Israeli Intelligence Detained Me
Friday, January 27, 2006
I am angry. I am so, so very angry.
First of all 18 people, including little Muslim kids, were blown to smithereens in a US bombing in a Pakistan village because of yet another pile of duff information fed to American intelligence.
How can anyone or any organization be so dumb as to keep falling for half truths, lies and misinformation?
It would be funny if the actions which followed in the Bajaur Agency weren't so devastating.
Then the gullible US media is fed more bovine scatterings by reporting without question that the bombing was to take out Ayman al Zawarhi and other al-Qaida operatives.
DNA testing was being conducted on the bodies, reported the US media which was convinced that al Zawarhi had definitely been taken out.
What has happened to journalists today. Does no one ask for proof? Are they really as stupid as, er, erm, well the guys from the Central Intelligence Agency?
Ironically, around the same time as all of this was kicking off I also became a target of lies, manipulation and half truths.
I was heading through Jordan to Nazareth to report on the Palestinian elections as any political journalist covering Middle Eastern affairs would.
Guess what? I was detained, strip-searched and questioned by Israeli intelligence who were obviously determined to lie through their back teeth to stop me from entering Palestine to do my job.
The sweaty, overweight little guy who questioned me - let's call him George because that's what he told me his name was - concluded after eight hours that I must be a terrorist although the Israelis have yet to tell me which organization I am working for.
And so me and my cameraman - who was never questioned once - were unceremoniously booted out of Israel and across the Jordanian border after being labeled terrorists.
I mean, seriously folks, if we were 'bad people' wouldn't it be terribly irresponsible of the Israelis to let two terrorists walk free? Come on, think about it, these are the people who invented targeted assassinations, detention without charge, internment and the demolition of innocent peoples' homes.
OK. So my untimely departure did not cost anyone their life. The lies spewed out by little George and the two young goons who sat in on my interrogation, cost me nothing more than a day's work and a shocking insight into the incompetence of Mossad.
Now I've never held out any great hopes for American intelligence - a contradiction in terms - but I've always had a sort of respect for Mossad. In more than two decades of writing about intelligence issues I've always placed Mossad at the top of the pile.
But after a few hours with little George, I am seriously beginning to wonder if there is any such thing as intelligent intelligence!
But something has got to be done. Forget what happened to me, but these goons, Israelis, Americans, Brits, Russians etc. They're literally getting away with murder by hiding behind catchphrases like "Classified" and "Top Secret".
I really am beginning to wonder if this flawed intelligence gathering leading to knee jerk reaction bombing is done deliberately. I mean can people really be so incompetent?
My reputation as a bona fide journalist might have taken a hit, but what about the bombing of Damadola Village?
Predictably, anti-U.S. demonstrations in Pakistan on Monday evening saw angry crowds in Bajaur, [where the bombed village is located], the capital, Islamabad, and other places.
They called for the removal of the US ambassador and ridiculed President Pervez Musharraf, but without showing any sign of fear the crowds also chanted: "Long Live Osama, Long Live Mullah Omar."
I doubt that will be reported in the mainstream US media - it certainly has not been reported by the western press.
The flawed intelligence gathering which resulted in the village bombing will have long-term repercussions for both the US and the Pakistan president.
The CIA might think the life of a Muslim is cheap but of the 18 killed in Damadola there was someone's grandmother, two mothers, a bride, 8 children and six adult males.
Oh, and by the way, neither Ayman al-Zawahiri nor anyone other than local villagers was there.
None of the intrepid US journalists who faithfully reported everything they were told by the Bush Administration spin machine visited the village.
And according to my man on the spot, there hasn't been sight or sound of Musharraf's men either.
The US media's claim that DNA was collected from the victims is false. No one has visited the village for DNA collection. In any case, the outraged people of Bajaur would not allow any such desecration.
The CIA claim that four al-Qaida men, including the Number Two, were killed is the act of a desperate CIA agent trying to cover his oily tracks. No one I have spoken to in Pakistan supports this American story. (Funny, isn't it? If the Israelis had let me through their checkpoint I wouldn't have had time to even look into this botch up).
This bombing was a clear act of terrorism and everyone involved from the CIA to the US bombers should be brought to account for their evil deeds.
The intelligence gatherers should be sacked and some really intelligent, intelligence officers should be hired instead.
Try doing something really radical like giving them an IQ test first. It seems to me that anyone who votes Republican, has a red neck and a chainsaw in their truck gets open entry into THAT office in Virginia. Gosh, I can almost hear the banjos strumming out that tune from Deliverance!
Oh, and people like George in Israel should stop persecuting those who simply want to report the plain facts in this crazy, mixed up world where the lies and the liars are rewarded . and the innocent victims of their untruths are blown up and then buried.http://www.dailymuslims.com