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

CIA's Center for the Study of Intelligence

Studies in Intelligence, 2004

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

Anonymous (later revelaed as Michael Scheuer). Washington, DC: Brassey's, Inc., 2002. 394 pages, endnotes, bibliography, index.

Reviewed by Hayden B. Peake, curator of the CIA's Historical Intelligence Collection

For those who ask themselves why the Islamists are conducting terrorist acts against the West, Through Our Enemies' Eyes is a sobering read. The author is quick to answer the question in part, noting that since 1996, Osama bin Laden has:

...repeatedly warned America--always in public--that he would incrementally increase the lethality of his attacks on U.S. interests until we stopped supporting Israel, withdrew our military forces from Saudi Arabia, and ended the embargo on Iraq. If the United States did not yield to his demands, he would bring the war he was waging into the continental United States...promise made, promise kept.13

The United States, Anonymous concludes, "has never had an adversary who has more clearly, calmly, and articulately expressed his hatred for America and his intention to destroy our country by war or die trying." Furthermore, he continues, never have we so badly underestimated a foreign threat. For example, contrary to US official statements that Osama bin Laden did not believe we would invade his sanctuary in Afghanistan, the reality, Anonymous tells us, is that he "sought to prompt the attack." Why should this be so? The answer comes in recognizing that bin Laden is not a traditional terrorist, but the leader of a "worldwide, religiously inspired, and professionally guided Islamist insurgency against Christians and Jews." The invasion was proof of his claims about the Americans.

Through Our Enemies' Eyes seeks to explain bin Laden the man, provide context and reasons for his abhorrence of the West, and describe the religious basis for its intensity. Initially, Anonymous suggests a parallel between bin Laden's views and the thinking of five Anglo-American leaders--John Brown, John Bunyan, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, and Thomas Paine. Each American fought for a cause in his own determined way, a cause that succeeded even if the man did not live to see it. While Anonymous suggests no moral equivalence in their behavior, the power of a fervent, even passionate, pursuit of their divergent goals as a factor in success, is worth scrutiny. Thus, one of the main purposes of the book--to better understand bin Laden and therefore the enemy--can be achieved by "reflecting on the origins of [our] own country" and comparing the words of our founders with those espoused by bin Laden in his Declaration of Jihad against the United States. The point is reinforced with quotations beginning each chapter that leave the reader no choice but to infer eerie correlations with the Islamists and our past, and ponder the differences.

The story of bin Laden is unpleasant and disturbing, but well told. For him and his followers, Islam is the superior religion and way of life. That is his political correctness. And since the behavior of the United States appears to Muslims as inconsistent with that view, its physical elimination is warranted. Understanding how bin Laden reached these beliefs is important and Anonymous devotes several chapters to his background, personality, exile in Sudan--where he began his chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons acquisition program, and assisted Iraq--and tenure in Afghanistan. We also learn of the formation of al-Qa'ida, the differences between it and more familiar Arab terrorist organizations, and the rationale for using violence to achieve a goal and for accepting civilian casualties--all allowed by Islam, says bin Laden.

Then comes an assessment of what can be expected for the future, based on past actions. To bring this point home, chapter 13 presents a sobering summary of al-Qa'ida events just since 1996. Chapter 14 explains why the Western crusaders are the target, noting that between 1980 and 1995, the United States "engaged in seventeen military operations in the Middle East, all directed at Muslims. No comparable pattern...occurred against any other people of any other civilization."14 One sees that bin Laden has remained focused on a single goal: a Muslim world, through a World Islamic Front, with an international army, and with America as the bull's-eye.

The view of the future offered by Anonymous is less than hopeful: "violent clashes between the West and Islam will be a central feature of world affairs for the foreseeable future," with or without Osama bin Laden. Anonymous offers no alternative to this assessment, but suggests that if we are to find one, understanding bin Laden and his crusade is the first step.

On the point of understanding, Anonymous is critical of what he calls the "obsolete experts" in the media and government who do not grasp the differences between bin Laden and the terrorists. The portrait presented here is intended to elucidate those differences. This volume is a gutsy declaration by a serving "decorated member of the US intelligence community" (as the dust jacket describes him) and, according to the acknowledgments, approval to publish did not come smoothly.

From the reader's perspective, Through Our Enemies' Eyes lays out a basis for understanding a man who has declared openly that his goal is world Islamist domination. There are echoes of the early days of communism and fascism here, and Anonymous urges us to pay attention to bin Laden sooner than we did to Lenin and Hitler.

13. Anonymous, p. x.

14. Cited in Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order (New York, NY: Touchstone, 1997), p. 217.