From Editor and Publisher:
The active U.S. intelligence officer known only as "Anonymous," who has gained world renown this month as author of an upcoming book called "Imperial Hubris," is actually named Michael Scheuer, according to an article in the Boston Phoenix today by Jason Vest.
Speculation about his identity has run rampant since a June 23 article in The New York Times discussed the book and the background of the author. The book, "Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror," asserts, among other things, that Osama bin Laden is not on the run and that the invasion of Iraq has not made the United States safer.
In that June 23 piece, the Times identified Anonymous as a 22-year CIA veteran who ran the Counterterrorist Center's bin Laden station from 1996 to 1999, adding that a "senior intelligence official" held that revealing the man's full name "could make him a target of Al Qaeda." Anonymous has appeared in brief television interviews always in silhouette.
According to Vest, "Nearly a dozen intelligence-community sources, however, say Anonymous is Michael Scheuer -- and that his forced anonymity is both unprecedented and telling in the context of CIA history and modern politics."
Matt's Chat
Why is this guy's identity being kept from us? If he is an analyst, as is suggested, he isn't a Valerie Plame type operative; so let's have it from the CIA. This is politics at its worst. And it looks like the CIA is voting for John Kerry. And what I draw from that is that the CIA wants us to lose the War on Terror. 'Mike' advocates what I've been calling the "Scorched Middle East" policy which will enflame the situation, not improve our odds of winning. Each enemy in the Axis of Evil must be faced with a tailor made plan; apparently the folks at the CIA missed the memo.Mark's Remarks
This is what I love about liberals...they just love to have it both ways. They said we rushed into Iraq, Dennis Kucinich and Howard Dean advanced theories of massacring civilians and hit squads, now the Left is hailing a book by a guy who basically wants to nuke the Mid East and kill everything Arab he sees....This from the so-called Party of Love and Tolerance....More like the Party of Political Expediency and Power Grabbing.
