Book Presentation

Events on September 11, 2001 were a shock to many Americans, but to the experts in Islamic radicalism at the CIA where ANONYMOUS worked, it was the culmination of a decade of bad policy decisions that president after president had been advised against and implemented nonetheless. In part, the presidents made these decisions out of a desire to keep oil prices low and appease the strong Israeli lobby and also because they were given mixed signals about the impact by senior levels at the CIA. Bad economic, trade and political policies were compounded by bad military decisions - particularly those made with respect to how and when to fight a war. Lastly, by characterizing al Qaeda as a terrorist organization rather than an insurgency, the United States has put itself in an untenable strategic and tactical position and will never defeat bin Laden or al Qaeda. Furthermore, it appears that America’s poorly-chosen conflicts and its policy of “democratization” are not only futile, but they are recruiting more Muslims to al Qaeda’s global army of insurgents.

ANONYMOUS is (was) a senior U.S. intelligence official with nearly two decades of experience in national security issues relating to Afghanistan and South Asia. In addition to Imperial Hubris, he is the author of Through Our Enemies’ Eyes: Osama Bin Laden, Radical Islam and the Future of America.

This is a summary and not a critique or a review of the book. It does not offer judgment or opinion on the content of the book.  This summary may not be organized chapter-wise but is an overview of the main ideas, viewpoints and arguments from the book as a whole. This means that the organization of this summary is not a representation of the book.