Jordan memorial for national killed in Afghanistan while working alongside the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The agency reported that 7 of its operatives were killed by a Muslim guerrilla.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
17:14 Mecca time, 14:14 GMT
Al Jazeera
CIA base bomber 'was double agent'
Zeid, a Jordanian intelligence officer killed in the attack, was honoured in Amman
A suicide bomber who killed eight people when he attacked a US base in Afghanistan has been identified as a "double agent" working for Jordanian intelligence, according to US media and intelligence reports.
Al Jazeera sources in Afghanistan on Tuesday said that the man, identified as Hammam Khalil al-Balawi, had been brought to the base in the eastern Afghan province of Khost, by car, from across the border in Pakistan.
Al-Balawi, also known as Abu Dujana al-Khorasani, is believed to have offered the CIA new information on the whereabouts of Ayman al-Zawahiri, the al-Qaeda second in command.
He had apparently duped his employers into believing that statements he had made in the past on websites about wanting to die as a martyr were part of his cover.
The bombing, which occurred last Wednesday, killed seven CIA employees and a Jordanian intelligence officer, identified by Jordan's state news agency Petra as Captain Sharif Ali bin Zeid.
Al-Qaeda connection
Former CIA officers said Zeid, who was related to the Jordanian royal family, was al-Balawi's reporting officer.
Al-Balawi, who had in the past been imprisoned in Jordan, is thought to have been recruited by Jordanian intelligence to help track down al-Zawahiri because of his connections with al-Qaeda.
Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer and White House adviser, said that according to unconfirmed intelligence reports, al-Zawahiri himself had ordered al-Balawi to carry out the attack using the pretext of information about his whereabouts.
"The bomber allegedly was sent by Ayman Zawahiri himself to conduct the attack and claimed he had information on Zawahiri," Riedel was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying.
The Jordanian government has not responded to requests for comment on the story.
'Double agent'
Nisreen el-Shamayleh, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Amman, the Jordanian capital, said: "In the past al-Balawi had been imprisoned and tortured in Jordanian prisons for participating in al-Qaeda meetings. That was way back in the past.
"After being released from prison, he was summoned several times by Jordanian intelligence and it is believed that during that period, and because of al-Balawi's valuable knowledge of al-Qaeda, he may have then been recruited by Jordanian intelligence," she said.
"We do know that he wasn't actually recruited by the Jordanian intelligence for very long."
Al-Balawi, who was from the Jordanian town of Zarqa, is also known to have trained and worked as a doctor in a hospital in Amman.
The US monitoring service Site Intelligence said that so-called jihadist websites had reported al-Balawi's arrest in December 2007 without specifying where he had been arrested.
'Love of jihad'
Site also reported that al-Balwai was a prolific contributor to such websites, even after his release from custody when he was supposed to be working as a Jordanian agent, the monitoring group added.
In a September 2009 posting on a site run by al-Qaeda, he wrote: "If [a Muslim] dies in the cause of Allah, he will grant his words glory that will be permanent marks on the path to guide to jihad, with permission from Allah," according to Site.
"If love of jihad enters a man's heart, it will not leave him even if he wants to do so. Indeed, what he sees of luxurious palaces will remind him of positions of the martyrs in the higher heaven."
El-Shamayleh said the attack would likely damage relations between the CIA and Jordanian intelligence.
"For many years Jordanian intelligence has been one of the CIA's closest and most useful allies in the Middle East. The attack could be embarrassing for the [Jordanian] government," she said.
"Jordan has always tried to present itself as an ally and a partner with the US in its 'fight against terror'."
In 2006, Jordanian intelligence helped track down Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, who was killed in an air raid in Iraq in June that year.
Taliban claim
The new details of attack on Forward Operating Base Chapman run contrary to earlier claims that the Taliban were behind the attack.
Soon after the blast Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said in an email: "This deadly attack was carried out by a valorous Afghan army member when the officials [Americans] were busy gaining information about the mujahideen."
The Afghan government later rejected the claim that the bomber had been from the Afghan army.
The attack in Khost was the worst single loss of life for the CIA since the bombing of the US embassy in Beirut in 1983.
Following the attack, the base was locked down. An Al Jazeera source said that about 150 mostly Afghan labourers at the base were detained for three days.
