Things are not what they seem

January 11th, 2006 at 08:24 Björn Hallberg

If Osthoff was an intelligence asset after all, then it is more than likely that Americans captured and held ransom were too. I recall claims being made to tha effect in several cases. Given that there is no reason for the German intelligence service to even be there, and they still send operatives, one can only speculate that the area is crawling with American assets.
Again, this undermines the credibility of “civilians” (like journalists) and their ability to work in dangerous areas, and in the long run may endanger legitimate aid and relief organizations. Both groups obviously being a nuisance to the powers that be. So in essence, revealing this tidbit is not a total loss, and adds a great deal of confusion and paranoia. Trust no one.

Spacewar - Susanne Osthoff, the German archeologist kidnapped by Iraqi gunmen on Nov. 25 and released before Christmas was connected with her country’s intelligence service, the BND, and had helped arrange a meeting with a top member of the terrorist organization al-Qaida, possibly Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi himself, according to well informed German sources Sunday.

The sources confirmed German press reports that the 43-year-old woman had worked for the BND in Iraq on a freelance basis, and had for some time even stayed in a German intelligence safe house in Baghdad.

A convert to Islam and a fluent Arabic speaker, Osthoff had lived in Iraq for over a decade, and was at one time married to an Iraqi. Archeology is a classic intelligence cover: T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) posed as an archeologist in the Middle East in the early part of the last century.

Another peculiar incident was last week’s slaying of David E. Rosenbaum, as covered by Sploid and Another Day in the Empire. Sploid also points to a series of other incidents where whistleblowers and investigators, seen as a threat to power, have been assaulted in the most peculiar ways by thugs who seemed more intent on murder than robbery. But things are exactly what they seem, right?

Entry 414 filed under: Middle East, North America. This entry was posted 2 years, 12 months ago. RSS feed for comments on this post.