Erstellt am: 14. 12. 2009 - 11:39 Uhr
Today's Webtip: The Intelligence Factory
Last month, Aafia Siddiqui stood in a Manhattan courtroom facing charges of attempted murder. The M.I.T. and Brandeis graduate had been arrested on July 17, 2008 while loitering in a public square in Ghazni Afghanistan. According to the article:
an unknown person called the police to warn that a possible suicide bomber was loitering outside a mosque; the police arrested Siddiqui and her son; and, Afghan sovereignty notwithstanding, they then dispatched the suspicious materials, whatever they were, to the nearest U.S. military base.
The attempted murder charges had nothing to do a planned suicide bombing though. They were a result of an interrogation. According to the complaint, she grabbed an M-4 rifle from the US Warrant officer in the interrogation room, yelled "get the fuck out of here" and fired twice, hitting no one. The warrant officer then drew his sidearm and fired into Siddiqui's abdomen.
The trial, and the charges, are only the end of the story for Petra Bartosiewicz. Her article documents her attempts at finding out where Siddiqui was between 2003, when she mysteriously disappeared.
the intelligence factory
The author never manages to answer the question of where Siddiqui was between 2003 and 2008, but it does offer an intriguing if ultimately confusing look into the international war on terrorism and the cooperation (or lack thereof) between the governments involved. The author probably sums it up best:
Perhaps the most believable account came from Ali Hasan, senior South Asia researcher for Human Rights Watch, whom I visited at his home in Lahore. “My professional view,” he said, “is they’re all lying. Siddiqui’s family is lying, the husband is lying, the Pakistanis are lying, the Americans are lying, for all I know the kids are lying. And because they’re all lying the truth is probably twenty times stranger than we all know.”
It's a long read, but well worth your time.
The intelligence factory: How America makes its enemies disappear