Radio Smart Talk for Tuesday, July 5:
Osama bin Laden was the world's most wanted man when he was hunted down and killed by U.S. Navy Seals two months ago in Pakistan. After the death of the mastermind of the 9/11 terrorists attacks, most media reports quoted Americans calling bin Laden a 'madman, a criminal and a murderer."
Not all those descriptions were accurate, according to Michael Scheuer, the chief of the CIA's first bin Laden unit. Scheuer says bin Laden had great leadership ability, was a strategic genius and possessed considerable rhetorical skills. Scheuer writes in his recently released biography of bin Laden that bin Laden didn't believe he was committing a criminal act with the terrorist attacks but instead was waging war on the West.
Michael Scheuer joins us on Tuesday's Radio Smart Talk to discuss what turned Osama bin Laden from a Saudi dissident to the most notorious killer in the world.
LISTEN TO PROGRAM:
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I guess one has to purchase the book for this.
I still think that the military/industrial/ complex is constantly seeking enemies to justify its existence . . . .that the mass bloodlettings that it engages in periodically are no more than exercises in playing soldier . . . . and that if it can't find a reasonable enemy it invents one. Technically, it invented OBL.
But oil, war profiteering, etc are what it is all about..... there will always be enemies----it's how we respond to them that makes or breaks us.
You're right -- we didn't get into bin Laden as a person and I wish we had the time to do so.
According to Scheuer's book, he was greatly influenced by his father -- even though bin Laden was one of 54 children Muhammad bin Laden fathered. His father was also a devout Muslim who hated Israel. Contrary to what we've been told, bin Laden was well educated, was not a religious scholar but knew enough about the Koran to justify his actions.
Fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan seemed to be a turning point for bin Laden. He saw that a great power could be defeated and how to do it.
Scheuer also describes bin Laden as a great speaker, polite and generous. He liked to play volleyball.
We Americans probably have a hard time picturing that.
To Robin (comment at 10:07). In what way is Israel democratic for non-Jews ? I consider it insulting to the US to claim that the Israeli courts, police, armed forces, politicians and national and municipal authorities as culturally our peers. The abusive treatment of, and discrimination against, non-Jews by these institutions is unbelievably bigoted.
A question I've never heard answered with any specific or factual data is "What does the US gain from its financial and political support of Israel ?". The answers are usually waffle and accusations that the questioner is an "anti-semite".
Maybe you can ask that question sometime.
Thanks
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