I'd Dump the Israelis Tomorrow -- Ex-CIA Michael Scheuer Tells Congress

Video Transcript:

We're pleased to be joined here today by six distinguished witnesses to discuss this important topic. First, Dr. Michael Sherrow is an adjunct professor at the Center for Peace and Security Studies at Georgetown University. Dr. Sherrow recently concluded a 20-year career with the CIA where their Dr. Sherrow held multiple positions including senior advisor for the Osama Bin Laden department. We're very pleased to have you and honored sir. Not only in the Muslim world, and I would certainly, if I was in charge, change many of the policies we have. But it's more important that we in this country become adults. Nothing a person does in his life doesn't have a counter-reaction. Does our foreign policy cause this war? Not a chance. The people who attack us cause this war. Does our father and policy motivate these people? Absolutely. Sir, if you're going to tell the American people they're fighting a war against a bunch of deranged, neilist, fanatic extremists, we're going to be fighting a war that is constantly going to surprise the American people about the costs of what they're doing. If we come to a place where we can have a discussion that says supporting Israel was essential to the U.S. security. Supporting Saudi Arabia is important, vital to U.S. security. Having U.S. troops in Muslim countries is vital to U.S. security. Fine, but also tell the American people that costs coming with that. Right now we've spent 17 years in this war, and the American people still think we're fighting a bunch of long hair, bearded, goat eating, madmen. And we're in a terrible disadvantage that we impose on ourselves, sir. And I would finish a too long statement by simply saying that we must stop the idiocy of democracy spreading. If you want to fight forever, keep trying to impose women's rights, secularism, the paganism of American culture, contemporary culture, on a religious civilization, sir. Now I'll take this to make a comment. First of all, I've known you over the years where I have to take sharp disagreement with your position about our support of Israel. I believe it is essential that the United States for our security continue to support Israel. I believe that if we back away from Israel or Jordan, for instance, using those countries from Morocco, as examples that Al-Qaeda will find some other excuse. I mean, we can find any number of reasons I can tell you during the 1990s, it's from after Iraq, between 1995 and 2001, the only time the American used forced overseas was to defend Muslims against Christians in Bosnia and in Kosovo. And yet the response by Al-Qaeda to that was for Taka's sense of term 11th. So I think we make a mistake if we think we can somehow appease Al-Qaeda by taking away whatever they're- Not at all a matter of appeasement, Mr. King at all. If it was up to me, I dumped the Israelis tomorrow. I know you would. I know. But I have all I worry about is the continuing preaching of American politicians to the American people that our relationship with the Israelis doesn't cause us to have dead Americans and extraordinary expenses in fighting the Muslim world. I would just say we have more dead Americans if we didn't stand by Iraqis in Middle East. We just be encouraging Al-Qaeda to take advantage of us. I think that- I realize in the Middle East they're mostly to tell Terrians and they have been for 50 years. Not that many good people in the world. The fact is you have to work with those who work with us. And if I had the choice between dealing with Israelis and Al-Qaeda, I worked with Israel, if I had the choice between dealing with Jordan and Al-Qaeda, I'd deal with Jordan. And the fact is that you can find any number of excuses why Al-Qaeda is going to come after us. No, sir, you can't. Yes, I think you can. No, you can't, sir. There are some of them, Laden, would have been a terrific American politician because he stays on message. There's only one message that comes out of Al-Qaeda and I'd say- That's the message they're using now. If we pull out of Israel, if we stop supporting Israel, then the message will be- You have to. America is cowardly, America is backed away, they're not going to stand by their allies. It could always be the flip side of everything. And I would rather stand with positive elements like Israel and back there. I'm a bearable little brain, sir, but you know, you've got to go with what you go with at the moment. These people are fighting for something substantive, for something religious. And they're not fighting us for what reason do you suppose they're going to come up with? Because we have Hollywood, I would like to fight Hollywood. But I mean, they're not going to fight us because we have women in the workplace. That's an insanity. What they're fighting us about is what we do. And we don't have to stop what we're doing, sir. But we have to realize the cost. And I think it'd be worse if we stop what we're doing. And that's my point. 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A hair shaped hair color, with a sweater, with a slight, with a little bit of普father's embarrassing appearance against her with full sisters fine with all her friends and many other relationship with Israel causes us war with Muslims? Well, my question is fairly simple. I mean, you worked with hundreds of employees. Yes. You certainly didn't work with any fools, sir. You certainly had conversations with many of them. I'm asking for your opinion of, are there a large number who agree with you? I'm not a McCarthyite, sir. I'm not going to say anything about that to you. OK, well, I'm going to take that as non-responsive because it's a fairly simple question. And I don't fairly know your business about what my conversations with other people are about, sir. I'm not asking for specifics of those conversations. I'm asking for your opinion of your experience, whether a large number that agreed with you. That's a fairly simple question. Hardly intrusive. A very intrusive from my perspective, sir. Well, OK, you can have your perspective. Thank you. I think others can evaluate whether you're being agreeable or disagreeable. I'm being disagreeable on this because it's not agreeable. Yes, sir. Now, let me move on then. I would like you to explain very quickly, if you can, what you think the primary motivators are for Islamic jihadism. First, our support for the Israelis. OK, that's your number. That's your number. No, there are six. OK, put them in order if you could. Our support for tyranny for over 50 years in the Muslim world. OK. As a trigger, our presence on the European insolah. Third, I would put the Israelis rising. Fourth, our ability for a long time to get oil at prices that were very much below the market level. Third, shift, our presence, military presence in other countries in the Muslim world. And sixth, our abiding willingness to identify as terrorists any Muslim population that one of our allies dislikes, whether it's the Russians or the Chinese. OK, let me move. Six things. I appreciate that. And let me say, then I'm going to move on to other witnesses. I was an Air Force officer for 14 years. I have spent significant time with many people from that region. And it is astounding to me that you don't put in the top six what I know to be true. And that is they are motivated. Many of them are motivated by their absolute hatred of the United States and what were you I present, whether it's freedom, whether it's democracy, whether it's women's rights. There are many of them who are absolutely motivated by that. I know that. I have talked to them. They hate them, sir. And I can't imagine that you would not put that in someone. They're not going to die for that, sir. Oh, they absolutely have. They have not, sir. Well, this war is not in the West. You have in this country, you're trying to blind eye the history for you to say that they will shine. Sir, you cannot, you don't need to call me professor either. You can call me Mike. The reality is no one has blown themselves up because this is the best thing for us. For us, you're absolutely wrong on that. I'm going to move on now. Well, no, you pull this up. You said there's millions of us. You're absolutely wrong on that. I'm going to move on if we could. I wish you would move on. For the rest of you, I'd like to ask you this in the very brief time that we have. Looking at some of the things that we've done,