Profile: Jordanian 'triple agent' who killed CIA agents
Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, a 'triple agent' who blew up seven CIA agents in Afghanistan, was a Jordanian doctor and Islamist who the authorities believed they had turned against al-Qaeda
Published: 11:47AM GMT 05 Jan 2010
Balawi was from Zarqa, the same Jordanian town as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the infamous leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq who tormented the US military and Bush administration until his death in 2006 with a terrorist campaign that inspired militants around the world and made him a rival in influence to Osama bin Laden.
Balawi, who was also known as Hammam Khalil Mohammed, died last week aged 36 when he detonated explosives at a CIA forward operating base, Camp Chapman, in Khost, eastern Afghanistan in a suicide mission.
He was languishing in a Jordanian prison after being arrested for his militancy when the country's intelligence service, the Dairat al Mukhabarat - or General Intelligence Department (GID) - tried to turn him into a spy.
The GID has deep ties to the CIA and Balawi emerged as a figure of great interest to US intelligence, which believed he could be put to use in the hunt for Islamist terror's most notorious figures in the so-called "core al-Qaeda" leadership.
While little is yet known about Balawi's past, it is thought that his background as a doctor could have been useful in reaching out to Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Egyptian physician who is often described as bin Laden's spiritual mentor and deputy but is widely thought to have day-to-day control of core al-Qaeda.
Last September an online jihadist magazine posted an interview with Balawi, according to the SITE Monitoring Service, a terrorist watch group that reads and translates messages found on extremist forums.
SITE said on Monday that Balawi used a pseudonym - Khorsani - in the postings, describing how he rose through the ranks of militants. He said he went to Afghanistan to fight, and he exhorted others to do violence.
"No words are more eloquent than those proven by acts, so that if that Muslim survives, he will be one who proves his words with acts. If he dies in the Cause of Allah, he will grant his words glory that will be permanent marks on the path to guide to jihad, with permission from Allah," wrote "Khorsani", according to SITE.
It said he had been a prolific contributor to the website for the last two years.
CIA Afghanistan suicide bomber 'was Jordanian al-Qaeda triple agent'
The suicide bomber who killed eight CIA agents in Afghanistan was a Jordanian doctor also acting as an agent for al-Qaeda, according to US reports
By Alex Spillius in Washington
Published: 9:59PM GMT 04 Jan 2010
The bomber, Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, was a 36-year old doctor from Zarqa, Jordan, the home town of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the late head of al-Qaeda in Iraq, accordign to a report on NBC News.
Balawi was arrested over a year ago by Jordanian intelligence for suspected terror activities, but was thought to have been turned to support US and Jordanian efforts against al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
He detonated a suicide bomb that killed the seven CIA employees - four officers and three contracted security guards - and a Jordanian intelligence officer, Ali bin Zaid, who was a member of the country's royal family.
Some of the officers had flown in to Camp Chapman near Khost from Kabul for what was billed as an important meeting that could yield information on the whereabouts of Ayman al-Zawahiri, deputy to Osama bin Laden.
The base coordinates CIA operations and intelligence gathering in Khost, a hotbed of insurgent activity that borders Pakistan's lawless tribal areas, former CIA officials said.
NBC said the head of the CIA operation in Khost was among the dead. It was one of the darkest days in the agency's 62-year history. In April 1983, eight CIA personnel were killed when the US embassy in Beirut was hit by a Hizbollah suicide bomb.
The CIA has not released the names of those killed or provided details about the work its agents had been carrying out, citing "the sensitivity of their mission and other ongoing operations".
REPORT AIR DATE: Jan. 5, 2010
Attack on CIA in Afghanistan Blamed on Double Agent
SUMMARY
The suicide bomber who killed seven CIA officers in Afghanistan last week is reported to have been a Jordanian double agent who American officials recruited to help provide intelligence on al-Qaida leaders. Gwen Ifill speaks with two experts about who the attacker was, and how he was able to carry out the devastating attack.
Transcript
JUDY WOODRUFF: Information has emerged about a possible Jordanian connection in the attack that killed seven Americans at a CIA operating base in Afghanistan.
Gwen Ifill has that story.
GWEN IFILL: New details surfaced today about the attack, a suicide bombing allegedly carried out by a double agent working with the U.S. The names of the victims have not been released by the CIA, but family members have identified three. Thirty-seven-year-old Harold Brown Jr., originally from Massachusetts, leaves behind a wife and three children.
REV. RICHARD JONES, First Parish Church: His concern was to make the world a better and safer place for everyone who lived here. And I think that fueled his own commitment to the military and to our country, and, indeed to the people that he was trying to help.
