Bush Admin Exposed a Covert London Al-Queda Asset Last Year

[elehhhhna]

...

Lastly, as Tony Blair oversees the carnage and anger in his country, he may want to ask his good buddy George W. Bush why his administration crippled Blair's domestic anti-terror efforts to track down and stop Al Qaeda cells inside Great Britain by exposing a known Al Qaeda asset at a time when the Brits were very close to nailing a ring of Al Qaeda cells inside the country? With today's tragedy in front of them, don't you think that British intelligence would have wanted to finish their work last fall in smashing London's Al Qaeda cells before the Bush Administration blew a covert operation just so Bush could be reelected?

More info on that blowing of that operative:

On 2 August, the Bush administration blew the cover of double agent Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan. A day earlier, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge had announced a new alert against an Al Qaeda plan to attack financial institutions in New York and Washington. When the

New York Times pressed certain administration officials for more information, they disclosed to the newspaper that the information regarding the Al Qaeda plot had come from a recently arrested man in Pakistan named "Khan." The New York Times published his name on Monday. The later editions spelt out the full name.

Prof. Juan Cole of the University of Michigan's analysis is more daring, "The announcement of Khan's name forced the British to arrest 12 members of an al-Qaeda cell prematurely, before they had finished gathering the necessary evidence against them via Khan. Apparently they feared that the cell members would scatter as soon as they saw that Khan had been compromised. (They would have known he was a double agent, since they got emails from him Sunday and Monday!) One of the 12 has already had to be released for lack of evidence, a further fallout of the Bush SNAFU (situation normal all fouled up). It would be interesting to know if other cell members managed to flee. Why in the world would Bush administration officials out a double agent working for Pakistan and the US against Al-Qaeda?
http://www.dailykos.com/

[coloradodem2005]

1. The Bush administration strikes again.

[spindoctor]

2. Excellent!

If only the MSM had a collective memory like that.

[DemsUnited]

3. That was an atrociously criminal act by the White House

If I recall, it generated some scant three day coverage when MSM should have been all OVER the story. Ho, hum, just another intelligence outing by the White House that compromises national and/or global security. Not worthy of reporting.

Certainly makes you wonder if some al-Quaeda cell members were able to escape and continue to plan todays bombings.

[struggle4progress]

18. It was a deliberate act, intended to develop today's ugly result. eom

[KamaAina]

4. Where was Rove on the night in question?

KKKarl seems to be pretty good at compromising intelligence assets...

[napi21]

5. Hmmmm. How does thefolks at MI6 feel about this after today's events?

Doesn't the CIA and MI6 work together most of the time? Yesterday I said if I were Cheney, Libby, Rove etc, I wouldn't want the CIA to be my enemy! After outing Valerie, I suspect some kind of retaliation from the CIA. Those agents are good at getting things done covertly! Now today, you remind me of the Bush admin. outing an agent from MI6, and London gets hit!

Wonder if the RoveCo realizes the spot they're in????

[Eloriel]

6. Elehhhhna, please

It's really important to use the permalink when linking to blogs. why? So people can find the original weeks and months and years from now.

Here it is:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/7/7/15518/88466

I didn't want to go there, but I DID want to be able to find it at some point in the future. I hope you and others will save me the trip from now on by grabbing the real link while you're there.

[elehhhhna]

8. 'splain how to & consider it done in future...

[Helga Scow Stern]

7. NPR is rebroadcasting a documentary about Al Queda in London,

at 2 pm PDT. I wonder if it will reference any of this. Somehow I doubt it.

[Stephanie]

9. And they did it so they could lock down NYC for the Repub convention

It was their excuse for martial law in NY while they were here. A totally fabricated terror threat, four year old computer files, blew an asset, all so the Crawford Coward could have an excuse to keep the protestors inside fences & throw them in jail on the slightest pretext.

[yodermon]

10. I had forgotten about this,

I am ashamed to say. The BFEE crimes are legion. It is hard to keep track of them all.

Now is a good time to remind the wingnuts of this story, loudly, and often.

[NewJeffCT]

16. write some LTTEs

if we get enough of them out there, maybe this story will be picked up by some newspapers?

[DemsUnited]

11. This deserves a kick

[EVDebs]

12. You may want to review the Bologna train sta. bombing 1980

this has 'all the hallmarks' of that kind of operation too, although I don't put anything past Islamic whacko jihadists. This kind of terrorism doesn't do any good which is the point. They are only affirming their 'god' is really satan, whomever did it.

http://www.answers.com/topic/bologna-central-station

[eridani]

13. Senator Schumer's letter was never answered--

http://schumer.senate.gov/SchumerWebsite/pressroom/pres...

Last Sunday, one or more senior American officials leaked details of the capture of Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, the 25-year-old Al Qaeda computer engineer, to the news media. Mr. Khan had been providing invaluable information to our allies, because he continued to maintain contact with Al Qaeda operatives even after his capture by our allies.

According to several media reports, British and Pakistani intelligence officials are furious that the Administration unmasked Mr. Khan and named other captured terrorist suspects. Yesterday’s editions of the Daily News in New York reported Pakistani Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayyat is dismayed that the trap they hoped would lead to the capture of other top Al Qaeda leaders, possibly even Osama Bin Laden, was sprung too soon. "The network is still not finished," Hayyat said. The Daily News also quoted a British security source saying this development "makes our job harder," and Reuters quoted British Home Secretary David Blunkett saying that there is ''a difference between alerting the public to a specific threat and alarming people unnecessarily by passing on information indiscriminately.''

As you know, I believe that openness in government is generally the best policy, but the important exception should be anything that compromises national security. The statements of the British and Pakistani officials indicate that such a compromise may have occurred. In light of this possibility, I respectfully request an explanation to me and any other Member of Congress who might wish one of who leaked this Mr. Khan’s name, for what reason it was leaked, and whether the British and Pakistani reports that this leak compromised future intelligence activity are accurate.

[FreedomAngel82]

21. Interesting

Just like Valrie Plame leaking, no?

[NewJeffCT]

14. Nominated - I remember this story from last year

It was around when Bush & Ridge got ripped for raising the terror alert based on 3 year old information... they outed Khan to prove that it wasn't all 3 year old information.

[proud patriot]

15. Majority Report Mentioned this earlier today

also mentioned some kann guy

[lateo]

17. The Keystone Cops...

would be proud...

[forintegrity]

19. Totally amazing

what goes on with this administration!

[berni_mccoy]

20. Damn Excellent Find

BushCo spoils rotten everything they touch.

[Straight Shooter]

22. I remember. Didn't they distract from this with the laptop computer?

They upped the terror level and started issuing frightening warnings because they found some old plans on a discarded laptop. And yet, Laura went to New York despite all this. Does anyone remember if this coincides with the outing referred to in this thread?

Maybe my memory is faulty, damn, there have been so many devious tortuous distractions from the bush cabal.

edit: My memory is correct. August 11, 2004:

A high-profile political assassination, triggered by a new message from Osama bin Laden, will lead off the next major al-Qaida attack, The Washington Times reported in Wednesday editions, citing U.S. intelligence officials.

U.S. officials familiar with intelligence reports, speaking on condition of anonymity, disclosed that the assassination plan was among new details of al-Qaida plots and would target a U.S. or foreign leader either in the United States or abroad, according to the newspaper.

Planning for the attacks to follow involves “multiple targets in multiple venues” across the United States, one official was quoted as saying."

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5666004

In this article, they are saying the plans they discovered are what led to the arrest. Sounds like a dog chasing its tail, to me.

[Tommymac]

23. Kick and recommended.