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

by Michael Scheuer (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 55 ratings
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All Americans must read this book in order to truly understand the reasons why radical Muslims like Osama bin Laden and his followers have declared war on America and the West. Furthermore, only this book accurately describes the severity of the threat they will continue to pose, with or without bin Laden’s leadership, to our national security.

To win the war against terrorism, the author argues that we must first stop dismissing militant Muslims as “extremists” or “religious fanatics.” Formulating a successful military strategy requires that we must see the enemy as they perceive themselves—highly trained and motivated soldiers who fervently believe their cause is righteous. The author describes how militants throughout the Islamic world are enraged by what they believe is Western aggression against their people, religion, and culture. Though bin Laden declared war on America years ago—not once but twice—the author argues that American complacence in the face of such violent threats stems from the increasing secularization and moral relativism of American society and culture. Even if bin Laden is brought to justice, the author warns, the dangers posed by radical Islamic militants will not disappear, and we must be prepared for a protracted war against terrorism. This important book will make a major impact on how America thinks about its enemy and itself.
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  1. Print length
    472 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Potomac Books Inc.
  5. Publication date
    June 30, 2002
  6. File size
    1808 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
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  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Here "a senior U.S. civil servant with two decades of experience in the U.S. intelligence community's work on Afghanistan and South Asia" argues that the U.S. was unprepared for September 11 because "our own naivet‚ and insularity led us to underestimate the complexity and determination of our adversaries." Examining bin Laden's words and his leadership qualities, the author says that Al Qaeda remains largely intact and that its next attack will be more lethal than September 11.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

"[Scheuer]'s examination of al Qaeda is a bracing corrective to much that has passed as analysis about the group." - CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen in the Washington Post "A masterful job at... interpreting what bin Laden is trying to tell America but that has fallen on deaf ears." - Studies in Conflict and Terrorism "Among the 'war on terrorism cognoscenti' in and around Washington, D.C., mere word-of-mouth established [Through Our Enemies Eyes] as required reading for anyone seeking to understand 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 international peace. Accordingly, the book's reputation spread as a thoroughly reliable, trenchant, and commendably clear exegesis of al Qaeda's ideology, goals, and alarming ambitions.... 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." - From the foreword by Bruce Hoffman, senior fellow, Combating Terrorism Center, U.S. Military Academy, and author of Inside Terrorism "[Scheuer's] examination of al Qaeda is a bracing corrective to much that has passed as analysis about the group." - CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen in the Washington Post "A highly informative analysis." - The Washington Times "A masterful job at... interpreting what bin Laden is trying to tell America but that has fallen on deaf ears." - Studies in Conflict and Terrorism "A sobering portrait of Osama bin Laden." - The Christian Science Monitor "This is a book that all professional soldiers should read since it represents, in significant detail, the views and motivation of one of our primary adversaries, while clearly defining the severity of the ongoing threat." - Armor"

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B005CWHKV8
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Potomac Books Inc.; 1st edition (June 30, 2002)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 30, 2002
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1808 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 472 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 55 ratings

About the author

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Michael Scheuer

Michael Scheuer

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Michael Scheuer is a twenty-plus-year CIA veteran. From 1996 to 1999, he served as the Chief of the bin Laden unit (aka Alec Station), the Osama bin Laden tracking unit at the Counterterrorism Center. He then worked as Special Adviser to the Chief of the bin Laden unit from September 2001 to November 2004. He resigned from the CIA in 2004. He is currently an Adjunct Professor of Security Studies at Georgetown University and a Senior Fellow at the Jamestown Foundation, writing regularly for its online publication Global Terrorism Analysis. He lives in Virginia with his wife and two children.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
55 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Alan D. Cranford
5.0 out of 5 stars It's a new/old threat
Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2004
Verified Purchase
I read "Through Our Enemies' Eyes" while on active duty with the Nevada National Guard in the Middle East. I have spent eight years in this part of the world, and Anonymous has pegged the viewpoint of many people in this region concerning the United States and Osama Bin Laden. Opinion here isn't uniform--but the United States is seen as an outsider.

Osama Bin Laden is not a new type of threat. The Assassin cult in this area was also a stateless movement promoting religious conformity to an ideal--and may have been the force that ended the Islamic empire. Then there was another stateless movement of anarchists, the Terrorists, about 100 years ago. The most successful movement went from stateless to world superpower during the period 1830 to 1990--yes, those Cold War foes of the West, the Communists. The Communists were very much a stateless organization until after the Russian Revolution. Once they established themselves as a national government, the threat of Communism changed. That's why Trotsky was murdered in Mexico--he was trying to export revolution the "old fashioned way" like Bin Laden is doing now. Problem: having a homeland means being a target. Stalin had to kill Trotsky in order to save the Soviet Union.

