Reports have surfaced that the US is upset with the UK for revealing the details of extradition victim Binyam Mohamed. It is no secret that the UK has been at very least complicit with the US with the extraordinary rendition flights of suspected terrorists and plotters. When a disturbed Muslim from North Africa who lives in London goes to hang out in Afghan-Pak-istan this sets off certain red flags and understandably the US want to ask the gentleman in question some questions.
Maybe Mr Mohamed had legitimate reasons for it. Maybe Binyam is a nice guy who just had some friends or a potential bride in Pakistan. Maybe he listens to the hateful rhetoric that is known to be spouted in some London mosques and laughs it off as rubbish. Maybe as a foreigner he is being treated well by his host country and feels no resentment for the lifestyles he no doubt witnessed. Maybe Binyam was so full of his own drug problems that he didn’t care about the religio-politics of the world. But it is a crime to plot against and train for the destruction of a state and the agents of state need to ensure a crime isn’t being committed. There a lot of maybes and the job of intelligence is to turn maybes into certainties.
Withholding intelligence to an ally is tantamount to an intelligence community act of war. Information which may save lives won’t be available and co-operation will cease. States will be attacked because the intelligence arms have purposefully amputated themselves in order to spare judges and politicians from having to address very hard philosophical issues.
No Joke
David “banana man” Milliband cannot be sincere when he presents the UK with the scenario of the CIA refusing to co-operate with the MI-5, MI-6. I am going to call shenanigans on this report. The Atlantic alliance is so intertwined that this threat is impossible to carry out . Too much has been sacrificed over the past 100 years for pusillanimous and short sighted crowd-pleasing gestures. David Davis plays this card hopefully understanding that he will never again be allowed within 40 feet of the intelligence community. It is a nasty move which forces Miliband to make a bigger clown out of himself for the sake of protecting the country and the hard working individuals risking their life and making difficult decisions. Less overt was the fact that “other agencies” will stop co-operating if the British intel community was seen to be “a squealer”.
The CIA is probably by far the most noble of the intelligence agencies that the Brits have to deal with. Saudi intelligence, Mossaud, Shin bet, ISI, RAW, BND, former KGB, private companies, all of these guys have dirty hands and after all that MI6 has done over the years, catching a bout of self righteous conscience is the sure way to find themselves kicked out of the club they helped start.
As with everything old and vital, the intelligence community must accept the past which it cannot change and change the present behaviour which it cannot accept.
