FBI says it can't infiltrate al-Qaeda

[newyorican]

The FBI (news - web sites) has concluded that it may never be able to plant undercover agents inside al-Qaeda, and so agents are focusing more on recruiting terror operatives as informants and on continuing to get details from those already in custody.

*****

Among the most damning criticisms of U.S. intelligence after 9/11 was that agents had not seen the attacks coming because they had not infiltrated Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s terror network. Since then, the FBI has made recruiting Arab and Muslim agents a priority.

*****

But law enforcement officials say that al-Qaeda's radical Muslim culture and its strict recruiting process which often requires life-threatening demonstrations of loyalty have made it difficult for U.S. agents to get inside the network. "The risks are too great," said a former top FBI official who asked not to be identified. (The CIA (news - web sites) won't comment on its activities regarding al-Qaeda.)


The FBI officials say that religious and cultural differences make infiltrating al-Qaeda a greater challenge than getting inside the American mafia, which took the FBI decades to do. Recruits usually don't go to al-Qaeda, it finds them often in radical mosques.


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/usatoday/20030911/ts_usatoday/11842147&e=5

Pink slips are in order...Note the CIA and FBI are not comparing notes. Yesterday on Hardball, someone said the DOD and the intel agencies were not cooperating on the GWOT either. We are being set up for another "intel failure" folks.

On Edit: Placed quotation marks around "intel failure"

[DuctapeFatwa]

1. Of course they can't. Al Qaeda is a CIA project

Since when does the CIA let FBI people infiltrate it?

[E_Zapata]

13. Bingo:

meanwhile, the FBI is sent on a wild goose chase all around the world and the CIA carries on al queda ops in the heart of Virginia.

[screembloodymurder]

15. Right

unless the Al Qaeda is operating in the USA.

[jmcgowanjm]

24. When did the CIA stop working AlQaeda?

You guys are on on top of it

[MaineDem]

2. If you were infiltrating

Would you put out a press announcement saying you had people "inside"?

A part of my brain (a very small part and constantly shrinking) wants to believe that our intelligence people know what they're doing. They're doing their best to disprove that however.

[kskiska]

3. Send Geraldo

to infiltrate al-Queda. Let's see what he's made of. Or is it all bluster?

[jayfish]

4. "The risks are too great," ?!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What about the risks our soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq face every day? Pink slips are in order.

Jay

[salin]

5. and the solution according to Bush? MORE PATRIOT ACT!

Even though it has nothing to do with the problem.

More simplistic, one note answers from the ideological white house, that is too lazy to want to understand the complexities of the challenges and thus develop effective policies that match those complexities.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

6. I guess the dark suits, ties and sunglasses are a dead give-away.

[study_war_no_more]

20. repeat after me- allah is great

sighs

[hang a left]

7. FBI can't even get anyone

to translate the emails. They are infiltrated alright.

[Paulie]

8. OH PLEASE!

If some gangbanger from the west side of Chicago can have a face to face with Osama (the "Dirty Bomb Suspect"), WhyTheF can't we get an agent in? I CALL BS!!!

[0007]

14. Good point Paulie!

^n/t

[denverbill]

9. Jesus H Christ. If Taliban Johnny can do it, why the hell can't the FBI?

Some dumb kid from California got in. But the FBI, will tens of billions in resources, can't.

[Flubadubya]

10. Free John!...

His services are needed in the FBI!

[radwriter0555]

12. he wasn't in al queda. he was aligned with the taliban. no need to

confuse the two entities.

[BrotherBuzz]

17. They already are

It appears that the entire nation has been bamboozled into thinking just that. 'If you're not with us, you're against us' is lousy foreign policy.

on edit 'They are already are'? Doh!

[DinahMoeHum]

22. And he basically got in by mistake.

n/t

:evilfrown:

[radwriter0555]

11. Gee, maybe the fact that they're pretty much a mythical entity

has something to do with it as well.

The al queda dog n pony show isn't QUITE as large as billed by the bush regime. There are only a few hundred fanatics involved, at the most, and they're well connected.

Some skeptics believe al queda is a US intel op, or cooperate asset, much like the ISI as well. I say it's definitely possible.

[0007]

16. Yeah, like the WMD

.......car 54 where are?

[LivingInTheBubble]

18. My take.

In two years they have done nothing, what kind of terrorists are they.
They surely have the resources to post some talcum powder to create a scare.

I don't think they exist, if they do they are the most incompetent terrorists ever.

[study_war_no_more]

19. their timing is great though

they appear each time Bush needs them.

[Snellius]

21. If not, why would they be stupid enough to admit it?

Assuming this is not purposeful disinformation, isn't the threat of infiltration always a powerful weapon for sowing the seeds of mistrust among ones enemies. I would think that, even if they knew it couldn't plant spies, they would pretend that they could.

[stickdog]

23. FBI says it can't infiltrate KAOS. (NT)

[preciousdove]

25. Bush's FBI couldn't find their way out of the men's room EOM

666