GWEN IFILL: Jeremy Wise was a 35-year-old former Navy SEAL who worked as a security contractor. Friends have already set up a memorial on Facebook, including this entry: "He was doing what he wanted to do."
And 39-year-old Scott Michael Roberson was working as a security officer. He leaves a wife who was eight months pregnant. They will each receive a star here on the agency's memorial wall at the headquarters in Langley, Virginia, commemorating those who have died in the line of service.
An eighth victim, identified as a Jordanian spy, was also killed in the attack. Captain Sharif Ali bin Zeid was a member of the royal family, and received a state funeral on Saturday. He reportedly recruited a top informant, Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, the alleged double agent working for al-Qaida. The 32-year old was a doctor from Zarqa, Jordan, also the hometown of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the slain leader of al-Qaida in Iraq.
A CIA spokesman would not confirm al-Balawi's alleged role in the attack, saying in a statement: "The enemy doesn't know everything that went on, and it makes no sense to fill in the gaps for him. The agency and our government as a whole have bled al-Qaida and its allies, dangerous though they still are, through aggressive, successful counterterrorism operations. That will continue without break or pause."
A key part of those operations have been U.S. drone aircraft strikes on insurgents. The bomber struck at a base coordinating the strikes on Taliban militants near the border with Pakistan.
So, who was the attacker, and how did he get close enough to carry out such a devastating attack?
For that, we turn to two men who have been tracking just those questions, David Ignatius, a columnist for The Washington Post who has covered intelligence issues for many years, and Jarret Brachman, the author of "Global Jihadism" and the former director of research at West Point's Combating Terrorism Center. He now teaches at North Dakota State University.
Welcome to you, both.
David Ignatius, it sounds like a plot from a novel, one you may have written, actually. And, so, what do you know about how this unfolded?
DAVID IGNATIUS, The Washington Post: What we know is that the Jordanian intelligence service, which has been a key partner for the U.S. in fighting al-Qaida for many years, developed this doctor, this young doctor, as a potential penetration of al-Qaida at a high level.
He seems to have been turned. He was a radical jihadist. He was somebody whose writings have appeared on Web sites. You can track his trail. But the Jordanians have seemed, within the last several years, to have turned him into what they thought was a double agent, somebody who was nominally a jihadist, but was really working for them.
And, in that guise, he was making his bona fides with al-Qaida, and ended up here on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. What's interesting is that he became, it seems, a triple agent, that, somehow, al-Qaida flipped him back, and sent him into this camp, apparently bringing really hot intelligence about the -- perhaps having the locations of Ayman al-Zawahri, the number two in al-Qaida, just tantalizing stuff for the Americans.
And they left the man in the gate, and he had a suicide bomb.
GWEN IFILL: Is it generally understood here and in intelligence circles, or even in Jordan, that we -- that the U.S. intelligence community was working so closely with Jordanian agents?
DAVID IGNATIUS: It's understood for people who pay attention to this. I wrote a novel, "Body of Lies," that was made into a Hollywood movie with Leonardo DiCaprio. And the whole theme of that movie is that Jordan is a key CIA ally in the fight against al-Qaida.
Jordanians, I think, generally know about it and are proud of it. The fact that the Jordanians are operating with us in Afghanistan at that close range, I expect people didn't know that.
GWEN IFILL: Jarret Brachman, you had -- it falls to you to explain to us who this individual was. I want to get his name right, Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi. Who was he? What do we know about him?
JARRET BRACHMAN, author, "Global Jihadism": Well, you know, the thing is that I didn't know him by that name. I knew him by the name Abu Dujana al-Khurasani, which is the moniker that he was using online.
And, so, since at least 2007, this guy has become one of the most prominent al-Qaida jihadist pundits. And, so, this guy is, you know, what you might consider a commentator. He takes the big ideas of al-Qaida and tries to translate them into digestible tidbits in compelling essay formats for the followers of al-Qaida on the forums.
GWEN IFILL: This all happens on -- and this all happens online?
JARRET BRACHMAN: Yes.
And, you know, he started off as a cheerleader, kind of on the sidelines. And what happened is, he was recognized by more formal al-Qaida, you know, Web administrators as having a lot of potential. So, they basically promoted him to this elite status.
Well, over the course of writing tens of 20, 30 essays, people began to really take notice that this guy had potential. And, so, over the course of several years, he became one of the most heralded essayists or jihadists pundits on the forums.
