Mar. 9, 2004. 01:00 AM Why is Khadr telling all now?
THOMAS WALKOM
Televised revelations by Canadian Al Qaeda celebrity Abdurahman Khadr appear to have answered some questions about his curious story. But they have raised other, more intriguing ones.
The 21-year-old Scarborough man bounced back into the headlines last week after a remarkable two-part documentary by journalist Terence McKenna aired on CBC television.
In the documentary, young Khadr said his father was a close ally of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden — so much so that the two men and their families shared the same housing compound in Afghanistan.
Khadr also said that since 2001 he worked for the CIA; that he was transferred to the American concentration camp at Guantanamo Bay to act as an informer; that he was trained as a spy there and eventually released to infiltrate Islamists abroad.
Oh, yes. He also said that most of what he told journalists since arriving home in Canada late last fall were lies.
One of those apparent whoppers was told to this newspaper's Michelle Shephard in late December after she had been tipped by security sources that the CIA arranged Khadr's release in return for help in capturing his father.
Abdurahman denied it all.
Around the same time, Khadr began talking to McKenna. According to his lawyer, he signed an unusual exclusivity deal with the CBC in which he agreed not to reveal his latest story until it had aired on television.
Is this latest story true? Who knows? It does, however, seem more plausible in parts than his original tale.
First, it explains the curious timing of his release from Guantanamo. He said he was let go last October. The Pentagon, however, insisted then that its last prisoner release occurred in July. That meant either that Khadr got out earlier than he said or that he was released on the orders of an agency other than the Pentagon (read the CIA) — or both.
Second, a CIA link makes some sense of what at the time seemed to be the bizarre behaviour of Khadr's first Canadian lawyer, Rocco Galati.
Just days after shepherding his client through his first press conference, Galati abruptly announced he was abandoning all of his national security cases.
He said he had received a death threat from a foreign intelligence service.
At the time, many found Galati's tale hard to swallow. Why would an intelligence service bother targeting him?
But Khadr's latest story suggests an explanation. If, indeed, he welched on a deal with the CIA, the agency might well have been irritated — particularly if, as Khadr now says, it thought his grandmother and Galati had been instrumental in luring him back to Canada.
Khadr's latest story also makes more sense logistically than his first. He now says the CIA flew him to Bosnia. His first story was that the Americans had left him in Afghanistan with no papers or money and that, somehow, he was able to make his way through five countries to Sarajevo.
What does not make any sense, however, is his motive. Why is he telling this story now?
He says he couldn't live the lie any more, a possible but unconvincing explanation. He was settling into Scarborough's Muslim community. He was out of the spotlight. Why turn it back on himself?
One possible motive is that he fears the CIA. If he really did work for the agency and it is miffed with him for bailing out, one way to minimize the chance of retaliation is to publicize the relationship. If Khadr were to die mysteriously next week, someone might ask questions.
Yet his latest story would appear to put him in great danger from Al Qaeda. He is, after all, a self-described fink. Why isn't he worried about a stiletto in the back? He says he didn't set up his father (who is said to have been killed by the Pakistani army in October). But would his old comrades believe that? One suspects that patricide is frowned upon in Al Qaeda circles.
There is a second possible reason, one that would explain why Khadr is not afraid of Al Qaeda. Perhaps he was a double agent. Or perhaps he has managed to make his old Al Qaeda associates believe he was a double agent.
Ouch. There are enough permutations to make your head hurt.
Finally, there is the universal motive — money. There are already rumours of a book. With good international sales plus television and movie rights, a first person book (I Was A Teen-aged Al Qaeda) could easily net Abdurahman a million dollars.
I ran into Abdurahman Khadr on the subway last week. He said he'd just been kicked out of his grandmother's house. He was on his way home to watch part one of the McKenna documentary. He told me there would be another press conference soon and wanted to make sure I'd be there. He was in a good mood and very excited.
Thomas Walkom's column appears on Tuesday. twalkom@thestar.ca.
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