Michael Scheuer offers his take on the Goss CIA (bogged down), the Hayden nomination (bad choice), and Iraq ("finished") in our exclusive interview this week.

Not all of the conversation made it into the Seven Questions. So here's a nugget. It's been said before but is worth repeating. We're often told that terrorists want to kill us because they hate our freedoms. It may be more instructive to view it the other way around. In Scheuer's words:

Very few people on this earth, Muslim or any other religion or ethnic group or linguistic group will die because I have a draft beer after work or we produce X-rated movies or we have women in the workplace. What they die for is the perception that our policies are attacking their faith and their brotherhood.

As the government continues to shape policy aimed at dismantling al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, it’s important to remember that few people attack without first constructing some narrative of victimization, real or perceived. Whether Western countries can do anything to discredit these ideas is a different question, but one worth keeping in mind.