Antiwar.com's Allies

My colleague Richard Poe is doing an admirable job of holding the line against Raimondo et. al., but I thought I would add my own two cents.

Here is the nub of the matter: Antiwar.com proprietor Justin Raimondo is incensed—incensed!—that his site should be labeled pro-al-Qaeda. See here, he says, we publish articles by the likes of Michael Scheuer.

Ah, yes. Michael Scheuer, it may be remembered, is the CIA’s disgraced point man on al-Qaeda, who spent his three years as the head of “operations against al Qaeda” spinning elaborate conspiracy theories about Israeli agents and the pernicious machinations of “wealthy Jewish-American organizations,” all the while demonizing Israel as a “theocracy-in-all-but-name.”

Conspicuously more charitable was Scheuer’s treatment of Osama Bin Laden, whom he adulated as a “practical warrior,” not to mention “the most respected, loved, romantic, charismatic, and perhaps able figure in the last 150 years of Islamic history.” All that hard work and still we failed to prevent 9-11. Imagine. (A revealing account of Scheuer’s three years on the job can be found in the current issue of Commentary.)

Perhaps sensing that the contributions of Mr. Sheuer are insufficient to confirm antiwar.com’s anti-al-Qaeda bona fides, Raimondo further writes: “That's why we've advocated killing bin Laden and wiping out his organization.” Puzzlingly, no examples of antiwar.com’s blistering assaults on the “organization” are provided. Maybe you can throw a few links our benighted way? In the meantime, Justin, consider choosing your friends more wisely.