CIA insider says U.S. fighting wrong war....MSNBC

[RedEarth]

By Andrea Mitchell
Correspondent
NBC News
Updated: 9:03 a.m. ET June 24, 2004

A career CIA officer claims in a new book that America is losing the war on terror, in part because of the invasion of Iraq, which, he says, distracted the United States from the war against terrorism and further fueled al-Qaida’s struggle against the United States. The author, who writes as “Anonymous,” is a 22-year veteran of the CIA and still works for the intelligence agency, which allowed him to publish the book after reviewing it for classified information.



In an interview with NBC’s Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell, he calls the U.S. war in Iraq a dream come true for Osama bin Laden, saying, “Bin Laden saw the invasion of Iraq as a Christmas gift he never thought he’d get.” By invading a country that’s regarded as the second holiest place in Islam, he asserts, the Bush administration inadvertently validated bin Laden’s assertions that the United States intends a holy war against Muslims.

In his book, titled "Imperial Hubris," he calls the Iraq invasion "an avaricious, premeditated, unprovoked war against a foe who posed no immediate threat,” arguing against the concept of pre-emptive war put forward by President Bush as justification for the Iraq war.

The book also argues that the U.S. focus on bin Laden as a terrorist is the wrong way to fight him and the wrong way to think of the foe. The real enemy, he asserts, is the radical form of Islam that bin Laden and his followers espouse. And he calls for escalating the level of violence in the war against al-Qaida.

Read the complete transcript of Andrea Mitchell’s interview with Anonymous below

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5279743/

[truthspeaker]

1. well, obviously

Anyone who didn't see this 18 months ago is a moron, plain and simple.

[Magical]

2. Specious Argument

With all due respect to Mr. Anonymous...

The war in Iraq is NOT about fighting Terrorism...
IT'S ABOUT OIL.

With non-OPEC oil clearly on the downslope, Iraq has the world's 2nd largest oil reserves. US production peaked at over 9M bpd in the early eighties, and now sits at about 3M bpd, while we consume 20M bpd.

Energy and environmental issues are a FAR larger threat than terrorism. You wanna see 'terror' ? Imagine America waking up to peak oil and seeing $5-7/gal gasoline and have global warming decimate our agriculture.

Our current use of energy is the equivalent of having 300 people working for each of us. It is EXPLOITATION of the world's resources, and poor. Slavery is alive and well in 3rd world countries as we extract the resources and labor to fuel our luxurious, wasteful, consuming life-style. THAT is why they HATE us.

And we better get some fricken' leadership who has some better ideas than trying to control the diminishing supply.

Of course, its easier to drum up hatred of the external, than admit that the whole basis of capitalism (endless growth and consumption), is actually impossible and detroying the world.

/end rant

[Petrodollar Warfare]

3. Well said Mr. Magical...just one thing to add...

"The war in Iraq is NOT about fighting Terrorism...
IT'S ABOUT OIL."

....I would say it's about desperately trying to prop-up US Hegemony..which means geostrategic control of the Persian Gulf oil *and* military enforcement of the dollar standard for the critical transaction currency in the international oil market. Obviously Peak Oil has been on the radar of the CIA for a long time, but it was Saddam's surpriseing switch to the euro currency for all of Iraq's oil exports (via the UN's oil for food program) that provided the final nail in his coffin. (circa Nov 2000).

"And we better get some fricken' leadership who has some better ideas than trying to control the diminishing supply."

...yes sir, as the world community (including members of the G7) are obviously not going to sit back and let the US gain a stranglehold on the world's largest hydrocarbon reserves. My prediction, if Bush wins in Nov, the neocons will make their next moves, and the world community will abandon the dollar standard for the euro post haste. Not sure if Kerry can stop the momentum due to the neocon/Iraq debacle, but I think he could try to make the US's economic crash landing a little softer, but with the neocons in power seeking "Global Domination"...we will not be so lucky...