I have purchased several copies of this book as gifts for friends and relatives still serving in military and government office because this is an important book for their professional bookshelves. My one reservation is that the threat posed by Bin Laden's organization (and the greater threat posed by Bin Laden as a symbol) (and the even greater threat of American myopia) is that Bin Laden is not really something new or different. The author may have chosen to portray Bin Laden as "new" because the current American government mindset--the one that foundered in Vietnam--blinds us to reality in the modern world.
23 people found this helpful
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Happy Poet
5.0 out of 5 stars Every Citizen of the USA or UK should read this book to understand why we are actually spending so much money & killing
Reviewed in the United States on May 12, 2014
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To be in a citizen in a nation which is spending endless billions on the war on terrorism and which kills people in all sorts of ways--most recently with drones--and not to realize why this whole thing is going on.... Ostrich. FOX news believer, president believer... Ostrich.
One person found this helpful
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Masao Miwa
5.0 out of 5 stars The real Osama bin Laden
Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2014
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Seen from the other side of the fence, makes one wonder about our intelligence or maybe the propaganda to make the enemy bad. Not good for us, but viewed from the other side, no wonder people are attracted to follow bin Laden.
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GALLANTBIRD
5.0 out of 5 stars CLEARLY SHOWS HIS INTELLIGENCE AND HOW EASY VERY FEW WITH VERY LITTLE CAN CHANGE OUR WAY ...
Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2013
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CLEARLY SHOWS HIS INTELLIGENCE AND HOW EASY VERY FEW WITH VERY LITTLE CAN CHANGE OUR WAY OF LIVING AND THE HIGH COST IT HAS TO HASTEN AMERICA'S BANKRUPTSY.
One person found this helpful
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DLC SoCal
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United States on December 11, 2014
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quite good
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Elias Davidsson
1.0 out of 5 stars Through the author's prejudiced eyes
Reviewed in the United States on February 24, 2019
The credibility of the author is heavily dented because of his deficient evaluation of Osama bin Laden. The author claims that OBL bears responsibility for inspiring, authorizing or directing the mass-murder of September 11, 2001. This unsubstantiated accusation is expressed throughout the present book. A cautious and serious scholar would refrain from expressing such an accusation against a person who has not been charged by any public authority for complicity in this mass-murder. The author has totally ignored the following facts:

1. The US Government has never officially accused Osama bin Laden for his alleged role in the mass-murder of 9/11.

2. In its formal letter to the UN Security Council of 7 October 2001, where it announced the initiation of the military attacks on Afghanistan, the United States did not attribute in any way the mass-murder of 9/11 to Osama bin Laden. His name does not even figure in the letter. The letter did not contain any evidence that that crime had anything to do with Afghanistan.

3. The US authorities have not produced any evidence, whatsoever, that the mass-murder of 9/11 was carried out by a group of 19 Muslims, let alone that these individuals had any link to Osama bin Laden. Even the names of these 19 persons do not figure on authentic passenger lists. No one has testified to have seen them in the respective airports. And their bodily remains were not identified.

4. Osama bin Laden told the Pakistani newspaper Ummat in an interview on 28 September 2001, (a) that he was “not involved in the 11 September attacks in the United States”; (b) “had no knowledge of these attacks”; (c) does not “consider the killing of innocent women, children and other humans as an appreciable act”; (d) that “Islam strictly forbids causing harm to innocent women, children and other people. Such a practice is forbidden even in the course of a battle;” and (e) that “the United States should try to trace the perpetrators of these attacks within itself.”

These facts should have been taken into consideration by authors writing books on Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda. The present author has apparently not revised his unsubstantiated accusations against Osama bin Laden at a later date. Because of the author’s gross failure on this crucial account, readers are justified to be circumspect regarding other aspects of this author’s work.
One person found this helpful
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Doug Het
3.0 out of 5 stars Through Our Enemies' Eyes
Reviewed in the United States on February 24, 2006
This book is four years old in facts yet has a 2006 copyright. Is beneficial for someone not familiar with Osama bin Laden but little benefit for someone who has good backround knowledge.
3 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

ashara
5.0 out of 5 stars excellent read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 1, 2015
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well written and interesting .
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