Michael Scheuer Calls a Spade a Spade

This morning on his local radio broadcast, Philadelphia talk radio icon Michael Smerconish had on as his main guest Michael Scheuer, former head of the “bin Laden” desk for the Central Intelligence Agency.

Scheuer has just released a book titled “Imperial Hubris”, which he wrote under the pseudonym of “anonymous”.

One thing that I found refreshing about Scheuer’s opinion is that he was and is able and willing to look beyond the usual labels that all political and ideological sides of the terrorist issue like to hang on bin Laden, and to simply call a spade a spade.

What I mean by this is that far too often those on the far end of the political Right want to label bin Laden as a terrorist, a madman, a demon, a devil, a deranged killer, a murderer. Those on the far end of the political Left have called him an Islamic freedom fighter, a rebel, an insurgent leader. And of course, many have found far more colorful labels to hang on the man.

Scheuer points out that bin Laden is neither a demon nor a freedom fighter. He is a mainstream Muslim, a devout believer in Islam, a sincerely spiritual man.

Osama bin Laden says what he means, and he means what he says, and in this way he is a man of integrity. You don’t have to wonder what bin Laden thinks about any issue, he tells you how he feels, over and over.

In fact, more than we Americans, Osama bin Laden is willing to call a spade a spade.

For this reason, bin Laden is more dangerous to the United States and the future of our nation than most any other single man has ever been.

Radical Islam as an entity is a bigger threat to freedom, democracy and capitalism than any other ideology that has ever come down the pike. This includes everything from Nazism to Communism.


Scheuer puts forth in his book and in his commentaries a point-of-view that is enough to rankle both ends of the political spectrum. He holds the opinion that we are losing the War on Terror, not winning it as the Bush administration would have us believe. “Great stuff, this guy is on to something”, the liberals might say.

Not so fast. Scheuer believes that, rather than pull back or pull out, we should ratchet up the war, that we should "proceed with relentless, brutal, and, yes, blood-soaked offensive military actions until we have annihilated the Islamists who threaten us."

Wow. I may be in love. Someone who is willing to look beyond all the usual patriotic flag-waving, to see through all the appeasement weakness, and simply call a spade a spade.

Osama bin Laden is an incredibly intelligent, organized, worthy adversary. He is generous to his closest followers and those who suffer in the name of Islam. He is compassionate to his people. He is focused and forward-thinking. And he must be killed.

So often here in the United States we dance around political issues. We take the easy, go-along-to-get-along path. We use politically correct speech in public, and in front of our enemies, and then speak our real, true feelings only among other same-thinkers, or behind closed doors, or “off the record”. We concern ourselves more with how we are perceived by others, rather than living our lives true to ourselves.

Some call this being moderate, or being political. Some say that it is showing sensitivity, or respect, or consideration. Some say that it is simply being nice. I say it is nothing more than complete and utter “bull”!

If you think one thing, really and truly believe it in your heart and in your soul, and yet are unwilling to stand up publicly for that belief, for those feelings, then you are being dishonest with both yourself and your opponents. You are being insensitive, disrespectful and inconsiderate. You are saying one thing to someone’s face, and something entirely different behind their backs.

I think it is time to stop sugar-coating our messages here in America. It is time to stop saying things with a press sound bite in mind. It is time to speak our minds, and it is time to speak the truth. It is time to do what Michael Scheuer does when speaking and writing about Osama bin Laden. It is time to call a spade a spade.

Liberalism in general and the American Democratic Party in particular, are trying to lead us down a path towards central government intervention in nearly every facet of our lives. The Dems are firmly against the President of the United States on every issue, no matter their own personal feelings, simply because they personally resent his holding of the office to begin with.

The liberals want to tax us more, and redistribute our hard-earned income to those they feel are more needy or more worthy. They want to weaken our military and our ability to defend ourselves, to such an extent that many of them refuse to even see our enemies for what they are.

They want to be able to take our property, our very homes, and give them to others who could perhaps make money with the property to fill the lib politician’s coffers, and those of their supporters.

And they want desperately to retain the liberal control of the Supreme Court that they have been able to orchestrate in the past few decades.

It is time to call a spade a spade. Michael Jackson is a weirdo. O.J. Simpson is a murderer. Hillary Clinton is an ultra-liberal politician masquerading in moderate sheep’s clothing.

Osama bin Laden is a dangerous, driven, organized leader of the greatest threat to freedom in history. A leader who must be killed and a movement that must be eradicated completely.

Call a spade a spade. The more people who are willing to finally do so, the easier it will be to do the difficult work of keeping America free, and the quicker we can return to some semblance of living in peace.