GWEN IFILL: Was it significant that he was a physician?
JARRET BRACHMAN: Well, you know, that information never came out. The only biographical information we ever knew about him, as Abu Dujana al-Khurasani, was that he was born somewhere in the northern part of the Arabian Peninsula, that he was married and had two kids in his early 30s.
All we had to go on was really the essays that he had. And they were thoughtful. They were rabid. And they were very creative.
GWEN IFILL: David Ignatius, you mentioned Ayman al-Zawahri, who also is a physician. Do you think there's a connection there between their two occupations?
DAVID IGNATIUS: I'm just guessing, but I'm thinking that one reason that he was seen as such a valuable potential penetration of the al-Qaida circle was that, as a physician, he might be able to make his way toward Zawahri. Conceivably, there was hopes even of getting him close to Osama bin Laden.
It's very interesting that, here again, we have an example of a very well educated person in the Muslim world, a doctor. We have seen other doctors in Britain drawn in to these plots. It's a reminder that the very top of society, the best educated, often the most prosperous people, seem to be especially vulnerable to this kind of recruitment.
GWEN IFILL: What is the significance. A lot of people don't even realize that the CIA has bases in war zones. What was the significance of the CIA having an outpost in a place like Khost?
DAVID IGNATIUS: This was an important base, Gwen. It's very close to the areas Pakistan border, to the tribal areas of Pakistan. And this base was used for gathering information that could then be given to the targeters for our Predator unmanned drone attacks on key al-Qaida and Taliban figures who are hiding out in these tribal areas of Pakistan.
It was -- it was said to be a key hub for information. CIA officers there were meeting with agents. Unfortunately, they seemed to have invited the agents inside the base, which was dangerous, but it was an important place in this war.
I talked to CIA officers today who said, we have done so much damage in the last year against this enemy, against al-Qaida and the Taliban, we have to expect that they're going to try to hit us back. It's not going to stop us from continuing the activity that that base was doing.
GWEN IFILL: Jarret Brachman, the president today talked about the flexibility which al-Qaida is demonstrating in changing its tactics. Is that something we have begun to see? Was this unfortunate episode a sign at how al-Qaida is changing and becoming something else?
JARRET BRACHMAN: Well, I mean, I think this is really a disaster for us, in the sense that this was a guy who was, you know, something I have called a jihobbyist, right, somebody who cheers from the sidelines as nothing more than a hobby, who then took the next step and actually did something.
And, so, he's providing a role model for the thousands of people who are in these jihadist discussion forums that they too can be, you know, an al-Qaida army of one. They can go out to Afghanistan or they can -- they can, you know, go anywhere, that they can pick up a gun or an explosive belt and do some damage in the name of al-Qaida.
And, so, I think this shows both the creativity, just how nefarious these guys are, and how dedicated they are.
GWEN IFILL: In the same way...
JARRET BRACHMAN: You know, one of the things we see from...
GWEN IFILL: Go ahead.
JARRET BRACHMAN: Oh, one of the things we from Abu Dujana al-Khurasani's writings is that he felt, you know, from at least 2007, that he was kind of the representative of downtrodden communities, of oppressed and persecuted people.
And you also got a sense that he was very, you know, upset with himself for doing nothing more than talking about it. And, so, it's this disconnect between, you know, consuming the ideology, but not doing anything about it that drives guys like him mad, forcing them to find a way to get out there and activate themselves.
GWEN IFILL: And, David, finally, does this change now the way the CIA operates on the ground and in dangerous frontiers like this?
DAVID IGNATIUS: People at the agency have been saying today, no, we're going to be -- we're in the line of fire. We know that. We have to be to do our work.
I hope it will change the tradecraft that they use in meeting with people.
GWEN IFILL: Meaning?
DAVID IGNATIUS: Typically, in a spy novel and in real life, you meet agents in safe houses. You don't meet them in embassies or in military bases, where you're vulnerable, where they can see a lot of the people around you. It's just not secure to do that. Typically, you would go outside.
We stopped doing that in Iraq and Afghanistan, because we thought it was too dangerous for our CIA officers to be traveling. I have a feeling people will now reexamine that and say, you know, it probably is important to get out because it's more secure. They can do less damage.
But, otherwise, I think they are going to keep pushing. They think that their fight has been effective.
GWEN IFILL: David Ignatius and Jarret Brachman, thank you both very much.
No comments:
Post a Comment