Posted on 11/16/2006 6:08:56 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
UK intelligence services were warned of the threat posed by al-Qaeda in the mid 1990s but did not act quickly enough, says a spy who infiltrated the network. The agent told the BBC he warned his handlers that al-Qaeda was better organised than was previously thought.
Known by the pseudonym of Omar Nasiri, he worked for intelligence in the UK and France, and trained in Afghanistan. Mr Nasiri also claimed a senior al-Qaeda operative planted evidence to provoke the US into war against Iraq. Ibn Sheikh Al-Libi fabricated links between al-Qaeda and Iraq when being questioned by US forces in late 2001, he said.
BBC security correspondent Gordon Corera said the revelations had provided an "insight into the emergence of al-Qaeda in the 90s". He said French authorities had been concerned about Algerian terrorists and British authorities feared attacks in the UK. But the details given by the agent, who worked for both the French and British intelligence services, showed that "people were not necessarily looking at those global interconnections". Chemical weapons He added that the "legacy" of the Afghan training camps of the 1990s was being seen in the form of global attacks. Mr Nasiri trained at al-Qaeda's camps in Afghanistan and met senior figures from the group.
He described the use of chemical weapon experiments and claimed radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri was given terror training in London. The spy also said that to maintain his cover the French and UK services reluctantly gave him money to pass to al-Qaeda, and he did not know how the money was spent. When asked if he ever forgot he was a spy while in Afghanistan, "Omar" replied: "Oh yeah, all the time." Al-Qaeda first came to prominence after the attacks on 11 September 2001 in the US. The full interview with Omar Nasiri can be seen on BBC2's Newsnight at 2230 GMT.
|
Thanks for this.
I'm having a back and forth with a fellow in the UK about Bush being at fault for the current state of terrorism.
This is the rolled-up newspaper I've been looking for.
Well...this is from the BBC which always seems to have an Agenda....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.