some senior CIA people that I know personally have waited as long as five years to have their proposals for books read by an approving authority. And these books were works of fiction or fantasy.

"Imperial Hubris" had to have been expedited.

Why? And who guided/pushed it through the approval process? Was Tenet personally involved?

If I were President Bush and the acting CIA Director, I would want to know the answers those questions rather quickly.

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Is the CIA Anti-Bush?

An anonymous CIA Officer, who was removed from the hunt for OBL in 1999, wrote a book titled "Imperial Hubris" that questions and attacks the policies of the current administration - specifically related to Iraq. "Anonymous" is still employed by the CIA. I'll have some further discussion after the article.

Anonymous and Angry
Unnamed CIA Official Takes Aim at Bush’s War on Terror
By Jake Tapper

June 23 , 2004 — A new book written by a senior CIA official using the pseudonym "Anonymous" offers a scathing indictment of how the United States is fighting the war on terror.

Still an employee of the CIA, the author was only allowed to write the book, Imperial Hubris, and talk to the media on condition that he not reveal his identity.

"I wrote it because I think America is in trouble," he said. "We have not yet appreciated the dimensions of the problem or the size of the problem."

He also slams the war in Iraq, calling it "an avaricious, premeditated, unprovoked war against a foe who posed no immediate threat."

Continued in the Extended Section

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