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.
object to the phrase ‘took out’ – far too hollywood, far too devoid of the murderous violence of the action – ‘murdered’ would have been appropriate, whatever the political rights and wrongs that lay behind the incident. Big admirer of the blog, Craig, but such cavalier and careless use of language offends.
“Taliban fighters have developed a deadly new generation of their most lethal weapon, the improvised explosive device, or IED, which is almost undetectable because it has no metal or electronic parts, military experts said last week …”
http://tinyurl.com/ybajdc4
Ruth,
Dr Kelly tragically died from suicide. A suicide he described before he did it and one which his family are no doubt saddened by but not apparently surprised by. His wife, however, has apparently been irritated by fantasy dissidents snooping around trying to find out how much deeper this “mystery” goes.
Also, it seems a bit of a stretch to say that because a “slow-burning device” was found in your next door neighbours garden that it was a response to your fantasy dissident behaviour which amounted to planting a thought in the head of a secret agent about a photograph you don’t have but would be really incriminating if it existed.
I mean, where on Earth do you get the idea that “the secret service thought I had a photograph of a senior agent involved in illegal activities on a vast scale”?
Did you have this picture? What kind of vast-scale criminality did this single snapshot reveal?
“Dr Kelly tragically died from suicide”
If he did, it wasn’t from the amount of paracetamol he swallowed, and it wasn’t from the cut on his wrist. If you know anything at all about medicine and/or suicide attempts, you’d know this much. Tell us what he died of.
Larry,
Good try – The methods of agitation in Iran are known to me and I am not prepared to reveal them yet. President Obama is destined to be a great leader, you know I have said that, and I stand by it. He alone has made the decision not to strike before negotiation and I appreciate that (after Iraq).
I cannot be tricked into false dichotomy Larry (I realize now you meant me) – I am too long in the tooth, besides, as agreed, I outrank you.
“If he did, it wasn’t from the amount of paracetamol he swallowed, and it wasn’t from the cut on his wrist. If you know anything at all about medicine and/or suicide attempts, you’d know this much.”
He died from the cut on his wrist, the overdose of co-proxamol and his pre-existing heart condition.
But if not that, what do you think…?
@angrysoba: What you said regarding Janice Kelly – “His wife, however, has apparently been irritated by fantasy dissidents snooping around trying to find out how much deeper this “mystery” goes.” You haven’t got a link for that or anything have you? About Janice Kelly’s apparent irritation? I’ve been following the Kelly story as it happens, and it interests me. Am not a conspricacy theorist mind.
Specifically (and I don’t mean to split hairs or beget an argument) who is making the claim she is irritated? Or is it an assumption? Would like to know.
Cheers
Good post, Craig, but may I suggest that you call time on “take out”, as in “We use it to take out wedding parties with bomb attacks”?
Best not to echo a US military term intended to mask the reality of mass killings.
“He died from the cut on his wrist, the overdose of co-proxamol and his pre-existing heart condition.”
Bullshit. Read up on the subject.
dreoilin,
Agreed; Mrs Kelly has been intimidated and Oxford search & rescue know his body was moved. Many eminent surgeons and physicians has questioned (some refuted) the post mortem medical evidence.
From the Daily Telegraph 5 December 2009
‘Six eminent doctors have launched a legal action to reopen the inquest into the death of Dr David Kelly in an attempt to prove he was murdered.’
He couldn’t have died from a cut ulnar artery which is tiny in width, and would have retracted and closed.
He hadn’t ingested enough tablets to make a toxic dose.
There is no evidence that he had a “coronary”. All men of his age would have some coronary deficiency, but there is no evidence whatsoever that he died from such. There was ‘no pre-existing heart condition’ other than the condition any man of his age would be in.
Well qualified doctors dispute the medical “evidence” of this so-called suicide. Their arguments are strong.
Angrysoba: Do some Googling. I’m not going to do it for you. I see Ruth has provided a link.
