Well we did it again to one of our allies as the Feds allowed the inside information to leak about the Saudi involvement in the recent Underwear Bomb case. The Saudis, with the head of their counter Terrorism, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef personally running this operation is in an uproar over this leak. It is apparent that things haven’t changed from our side leaking or giving things through the freedom of information act even when it exposes an ongoing operation which has to be shut down. When I first heard of the bomb being turned over to the US for inspection I knew this had to be a Saudi run operation since I am very familiar with our side and what we can do in this region. I also suspected, and now confirmed, in the press that Prince bin Nayef was running it. He is a very hands on director and their penetration of Al-Qaida in the Arabian Gulf has been very effective and now it could be set back years just because of miss-guided, could use stronger term, people in Washington who see things through warped eyes.
The Saudis, under Prince bin Nayef, understand the importance of human assets and know this is the only way to penetrate and stop these very committed terrorist. They also know that even through these bombs are being made to use against the U.S. that it is only a matter time before they are turned toward Saudi if allowed to be successful against the U.S. I would wonder if the Saudi’s are second guessing themselves on sharing information with the U.S. and if they will remember in the future what happens to their operations when the U.S. gets involved.
I used to be a very optimist person that we would get politics out of Intelligence and run a tight ship more like the Israelis but with the current leadership at all levels my optimism is waning. Until we understand that sensitive undercover operations have to stay secret we will keep shooting ourselves in the foot and going backwards.The Photo shows a young man, Ibrahim al Asiri, who doesn’t look like a savage killer but a normal 30 something man. But no matter what the photos shows he is on our most wanted list and the photo doesn’t show what is in the heart.
Let’s hope we made the changes necessary in Washington for all our sakes.
More to follow:
Be safe. Phil Little
