There is a very great deal that we can learn from the case of Dr Al-Balawi, the suicide bomber who took out seven CIA agents in Afghanistan.
The first relates to intelligence. Dr Al Balawi had become a trusted CIA informant, believed by the CIA to be helping them to target al-Qaida elements on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Except that we now know he was a dedicated al-Qaida all along.
Presumably much of the intelligence he had been providing was deliberately false and misleading. This yet again illustrates the point I have made repeatedly about the unreliability of “humint” – intelligence gained from informants.
As British Ambassador, I saw in Uzbekistan a continued stream of intelligence from the Uxbek torture chambers, accepted by the CIA and MI6 but which, in many cases, I knew to be false. The Uzbek government wished to retain Western support and subsidies by exaggerating their role in fighting al-Qaida; that was their purpose in providing the false intelligence. The Western security services and governments wished to exaggerate the threat of al-Qaida for domestic political purposes: that was their purpose in accepting it.
Torture is not the only source of unreliable “Humint”. Double agents like Dr Al-Balawi are another, A very high proportion of this intelligence is bought for cash, and that is the most unreliable of all. The dirty dossier on Iraqi WMD was full of tall stories for which you and I as taxpayers paid dodgy informants millions of dollars.
Yet we used unreliable humint as the basis for a war in Iraq that killed hundreds of thousands. We use it to take out wedding parties with bomb attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan. We use it to keep people detained without charge for years in Guantanamo, in Afghanistan, in Belmarsh, and we use it to deliver people up to torturers around the World.
We should know by now that the intelligence services and politicians no longer care if the intelligence is true: they want intelligence that justifies the actions they want to take anyway, and that keep on stream the mega profits that their friends are making from the War on Terror.
So Dr Al Balawi’s case gives us an invaluable insight into the world of intelligence.
But it does more than that. Why would a medical doctor, a happily married professional man with two children, become a “terrorist”. The answer is crystal clear.
Al-Balawi “started to change,” says his wife, after the American-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/229792
The failed underpants bomber was said by eye-witnesses to be shouting about Afghanistan: Dr Al-Balawi was motivated by our illegal invasion of Iraq. Violence begets violence – it is a truth as old as man.
Our unconscionable attacks on weaker nations, and our increasing complicity in the slow genocide of the Palestinians, are bound to provoke reaction, however weak that reaction may be compared to our own ability to kill en masse. The notion peddled by politicians and mainstream media, that we invade countries abroad to keep us safe at home, should be met with the derision it deserves.
“I only read the first thirty or forty of them”
Typical.
Aww, he’s flouncing off in a huff.
Bye Soba!
dreoilin, you always seem a decent person (well, Irish). I don’t get your angle on asoba, or larry either. It might be exasperating & infuriating when people disagree with you, but why resoprt to such childish abuse? You don’t speak for me. Asoba, ignore jaded’s tedious posts by all means, but please don’t go away altogether.
Btw, as I said on another thread, ‘jaded’s’ posts have more than a little in common with the posts of Lee John Barnes, the BNP’s ‘legal advisor, who ‘contributes’ to Harry’s Place. Check them for distinct similarities in style and tone.
“why resoprt to such childish abuse?”
As in what? What words are you referring to?
“You don’t speak for me”
I can’t imagine why you would think I was speaking for anyone only myself.
“you always seem a decent person (well, Irish)”
What does that mean?
dreoilin: Childish as in:
“Aww, he’s flouncing off in a huff.”
Abuse was too strong; sorry.
Otherwise, whatever you imagine, was making it clear to asoba that I disagreed with you, which I hope is OK, added ‘decent’ because usually your posts are interesting & clear & sensible, and Irish because I like the Irish.
Pax!
I assume that ‘unsigned’ was you, technicolour.
“he’s flouncing off in a huff” was a quote from Angrysoba, something he said about me on January 14, 2010 1:24.
He also said to me, “Awww. No one likes a sore loser. Bye.” on January 14, 2010 12:53
I was quoting him back to himself. They’re (basically) his words, not mine.
technicolour,
I think you’re barking up the wrong tree. At January 14, 2010 11:28 AM, dreoilin gave a long and clear reply to angrysoba, which finished with this paragraph –
“Angry, I said to Eddie: “I don’t have much interest in to-ing and fro-ing over a disputed death the investigation of which has already been ‘shut down’ by the authorities.” That still applies. If it wasn’t for your *insistence* that the man committed suicide (something you could not possibly know — just as I don’t know for a fact if he was killed, or who might have killed him) I would not be here now.
And I won’t be back to this again, Angry. Have a nice day.”
For this she received the following, completely uncalled-for, ‘childish’ comments from angrysoba –
Posted by: angrysoba at January 14, 2010 12:53 PM –
“Awww. No one likes a sore loser.”
Posted by: angrysoba at January 14, 2010 1:24 PM –
“Flounce off in a huff like he has done today?”
I guess dreoilin afterwards returned the phrase to angrysoba because she was annoyed by it, as, I presume, he intended.
fair play. sorry. don’t let it get to you though, dreoilin 🙂
Sorry again, dreoilin (where is that name from?) if that sounded patronising, it wasn’t meant to.
No worries.
“dreoilin” means “a wren”.
The wren was sacred to the Druids of pre-Christian Ireland, as were all the birds.
Boohooo….the CIA get fucked over BOOOHOOOO…….
Rearrange into well known saying “Coming had fucking it.”
“Sorry again, dreoilin (where is that name from?) if that sounded patronising, it wasn’t meant to.”
Perhaps I should have mentioned that “dreoilin” is not a name, it’s a handle/nick. And I’m not patronise-able. 🙂
Perfectly put, Craig. Perfectly put.