How CIA was fatally duped by Jordanian double agent

How CIA was fatally duped by Jordanian double agent

Doctor-turned-bomber who was recruited by Americans to hunt down Bin Laden's right-hand man was in fact working for al-Qa'ida

By David Usborne, US Editor

Wednesday, 6 January 2010

Family members yesterday said that al-Balawi had been working as a doctor in a Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan near Zarqa, which happens also to be the hometown of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the al-Qa'ida leader who was killed in Iraq in 2006. They said he had told friends months ago that he was going away to study in Turkey.

But family and friends, it seems, were not the only people that al-Balawi duped. First arrested over a year ago by Jordan as a suspected al-Qa'ida sympathiser and operative, al-Balawi subsequently convinced the Jordanian intelligence agency that he was ready to switch sides and infiltrate the terror group. In time, the Americans were apparently also convinced that he had been successfully turned.

To cement the deception, al-Balawi reportedly supplied the Jordanians and the CIA with what officials have called "actionable intelligence" on al-Qa'ida on more than one occasion.

That he continued to pen pro-jihad messages on websites associated with al-Qa'ida, and to speak publicly of his support for armed jihad, seemingly did not give Western agents pause, perhaps because they assumed he was doing so to build up his own cover as a double agent. Al-Balawi's specific mission was to help the Americans track down down al-Qa'ida's number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri. Minimal precautions were apparently taken when al-Balawi, accompanied by Jordan's Bin Zaid, travelled to the CIA facility in Khost province last week, apparently after indicating that he had important information to share.

It was as he approached one of the main buildings at the complex that al-Balawi detonated a powerful bomb concealed in his vest. Among the immediate concerns being raised are why he had not been thoroughly searched on entering the compound, and why there were so many CIA people with him at the moment he set off the explosives he carried. American intelligence officials are working to identify the masterminds of the attack.

According to at least one report, US military officials believe it may have been orchestrated by the Haqqani network, an al-Qa'ida-linked militant group that operates out of north-west Pakistan and has launched many attacks in Khost in the past. Ironically, the network's ageing leader, Jalaluddin Haqqani, was formerly a close US ally in the covert Afghan war against the Soviets. He visited the Reagan White House and was described by Texas politician Charlie Wilson as "goodness personified".

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/how-cia-was-fatally-duped-by-jordanian-double-agent-1859007.html