Through Our Enemies' Eyes: Osama bin Laden, Radical Islam, and the Future of America

481 Pages·2006·3.13 MB·English

by  Michael Scheuer

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Also by Michael Scheuer
Imperial Hubris: Why the West Is Losing the War on Terror
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Osama bin Laden, Radical Islam,
and the Future of America
Revised Edition
Michael Scheuer
Potomac Books, Inc.
Washington, D.C.
For the brilliant officers of Alec who gave America opportunities not taken.
They now know, with Lieutenant General Daniel Harvey Hill (C.S.A.), that
“it is unfortunate to have different views from the rest of mankind.
It secures abuse.”
and
For the Bay, past and present; the Class of ’52; the Inchon-Chongju Duo;
Ranch Hands Beth and Bernice; and, as always, “So long, Chiefy.”
and
For America’s clandestine service and the U.S. Marine Corps—bringers
of victory, if unleashed.
Copyright © 2006 by Michael Scheuer
First edition published in 2002.
Published in the United States by Potomac Books, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of
this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission
from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles
and reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Scheuer, Michael.
Through our enemies’ eyes : Osama bin Laden, radical Islam, and the future of
America / Michael Scheuer.— 2nd ed.
p. cm.
First edition published: Washington, D.C.: Brassey’s, c2002, and entered under title.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-57488-967-2 (pbk.: alk. paper)
1. Bin Laden, Osama, 1957- 2. Terrorists—Saudi Arabia—Biography. 3. Jihad.
4. Violence—Religious aspects—Islam. 5. Qaida (Organization) 6. Terrorism—
Government policy—United States. I. Title.
HV6430.B55.S34 2006
958.104’6’092—dc22
2005024233
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper that meets the American
National Standards Institute Z39-48 Standard.
Potomac Books, Inc.
22841 Quicksilver Drive
Dulles, Virginia 20166
Second Edition
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Foreword by Bruce Hoffman vii
Preface to Revised Edition ix
Preface xv
Acknowledgments xix
Introduction xxi
Part 1: Context
1. Context for Understanding bin Laden’s Aims 3
Part 2: Arrogance, Money, and Ideas
2. Obstacles to Understanding bin Laden 17
3. Chasing bin Laden’s Money 31
4. Getting to Know bin Laden: Substantive Themes
of the Jihad 45
5. Getting to Know bin Laden: Character Traits 75
Part 3: Years of Preparation, 1957–1996
6. The Young bin Laden, 1957–1979: Family, Education,
and Religion 85
7. Bin Laden and the Afghan War, 1979–1989: Facilitator,
Engineer, Fighter, and Visionary 97
8. Bin Laden and the Saudis, 1989–1991: From Favorite
Son to Black Sheep 119
—v
vi— Through Our Enemies’ Eyes
9. Bin Laden in Exile: Afghanistan and Sudan, 1991–1996 129
10. Bin Laden Begins: Inciting and Waging Jihad from
Sudan, 1992–1996 145
Part 4: War Years, 1996–2001
11. Bin Laden Returns to Afghanistan: Getting Settled
and Politicking 163
12. Bin Laden in Afghanistan: Targeting America and
Expanding al Qaeda 181
13. Bin Laden Stands at Armageddon and Battles for
His Lord 205
Part 5: No End in Sight
14. What to Expect from al Qaeda 257
15. Spring 2002: Where Are We? Where Are We Going? 275
Epilogue: “That They May Go in and Look Their Redeemer
in the Face with Joy” 287
Epilogue to the Revised Edition 291
Appendix: “We Are Not Ashamed of Our Jihad”: Bin Laden’s
Growth as an Islamic Leader and Hero After 1996 299
Note on Sources 315
Notes 323
Glossary 385
Bibliography 395
Index 439
About the Author 443
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Through Our Enemies’ Eyes is among the most important books published on
terrorism since September 11, 2001. At a time when it has become fashion-
able to blame the U.S. intelligence community for the failures that led to
those tragic events, Through Our Enemies’ Eyes provocatively challenges such
broad-brush indictments, clearly showing that not everyone was asleep at
the wheel. Written during 1998 and completed the following year, it not
only “connected the dots,” but did so in a uniquely authoritative and com-
pelling manner that would eventually establish its reputation as a classic in
the field.
First published in 2002, Through Our Enemies’ Eyes was arguably a most
unlikely candidate to attain that stature. Written by a long-serving Central
Intelligence Agency officer, it initially attracted scant attention. The nature
and importance of its author’s national security work required that he re-
main anonymous. This meant that there was no intriguing photograph of a
suitably contemplative figure available for publicity purposes. There was
no one to invite onto television and radio talk shows for interviews or to
profile in the features sections of newspapers. There could also be no public
book launches, signings, or opportunities to field interested readers’ ques-
tions. That the author also had the temerity to compare Osama bin Laden to
some of America’s most hallowed statesmen and political figures in order
for readers to better understand our enemy and comprehend his magnetism
and standing within the Muslim world, doubtless rendered Through Our
Enemies’ Eyes a publishers’ and publicists’ nightmare.