————————-
Mark,
I don’t know who killed him. But I believe he was murdered. Absolutely.
“Well qualified doctors dispute the medical “evidence””
What, the notorious David Halpin? A doctor with a political agenda, as well as being a menace to society, is in breach of the Hippocratic oath. If you believe this stuff about dark forces I fear it puts you on the verge of joining all the other daft conspiracy delinquents on this site. The question for you is this: if he didn’t die after cutting his wrist and ingesting 29 painkillers on top of an existing heart condition then how did he die? And if he was killed, why, how and who?
Anyone with half a brain can see that David Kelly was an introvert who was hardly likely to announce his planned suicide to the world.
Rainborough.
“Good post, Craig, but may I suggest that you call time on “take out”,”.
How does one weaken the effectiveness of euphemisms used by agents of the military industrial complex to beautify their crimes? The answer is use them sarcastically in a context that emphasizes their true meaning. Craig is a master of this technique.
IED’s are not as deadly as the incompetence of ministers, you can buy 2000 well equipped wallis w116 for the price of a single Apache, flying at a hight of five foot, searching and destroying IED’s/UXB’s using the same equipment than a much bigger helicopter has.
They are nimble and much more manouvrable than any of the big birds.
We’ve got the gear, but have we got the will to use it?
What’s a Wallis W116?
“What, the notorious David Halpin? A doctor with a political agenda, as well as being a menace to society, is in breach of the Hippocratic oath …”
Accoding to a link from July 2009, there are 13 of those doctors. Not one, Eddie. And that’s only counting those who are prepared to go public.
http://tinyurl.com/mwpfro
“The question for you is this: if he didn’t die after cutting his wrist”
The ulnar artery was cut. Plus there were some scratches. Provide me with some precedents of people bleeding out from a cut ulnar artery. Crossways. It takes at least 20 minutes to bleed out from the major artery in the groin, if pressure is not employed to help it retract and close.
“and ingesting 29 painkillers”
How do you know he did that?
“on top of an existing heart condition”
What heart condition?
“then how did he die? And if he was killed, why, how and who?”
Can you read? I wrote above, “I don’t know who killed him.” Why do you turn around and ask me?
And you have heard, I assume, of injection sites that can be invisible other than under a microscope. That’s just ONE option, Eddie. Possibly one option that these doctors would like an inquest to examine. If it’s not too late.
You did know that he was a member of the Baha’i faith which condemns suicide? You know that his fingerprints were not on the knife with which he allegedly cut himself? You know it was blunt? You know that the paramedics who attended the scene said afterwards that there wasn’t enough blood for him to have bled out?
“who was hardly likely to announce his planned suicide to the world”.
You know that David Kelly had said, “I will probably be found dead in the woods”? Was that an announcement of his “planned suicide”, Eddie, or a concern about being murdered?
I’m not going to keep this up, 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.
“The Hutton Inquiry took priority over an inquest, which would normally be required into a suspicious death.[25] The Oxfordshire coroner, Nicholas Gardiner, considered the issue again in March 2004. After reviewing evidence that had not been presented to the Hutton Inquiry, Gardiner decided that there was no need for further investigation. This conclusion did not satisfy those who had raised doubts, but there has been no alternative official explanation for Kelly’s death.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Kelly_(weapons_expert)
——————————
“What’s a Wallis W116?”
and does it detect wood? Because according to the link I left above, that’s what the Taliban are making the IEDs out of now.
Correction:
The above should have said:
“You know that the paramedics who attended the scene said afterwards that there wasn’t enough blood to be significant?”
I’ve read Norman Baker’s wild-eyed speculative nonsense.
Dr Kelly’s wife didn’t want to speak to him as even he admitted.
Co-proxamol overdoses had led to the deaths of over 400 people per year as even Baker admitted. Mostly accidental, apparently.
