Friday, December 18, 2009

Double Agent?

Though the US’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has denied reports that Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) operative David Headley, a key suspect in the 26/11 attacks, was its agent at one point of time, there is something more than meets the eye. Media reports in the US itself have said that Headley could have been a ‘‘double agent’’ working for the CIA as well as Pakistani terror groups like the LeT. Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao has refused to comment on the double agent issue and rather stepped in to say that there is ‘‘very good cooperation’’ with US agencies and Indian intelligence agencies are in touch with them. But as one considers reports that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is being lenient on Headley and might help him get a lighter sentence in return for information on the other accused, Tahawwur Rana, there is room for cynicism. Had the US agencies been really cooperative with their Indian counterparts, they would have allowed free access to both Headley and Rana. The question is whether the US is trying to save itself from worldwide condemnation by making the Headley affair too foggy. If proof were to surface that he had worked for the CIA with the agency fully aware of his jihadi links in Pakistan, the US would have another blot to live with forever. But such blots are nothing new, given the Cold War history. THE SENTINEL

No comments:

Search News and Articles

Custom Search