Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (5033)	8/16/2003 8:19:17 AM
From: Tom Clarke	Respond to of 793670

FBI accuses BBC of wrecking operation to infiltrate al-Qaida Douglas Davis Aug. 15, 2003 The FBI has accused the BBC of wrecking an elaborate operation that was designed to infiltrate al-Qaida. The BBC, regarded by some as institutionally anti-American, is said to have aborted the operation by broadcasting an "exclusive" report about the arrest of a British arms dealer last Tuesday. The arms dealer was allegedly attempting to purchase ground-to-air missiles for terrorist clients who were seeking to shoot down civilian airliners in the United States. But what 68-year-old Hemant Lakhani did not know was that he was the subject of an elaborate, 18-month-long sting operation that involved Russian intelligence "suppliers" and FBI "customers." Lakhani was arrested when he arrived in Washington last week to take delivery of the missiles, which had been disabled before leaving Russia. First news of the arrest came in the BBC "exclusive," which led the network's main evening news program. Senior US government officials told Newsweek magazine that the ultimate aim of the sting was to arrest Lakhani and then turn him into an informant who might lead them to terrorists trying to buy weapons. This, however, was no longer possible after the BBC broke the story of Lakhani's arrest as the lead item in its main evening news program on Wednesday. Newsweek said sources at the US Justice Department were "fuming" that the BBC "may have blown a rare opportunity to penetrate al-Qaida's arms buying network." A BBC spokesperson said the network had not received any complaint from any US authority about the story. "All the interested parties were alerted to the report before transmission and at no time registered their concerns," said the spokesperson. The BBC report was broadcast on the same day it was facing a moment of acute embarrassment over one of the most spectacular scandals in modern British politics. The disclosure of Lakhani's arrest coincided with evidence by its correspondent Andrew Gilligan at the Hutton inquiry, which is investigating the circumstances surrounding the suicide of British Defense Ministry scientist Dr David Kelly. Before his death, Kelly had denied telling Gilligan that the government deliberately "sexed up" intelligence material on Saddam Hussein's weapons capability to justify British participation in military action to topple Saddam. The story of the Lakhani's arrest pushed the Gilligan story into second place in the program's running order. jpost.com