NY Times Blew Cover of Key Counterterror Agent

www.newsmax.com ^ | Saturday, Aug. 7, 2004 10:16 p.m. EDT

[InvisibleChurch]

Saturday, Aug. 7, 2004 10:16 p.m. EDT NY Times Blew Cover of Key Counterterror Agent

An al Qaida computer expert who was secretly arrested on July 18 and has since been providing critical intelligence on the terror group's plans for coming attacks on the West was rendered useless this week when he was outed by the New York Times.

Mohammad Naeem Noor Khan, described by U.S. intelligence as "a one man al Qaida communications hub," was using the Internet to contact and identify al Qaida operatives throughout the world so they could be tracked and arrested by British and U.S. authorities.

"After his capture he admitted being an al Qaeda member and agreed to send e-mails to his contacts," a Pakistani intelligence source told Reuters. "He sent encoded e-mails and received encoded replies. He's a great hacker and even the U.S. agents said he was a computer whiz." Khan was the source for reports that al Qaida was planning attacks on financial institutions in New York, Newark and Washington, D.C., spurring Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge to raise the national alert status to orange last Sunday.

But the undercover operative's value as a critical intelligence asset went up in smoke on Monday, when the New York Times named the previously unidentified Khan, calling him "a kind of clearinghouse of Qaida communications" and "a vital source of information" on terrorist operations.

Once Khan was outed, British authorities scrambled to round up al Qaida suspects he had identified before they were able to go underground.

"By exposing the only deep mole we've ever had within al Qaida, it ruined the chance to capture dozens if not hundreds more," former Justice Department prosecutor John Loftus told Fox News on Saturday.

[InvisibleChurch]

[OXENinFLA]

I knew it!!

The night Drudge was reading from the NYT I knew it was something that shouldn't have been reported!!

[swilhelm73]

Well, isn't this a violation of same law the Times was claiming was broken in regards to Plame?

[Enterprise]

No doubt the NYT will demand a vigorous investigation. (Not)

[RobFromGa]

whoever gave the information to the NYT is the one that should be arrested.

[Diogenesis]

Could this be treason against America by the New York Times' Editorial Staff Emma Gilbey (Kerry GF)
and Bill Keller (Gibley's present love) and Anthony Lewis (Mr. Judge Marshall of Massachusetts).

[NonValueAdded]

"By exposing the only deep mole we've ever had within al Qaida, it ruined the chance to capture dozens if not hundreds more," former Justice Department prosecutor John Loftus told Fox News on Saturday.

That renders the Valerie Plame exposure pretty minor league. Did the New York Times just lose the War On Terror for us? Hyperbole? Maybe, but this is as bad as anything else noted in the 9-11 report.

[woofie]

Thank you NY Times

Sincerely,
Innocent People killed by Al Qaeda

[JediForce]

These people in the media are going to get a lot of Americans killed one of these days. ( God forbid ). No one will be held accountable for their lack of common sense either. Most of the information that is coming out about Al Qaeda's communications should never have been made public. It jeopardizes our ability to catch and kill the kerrorists. Now the long bearded smelly ones will go back to communicating by runners on camels.

Nice job you media jerks. I bet they would have kept this information under wraps if the N.Y. Times, ABC, CBS, NBC buildings were on the target list. Then again...probably not.

[True Capitalist]

The NYT once again committed treason and Kahn's name may have been leaked by someone in Pakistan's ISI, but if there was a sting operation going on in Pakistan then Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge also gave out too much information last Sunday when he heightened security. I specifically remember Ridge mentioning that new information, particularly "out of Pakistan" justified the alert. By being so specific in the alert, Ridge let the terrorists (and the media) know too much.

Terrorists involved in the planning and/or surveillance of the specific targets named by Ridge combined with Ridge pointing to Pakistan, would have had a clear indication that a colleague of theirs with this knowledge in Pakistan had been compromised.

Thanks to the "dots" laid out by our Secretary of "Homeland Security", the terrorists could have reasonably realized that communicating with Kahn would be a risk to their operation.

[AndrewC]

Throw the whole lot into prison.

[The Wizard]

The NYT is an ARM OF THE dnc AND AS SUCH, AN ENEMY OF AMERICA

[neutrino]

Loose lips sink ships. And they just did.

I wonder if the writers, editors, and staff will visit the graves of those who died as a direct result of them getting their precious story into print.

[TomGuy]

But the NYTimes reporter got the name during a press briefing, IIRC. So the person ('government official') who gave the press briefing provided the real leak. NYTimes simply reported it.

[taxesareforever]

The NYT is an ARM OF THE dnc AND AS SUCH, AN ENEMY OF AMERICA

It should be called THE NEW YORK PRAVDA

[PISANO]

Nope......it is George Bush's fault. Why not...... everything from the homeless person in SF and the chronically unemployed 35 year old industrial engineer in Ohio to the 911 attack in NY to the outing of Plame, right up to the HORRENDOUS swift boat vets ad, it goes on and on.....it is all his fault......it is a GIVEN.

< /anger and sarcasm >

[lonevoice]

whoever gave the information to the NYT is the one that should be arrested.

That is one prosecution I wouldn't object to, and I don't care who it was.

Maybe he/she will be imprisoned right beside Sandy Berger < /sarcasm>

[Iam1ru1-2]

"After 20 years in the Senate, all Kerry has to run on is 4 months of service in Viet Nam."

The shortest tour of duty for any Swift Boat Crewman. Everyone else on his boat served the entire 12 month tour of duty, but he had to go home and put bandages on his purple heart wounds.

[FormerACLUmember]

"By exposing the only deep mole we've ever had within al Qaida, it ruined the chance to capture dozens if not hundreds more," former Justice Department prosecutor John Loftus told Fox News on Saturday.

Treason. Pure and simple treason.

Men and women will die needlessly because of this monumental treachery by the New York Times.

There is innocent blood on your hands, Arthur "Pinchy" Sulzberger, Jr., you vicious monster!

[greasepaint]

Who told the NY Times?
Perhaps that was not wise?