“The focused and lethal threat posed to U.S. national security arises not from Muslims being offended by what America is, but rather from their plausible perception that the things they most love and value—God, Islam, their brethren and Muslim lands—are being attacked by America.”

That’s what an anonymous senior CIA analyst writes in his newly published book, Imperial Hubris: Why the West Is Losing the War on Terror (Brassey’s).

The book was reviewed by the CIA to see if includes classified info, which it does not.

According to the Washington Post, the analyst"headed the agency's task force on Osama bin Laden" and is a 22-year veteran"who occupies a senior position in counterterrorism."

The story says,"U.S. intelligence officials are not pleased with the tone and conclusions of the book, and have watched with surprise as sales have risen." (Emphasis added.)

All I can say is that if intelligence officials are surprised that this book is a hot seller, they should be in another line of work. Was there a safer bet?

Get the lowdown here. Also, see NBC’s interview.

Irfan Khawaja - 8/4/2006

The threat to US national security arises from the "plausible perception" that the US is attacking...God? Well, to paraphrase Locke, that is a proposition that would take some skill to make intelligible. Outside of the poetic confines of Paradise Lost--or Nietzsche--I'm not quite sure how one goes about "attacking" Allah the All-Powerful and All-Knowing, and I'm not sure what it means for a foreign policy to do so. A little secret: I don't think that our author knows, either.

One reason we're losing the war on terrorism is that we have CIA agents too cowardly to put their names on the books they write, but capable of writing unintelligible garbage like this--while passing it off to credulous audiences as "expertise" on those exotic entities, the Muslims. If that's what this guy came up with after 22 years in the business, maybe it's time to sign off and take advantage of that juicy civil servant pension.

Irfan Khawaja - 8/4/2006

It doesn't just swallow Islamist propaganda--its agents produce it.

Sheldon Richman - 7/19/2004

You claim it's gullibility and propaganda, but a claim is not proof. Where is the evidence bin Laden would be attacking us if we weren't intervening in that region?

Sheldon Richman - 6/30/2004

Assertions about propaganda and gullibility are just that--assertions. Where's the proof that "we" are hated for what we are rather than for what we do (over there)?

Jason Pappas - 6/28/2004

Hear, hear!

The CIA continues its tradition of failed intelligence and gullibility as it swallows Islamist propaganda hook line and sinker.