Yet Through Our Enemies’ Eyes slowly but inexorably began to gather a
loyal readership and increasingly enthusiastic following. Among the “war
on terrorism cognoscenti” in and around Washington, D.C., mere word-of-
mouth established the book as required reading for anyone seeking to under-
stand bin Laden, the movement that he cofounded and led, and the profound
threat that it posed (and continues to pose) to the United States and to inter-
national peace. Accordingly, the book’s reputation spread as a thoroughly
—vii
viii— Through Our Enemies’ Eyes
reliable, trenchant, and commendably clear exegesis of al Qaeda’s ideology,
goals, and alarming ambitions.
Through Our Enemies’ Eyes is especially noteworthy for another rea-
son: it was based entirely on open source literature—that is, nonclassified
information. This is particularly significant at a time when America’s na-
tional security architecture and intelligence community have undergone the
most extensive reorganization and reorientation since their creation follow-
ing World War II. Through Our Enemies’ Eyes incontrovertibly demonstrates
that probing analysis, deductive reasoning, and accurate conclusions can be
drawn about even highly secretive movements and reclusive leaders inde-
pendently of classified and other highly restricted government information.
As a result of a second book published in 2004 titled Imperial Hubris—
which also challenged the conventional wisdom, this time in the context of
America’s conduct of the war on terrorism—we now know the identity of
the anonymous author of both works. He is Michael Scheuer, a twenty-two-
year CIA veteran who headed its bin Laden unit from 1996 to 1999 and was
at the vortex of the intra- and interagency disputes and disagreements since
laid bare by the 9/11 Commission, congressional investigations, and other
inquiries into the events leading up to the attacks that fateful day. Scheuer’s
academic training as a historian—and his longstanding personal interest in
the American Civil War—explains his command of primary sources, his iden-
tification and interpretation of seminal events, and most importantly, his
profound understanding of the role of leadership and ideology in shaping
world events and affecting the course of history.
Publication of this second edition of Through Our Enemies’ Eyes is timely.
Four years into the war on terrorism, the United States seems at a crossroads
in this monumental struggle. The sustained successes of the war’s early
phases appear to have been stymied by the protracted insurgency in Iraq,
the inability to kill or capture bin Laden and his chief lieutenant, Ayman al-
Zawahiri, and most critically by an inability to break the cycle of recruit-
ment and regeneration that has sustained a terrorism campaign that, as
Through Our Enemies’ Eyes persuasively argues, commenced long before 9/11.
The recent bombings in Bali and London, no less those in Madrid, Istanbul,
Jakarta, Casablanca, Riyadh, and elsewhere, demonstrate the continued reso-
nance and appeal of a movement and an ideology that Scheuer magisteri-
ally charts and describes in these pages. The key to success in warfare, the
Chinese strategist Sun Tzu wrote, is to “know your enemy and you will
know yourself.” In Through Our Enemies’ Eyes, Scheuer answers the first part
of that irrefutable formulation. It is up to the book’s readers to answer the
second. Thanks to Mike Scheuer they have a very solid foundation from
which to begin.
Bruce Hoffman
Washington, D.C.
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The future always comes as a surprise, but political wisdom
consists at least in some partial judgement of what may sur-
prise us. And for my part I cannot but believe that a main unex-
pected thing of the future is the return of Islam. Since religion is
at the root of all political movements and changes and since we
have here a very great religion physically paralyzed but mor-
ally intensely alive, we are in the presence of an unstable equi-
librium which cannot remain permanently unstable.
Hilaire Belloc, 1938
The great Catholic apologist and historian Hilaire Belloc believed Islam a
heresy and a permanent enemy of Christianity, but he recognized and re-
spected its mobilizing power, vitality, and durability. Belloc, in 1938, mar-
veled that over Islam’s history, “No fragment of Islam ever abandons its
sacred book, its code of morals, its organized system of prayer, its simple
doctrine. . . . [it] has always possessed a reservoir of men, newcomers pour-
ing in to revivify its energies.” Lost in the confusion and feverish politics
and intrigues of the final prewar years, Belloc’s 1938 warning to the West
never received the attention it deserved. “It has always seemed to me,” he
wrote in The Great Heresies,
possible, and even probable that there would be a resurrection of
Islam and that our sons or our grandsons would see the renewal of
that tremendous struggle between the Christian culture and for
what has been for more than a thousand years its greatest oppo-
nent. . . . I say the suggestion that Islam may re-arise sounds fan-
tastic—but this is only because men are always powerfully affected
by the immediate past:—one might say they are blinded by it!”1
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