Michael Scheuer, 59, formerly head of the Osama bin Laden unit at the CIA, shared in an interview that he was stopped from capturing or taking down the terrorist by CIA superiors more than 10 different times.
Scheuer, after 22 year in the CIA, resigned in 2004, because he says he was “irritated” by the way the government handled the war.
In 1995, Scheuer, who had then been with the CIA for 13 years, was selected to head up the bin Laden unit.
Bin Laden was in Sudan, exiled there after Saudi authorities made him leave.
To starve the group of money, Scheuer says he planned to interfere with Bin Laden’s businesses in Sudan.
“We formulated operations and submitted them for approval but they would not approve any of them,” Scheuer. “If we had been able to deal a serious economic blow it could have been a show-stopper.”
The year after that, al Qaeda declared war on the U.S. government and we know what that led to.
In 1997, bin Laden had returned to Afghanistan, and Scheuer said they were working with Afghans who would try to capture bin Laden.
He said there were “clear opportunities” to bring down bin Laden by the middle of 1998. But CIA hierarchy would not act.
Talking to the UK Telegraph, Scheuer said that following those halted operations to capture or take down bin Laden in 1998, there were more than eight other opportunities to get him.
At this time, even though bin Laden was one of the most wanted terrorists, Scheuer never received the go-ahead to capture him or take him down.
Scheuer says the West has no idea what it is doing. He is convinced US foreign policy is the cause of the middle east conflict.