22-12-2009, 04:16 AM
Some of what follows is older material by now. From my blog:
India: Was Mumbai suspect a double agent for US?
The Indian press is abuzz with news that Indian Home Ministry officials are investigating whether a terror suspect in the Mumbai attacks, David Headley from Chicago, was working as a 'double agent' with the US.
The US has not allowed Indian authorities to interrogate Headley over the Mumbai attacks, much to India's consternation.
Read the article here:
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/terrorism-s...le-agent-for-US
#
The extensive use of terrorist tradecraft by Pakistani American terror suspect David Headley makes it evident that he "was not merely a low-level cannon fodder-type operative", according to US strategic think tank Stratfor.
The December 7 indictment of Headley, charged with scouting targets for the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, shows that he reportedly attended Lashkar-e-Taeba (LeT) training camps in Pakistan in February and August of 2002 and in April, August and December of 2003.
"This indicates that Headley progressed far beyond basic militant training, and it is likely that he was taught during his later training sessions the tradecraft required to conduct preoperational surveillance for terrorist attacks and to participate in the operational planning for such attacks," Stratfor said.
"One element of terrorist tradecraft that was evident in the indictment and the October 11 criminal complaint is Headley's careful use of language and of multiple methods of communications, including the use of cell phones and using long-distance calling cards, e-mail communication (using a variety of accounts) and face-to-face briefings," the global intelligence company said.
According to the December 7 indictment to conduct surveillance for the Mumbai attacks, Headley made five extended trips to Mumbai: one in September 2006, two in February and September of 2007 and two in April and July of 2008.
Referring to Headley's alleged work as a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and FBI informant, Stratfor said: "Given the demonstrated - and considerable - nexus between heroin trafficking and terrorism funding for the jihadist groups operating in Pakistan and Afghanistan, such a crossover of an informant from narcotics to terrorism is no surprise."
If Headley were reporting to the FBI, it could also explain the very specific warnings that the US government gave to the government of India about plans to attack hotels in Mumbai in Sep 2008, it said.
More here:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/americas/Hea...le1-487521.aspx
#
December 17, 2009
Mumbai terror suspect David Headley was ‘rogue US secret agent’
“A key terror suspect who allegedly helped to plan last year’s attacks in Mumbai and plotted to strike Europe was an American secret agent who went rogue, Indian officials believe.
David Headley, 49, who was born in Washington to a Pakistan diplomat father and an American mother, was arrested in Chicago in October. He is accused of reconnoitring targets in India and Europe for Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the Pakistan-based terror group behind the Mumbai attacks and of having links to al-Qaeda. He has denied the charges.
He came to the attention of the US security services in 1997 when he was arrested in New York for heroin smuggling. He earned a reduced sentence by working for the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) infiltrating Pakistan-linked narcotics gangs.
Indian investigators, who have been denied access to Mr Headley, suspect that he remained on the payroll of the US security services — possibly working for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) — but switched his allegiance to LeT….”
More here:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/worl...icle6960182.ece
#
Headley visa mystery deepens
“… Headley’s alleged wife, a Moroccan woman, flew in from Pakistan and spent a night with him at Mumbai’s Taj hotel during one of his 2008 visits for the 26/11 recce, home ministry sources said. “She came separately and stayed with him for just one night,” an official said. Investigators suspect that the findings of the recce mission were conveyed to Headley’s Lashkar-e-Toiba handlers in Pakistan through her.
The possibility emerged on a day the CIA said it had never engaged Headley, the denial following media reports suggesting the Pakistani American may have been a “double agent”. CIA spokesperson Marie E. Harf said: “I can’t comment on an ongoing investigation, but any suggestion that this individual worked for the CIA is flat wrong.”
But a home ministry official said: “He had an American connection, whatever it may have been, the CIA or the FBI or something else.”
Indian officials cited how the FBI had failed to tell Delhi about Headley’s visit to India in March this year.”
More here:
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091218/jsp/...ry_11879189.jsp
## ## ## ## ##
The only explanation that fits is this: he was an American agent all along.'
Did America keep mum on 26/11?
By Vir Sanghvi
20 Dec 2009
Did the Americans have detailed advance information about the 26/11 plot which they did not share with India, only passing on a watered-down warning? And was there an American spy within the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba who kept Washington (or Langley) informed of terror acts planned against India -- even if this information was never handed over to us? It is certainly beginning to look that way... The terror suspect, we were told, was a US citizen of Pakistani origin. He had some links with the LeT. He had visited India. He may have been part of an advance team for 26/11... These papers showed that Headley had been convicted and sent to jail. But after 9/11, he had been set free and sent to Pakistan to work as an undercover agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). According to US journalists, Headley had been given a new passport in the American name of David Headley (his American mother’s maiden name is Headley) rather than his original name of Daood Gilani. He flew around the world, entering and leaving the US at will, avoiding the sort of attention that a convicted drug criminal was certain to attract at US airports. Further, suggested US journos, the DEA assignment may have been a cover... Why would the US treat a 26/11 suspect with such consideration? The only explanation that fits is this: he was an American agent all along. The US arrested him only when it seemed that Indian investigators were on his trail. He will be sentenced to jail, will vanish into the US jail system for a while and will then be sprung again -- as he was the last time.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/vi...le1-488533.aspx
See also the Rigorous Intuition thread
http://www.rigorousintuition.ca/board/vi...hp?t=25970
See also The Saudi Connection to the Mumbai Massacres and Headley interrogated more than one Mumbai suspect and the Stratfor report Tactical Implications of the Headley case.