Baker thinks it “uncanny” that Dr Kelly predicted he’d be found dead in the woods yet it’s only uncanny to a bunch of conspiracy theorists like yourselves given that people who plan their own demise may have the most insight into how it will happen. (Ever thought of that?)
The “qualified doctors” didn’t actually examine the body as opposed to the qualified doctors that did and ruled suicide.
Oh and Baker also thinks that Robin Cook was murdered for an article he wrote a year previously, but slyly elides the amount of time by saying, abruptly, “Robin Cook died shortly afterwards, on Saturday 6 August, while out walking in the Scottish highlands.”
“Shortly afterwards” is more than a YEAR after the article Baker quotes and he was out walking with his wife. What is he insinuating to his silly goose* readership?
How many of you also believe that Tony Blair was responsible for the deaths of John Smith, Mo Mowlam and Tony Banks (I’ve seriously seen people who suggest Blair had Robin Cook and David Kelly whacked believe he was behind the deaths of the other three…oh, and Princess Diana of course.)
* Borrowed from Larry.
On the murder of Dr Kelley.
When the security services whack a dissident they do a half hearted job of covering with plausible deniability as for example making a murder resemble a suicide. The reason is that the assassination is not simply to get rid of that particular dissident but also to warn others. The security services want to leave public opinion ambivalent as to whether it was or was not a hit, sufficiently accepting of the suicide explanation to make a searching inquiry unnecessary but with a good residue of suspicion which will be concentrated in the minds of public servants who know of government wrong doing.
Eddie,
It is easy to grimace and say doh! conspiracy theorist; when does a ‘theory’ become reality = Ah yes when the Sun reports or even the BBC of late. Put bluntly I do not trust Hutton and my friend is Rowena Thursby who spent a year examining the evidence. I won’t give you a long list of anomalies in this tragic case because with respect you are not prepared to consider all the facts; not everyone has an investigative mind.
Happily others here are prepared to be subjective.
“What heart condition?”
You need to do some reading.
And I don’t mean Rowena Thursby’s website.
http://beyondbelief.blogspot.com/
deollin: “You know that David Kelly had said, “I will probably be found dead in the woods”? Was that an announcement of his “planned suicide”, Eddie, or a concern about being murdered?”
Oh my word!
If I said, “If things go bad I’ll probably put a shotgun in my mouth and pull the trigger” and then, things go bad and I’m found dead in a locked room with a shotgun and my brains all over the wall, would you marvel at how uncannily I predicted my death?
Well, you’re a conspiracy theorist so I suppose anything is possible in your world.
“When the security services whack a dissident they do a half hearted job of covering with plausible deniability as for example making a murder resemble a suicide. The reason is that the assassination is not simply to get rid of that particular dissident but also to warn others. The security services want to leave public opinion ambivalent as to whether it was or was not a hit, sufficiently accepting of the suicide explanation to make a searching inquiry unnecessary but with a good residue of suspicion which will be concentrated in the minds of public servants who know of government wrong doing. ”
Where does this gem of wisdom come from? Is this something you KNOW or is it more mindless speculation?
@angrysoba: As I asked above, if there is a link to some sort of public record on Janice Kelly’s frustration with consipiracy theorists, do please link it – as a favour. 😉 Doesn’t diminish from your argument if it was an assumption on your part. Just wondering where you heard it from.
Your attitude as regards the late Dr Kelly seems very redolent of David Aaronovitch’s, by the way. That right?
Rob Lewis.
I googled Wallis W116 and came up with only one relevant hit:-
http://www.edp24.co.uk/CS/forums/431439/PrintPost.aspx
It discusses the W116 assuming prior knowledge but you might get something by context.
While it was conceivable that people in the UK did not know about what our colonial forces were doing in foreign places in the past, in this media age anybody with one or other of his/her six senses still functioning knows what is being done by UK US IS forces abroad. If people know what is being done in our name to foreigners and they are happy about it, it follows that they are RACIST.
