CIA Squealer Scheuer: Bin Ladin "Great" and "Admirable"

Pretty stunning, no matter what the context. And the context here doesn't help.

The left continues clinging to the myth that "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter," and that, really, the only possible beef with Bin Ladin is that he's not on our side-- "just someone who disagrees with you," as Chris Matthews might say.

Read it all, but here's a tease:

"He's really a remarkable man," former CIA agent Michael Scheuer told NBC's "Meet the Press." "[He's a] great man in many ways, without the connotation positive or negative. He's changed the course of history."

Scheuer's book "Imperial Hubris," which the CIA allowed him to publish anonymously earlier this year, was touted during the presidential campaign by critics of President Bush based on its claim that the U.S. is losing the war on terror. Scheuer ran the agency's bin Laden unit from 1996 to 1999.

While he insisted he didn't mean to praise bin Laden, moments later the ex-CIA man told host Tim Russert that the al Qaida chief was "an admirable man. If he was on our side, he would be dining at the White House."

"He would be a freedom fighter, a resistance fighter," Scheuer added, suggesting that the U.S. would welcome an ally who killed 3,000 innocent office workers in a kamikaze sneak attack.

You will not be shocked that Israel is mentioned shortly thereafter, and not in a particularly positive light.

posted by Ace at 02:21 PM

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