India: Was Mumbai suspect a double agent for US?
The Indian press is abuzz with news that Indian Home Ministry officials are investigating whether a terror suspect in the Mumbai attacks, David Headley from Chicago, was working as a 'double agent' with the US.
The US has not allowed Indian authorities to interrogate Headley over the Mumbai attacks, much to India's consternation.
Read the article here:
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/terrorism-s...le-agent-for-US
#
The extensive use of terrorist tradecraft by Pakistani American terror suspect David Headley makes it evident that he "was not merely a low-level cannon fodder-type operative", according to US strategic think tank Stratfor.
The December 7 indictment of Headley, charged with scouting targets for the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, shows that he reportedly attended Lashkar-e-Taeba (LeT) training camps in Pakistan in February and August of 2002 and in April, August and December of 2003.
"This indicates that Headley progressed far beyond basic militant training, and it is likely that he was taught during his later training sessions the tradecraft required to conduct preoperational surveillance for terrorist attacks and to participate in the operational planning for such attacks," Stratfor said.
"One element of terrorist tradecraft that was evident in the indictment and the October 11 criminal complaint is Headley's careful use of language and of multiple methods of communications, including the use of cell phones and using long-distance calling cards, e-mail communication (using a variety of accounts) and face-to-face briefings," the global intelligence company said.
According to the December 7 indictment to conduct surveillance for the Mumbai attacks, Headley made five extended trips to Mumbai: one in September 2006, two in February and September of 2007 and two in April and July of 2008.
Referring to Headley's alleged work as a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and FBI informant, Stratfor said: "Given the demonstrated - and considerable - nexus between heroin trafficking and terrorism funding for the jihadist groups operating in Pakistan and Afghanistan, such a crossover of an informant from narcotics to terrorism is no surprise."
If Headley were reporting to the FBI, it could also explain the very specific warnings that the US government gave to the government of India about plans to attack hotels in Mumbai in Sep 2008, it said.
More here:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/americas/Hea...le1-487521.aspx
#
December 17, 2009
Mumbai terror suspect David Headley was ‘rogue US secret agent’
“A key terror suspect who allegedly helped to plan last year’s attacks in Mumbai and plotted to strike Europe was an American secret agent who went rogue, Indian officials believe.
David Headley, 49, who was born in Washington to a Pakistan diplomat father and an American mother, was arrested in Chicago in October. He is accused of reconnoitring targets in India and Europe for Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the Pakistan-based terror group behind the Mumbai attacks and of having links to al-Qaeda. He has denied the charges.
He came to the attention of the US security services in 1997 when he was arrested in New York for heroin smuggling. He earned a reduced sentence by working for the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) infiltrating Pakistan-linked narcotics gangs.
Indian investigators, who have been denied access to Mr Headley, suspect that he remained on the payroll of the US security services — possibly working for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) — but switched his allegiance to LeT….”
More here:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/worl...icle6960182.ece
#
Headley visa mystery deepens
“… Headley’s alleged wife, a Moroccan woman, flew in from Pakistan and spent a night with him at Mumbai’s Taj hotel during one of his 2008 visits for the 26/11 recce, home ministry sources said. “She came separately and stayed with him for just one night,” an official said. Investigators suspect that the findings of the recce mission were conveyed to Headley’s Lashkar-e-Toiba handlers in Pakistan through her.
The possibility emerged on a day the CIA said it had never engaged Headley, the denial following media reports suggesting the Pakistani American may have been a “double agent”. CIA spokesperson Marie E. Harf said: “I can’t comment on an ongoing investigation, but any suggestion that this individual worked for the CIA is flat wrong.”
But a home ministry official said: “He had an American connection, whatever it may have been, the CIA or the FBI or something else.”
Indian officials cited how the FBI had failed to tell Delhi about Headley’s visit to India in March this year.”
More here:
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091218/jsp/...ry_11879189.jsp
## ## ## ## ##
The only explanation that fits is this: he was an American agent all along.'
Did America keep mum on 26/11?
By Vir Sanghvi
20 Dec 2009
Did the Americans have detailed advance information about the 26/11 plot which they did not share with India, only passing on a watered-down warning? And was there an American spy within the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba who kept Washington (or Langley) informed of terror acts planned against India -- even if this information was never handed over to us? It is certainly beginning to look that way... The terror suspect, we were told, was a US citizen of Pakistani origin. He had some links with the LeT. He had visited India. He may have been part of an advance team for 26/11... These papers showed that Headley had been convicted and sent to jail. But after 9/11, he had been set free and sent to Pakistan to work as an undercover agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). According to US journalists, Headley had been given a new passport in the American name of David Headley (his American mother’s maiden name is Headley) rather than his original name of Daood Gilani. He flew around the world, entering and leaving the US at will, avoiding the sort of attention that a convicted drug criminal was certain to attract at US airports. Further, suggested US journos, the DEA assignment may have been a cover... Why would the US treat a 26/11 suspect with such consideration? The only explanation that fits is this: he was an American agent all along. The US arrested him only when it seemed that Indian investigators were on his trail. He will be sentenced to jail, will vanish into the US jail system for a while and will then be sprung again -- as he was the last time.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/vi...le1-488533.aspx
See also the Rigorous Intuition thread
http://www.rigorousintuition.ca/board/vi...hp?t=25970
See also The Saudi Connection to the Mumbai Massacres and Headley interrogated more than one Mumbai suspect and the Stratfor report Tactical Implications of the Headley case.
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