The equal opportunities monitoring that we have to participate in when applying for work etc says it all about our present racism. Are you: White or Black or Asian? I am an ethnic mix, with a trace of Semitic extraction, but predominately of Indo-European extraction, as is my wife. She’s classed as Asian, coming from Kurdistan, while I am ‘White’. She says downza for twelve, I say a dozen. She says derga for door, gryea for ear, etc etc etc. Our linguistic links are unarguable proof of or racial commonality. Jew and Arab are also linguistically and racially the same.
How is it therefore that our rulers have conned us into thinking that our fellow Middle-Eastern and Indo-European brothers and sisters in humanity are legitimate targets for our military violence? We are at a level of racism which is equivalent to Nazism and our crimes have already exceeded Nazi crimes. Please don’t wring your hands later when the blindfolds are removed from your eyes and you stand before Allah on the day of Judgement, accused of condoning the slaughter of your brothers and sisters by your own government. We are living extremely comfortably now on the backs of dispossessed people in Iraq and Afghanistan and all the other colonised countries. What is different from living in previous centuries off Black African slavery? We advanced our knowledge and culture on their pain. I simply do not understand the difference.
An Islamic group today is proscribed for criticising UK foreign policy with a threat of ten years imprisonment. Slaughter must be done. You do not have the right to condemn the racist violence of your Nazi government. If you are not a Nazi with them, you are not allowed to exist on this planet. Roll on marytrdom.
“Put bluntly I do not trust Hutton and my friend is Rowena Thursby ”
Ha ha ha ha!
Deollin: “You know that David Kelly had said, “I will probably be found dead in the woods”? Was that an announcement of his “planned suicide”, Eddie, or a concern about being murdered?”
Angrysoba: Oh my word!
I see you don’t detect sarcasm too easily, Angry.
TTYL 🙂
“@angrysoba: As I asked above, if there is a link to some sort of public record on Janice Kelly’s frustration with consipiracy theorists, do please link it – as a favour. 😉 Doesn’t diminish from your argument if it was an assumption on your part. Just wondering where you heard it from. ”
I’m pretty sure that I got this from the Conspiracy Files where Baker and Thursby are in conversation and someone tells them that Mrs Kelly would rather not continue this speculation and that she accepts the verdict of suicide.
Thursby fatuously speculates that Mrs Kelly simply WANTS to believe it is suicide as it seems to her a more comforting explanation (WTF???!?!??!?!)
I seem to remember Baker himself dismissing anything Mrs Kelly had said about the state of mind of Dr Kelly himself and instead relied on acquaintances of Dr Kelly’s from the local pub who naturally said they were shocked and surprised Dr Kelly could have killed himself.
Essentially this is Baker’s template for the whole book. Selectively and utterly credulously accepting all evidence which squares with his “theory” and dismissing anything that strongly supports the suicide hypothesis with bizarre ad hoc rationalizations:
“Mrs Kelly was too ill to know what she was talking about.”
“Dr Kelly’s mother had committed suicide with an overdose of pills, it’s true, but then Dr Kelly never seemed to get upset when he talked about it so he had probably gotten over it completely.”
“The police used a mast that looked suspiciously capable of sending a signal to Tony Blair’s plane over the Pacific”
Bizarre red herrings that are made to seem far more suspicious than they are:
“Why would the police let a sniffer dog into Dr Kelly’s house to check for evidence?”
Dreoilin – I agee it’s a pointless exercise, like debating 911. But I asked how, why and who and although I don’t expect you to have the answers it seems to me that it is down to you and people like you to provide answers if you make mad speculations about how someone died. It’s like asking a believer to prove there is a God. If you can’t, then I will carry on being an athest thanks. I didn’t say that the cut to his wrist killed him on its own. That, the painkillers and the heart condition acting together did. As for blood, believe it or not liquids tend to leach into soil, so comments by paramedics about there not being enough blood are misleading. Also, some animals eat blood. Who is to say a passing fox or cat didn’t have a meal at the suicide site?