Omar Nasiri
Encyclopedia
Omar Nasiri is the pseudonym
of a Moroccan
spy
who infiltrated al-Qaeda
, attending training camps in Afghanistan
and passing information to the UK and French intelligence services. He claims in an exclusive interview presented on the BBC
's Newsnight
programme on November 16, 2006 that the UK intelligence services were warned in the mid-1990s about the threat posed by al-Qaeda, but failed to act quickly enough. He also claims that Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi
deliberately gave interrogators acting on behalf of the United States
false information in order to encourage the USA to overthrow Saddam Hussein
, thus allowing al-Qaeda to use Iraq
as a jihadist base.
In his book, he claims to be deaf in his left ear due to an accident when he was younger, when he was using a Q-tip to clean his ears when his brothers, who were roughhousing on a bed next to him, fell on him and drove the Q-tip deep into his left ear. While this is heavily considered to be true, because his book mentions how "minor details have been edited or fabricated for protection of the author", it is unclear if he is deaf in his left ear instead of his right, or if this ever really happened.
contains Nasiri's account of meeting two boys he was to learn were sons of the Khadr family
. Although he identified them as Abdurahman
and Omar Khadr
, the family has disputed his identification, stating that it was Abdullah
and Abdurahman who were at the camp.
Nasiri states that, when he was attending the Khaldan training camp, ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi
, the camp's director, introduced the two boys as "Hamza" and "Osama".
According to Nasiri the two boys constantly fought with one another.
He said their fights were unlike those of normal brothers, and gave an account of an incident on the marksmanship range, where the two boys were yelling at one another, turned their guns on one another, and all the other people on the firing range thought they were going to open fire on one another.
Nasiri's account of Osama, the younger of the two sons, was that he was "almost hyperactive", and was constantly talking, bragging. According to Nasiri, he bragged about how important his father was, and offered Nasiri his first hint of Osama bin Laden
's role in running the camp -- telling him "the other Osama" paid for all the food consumed there.
Nasiri described the older son as much quieter, but he did tell about an incident, when he had been present in a public square, during the siege of Khowst, in 1991.
A mortar shell landed in the square, but didn't go off. Nasiri said that the older son told him the Afghans were so desperate for money that a crowd started to try to dismantle the mortar shell, in order to sell the parts to the fighters. Nasiri said that he told him that everyone trying to dismantle the shell was killed in the explosion when one of the salvagers tried to get it open by hitting it with a hammer.
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
of a Moroccan
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
spy
SPY
SPY is a three-letter acronym that may refer to:* SPY , ticker symbol for Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts* SPY , a satirical monthly, trademarked all-caps* SPY , airport code for San Pédro, Côte d'Ivoire...
who infiltrated al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
, attending training camps in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
and passing information to the UK and French intelligence services. He claims in an exclusive interview presented on the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's Newsnight
Newsnight
Newsnight is a BBC Television current affairs programme noted for its in-depth analysis and often robust cross-examination of senior politicians. Jeremy Paxman has been its main presenter for over two decades....
programme on November 16, 2006 that the UK intelligence services were warned in the mid-1990s about the threat posed by al-Qaeda, but failed to act quickly enough. He also claims that Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi
Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi
Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi was a Libyan paramilitary trainer for Al-Qaeda. After being captured and interrogated by the American and Egyptian forces, the information he gave under torture by Egyptian authorities was cited by the George W. Bush Administration in the months preceding the 2003 invasion of...
deliberately gave interrogators acting on behalf of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
false information in order to encourage the USA to overthrow Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
, thus allowing al-Qaeda to use Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
as a jihadist base.
In his book, he claims to be deaf in his left ear due to an accident when he was younger, when he was using a Q-tip to clean his ears when his brothers, who were roughhousing on a bed next to him, fell on him and drove the Q-tip deep into his left ear. While this is heavily considered to be true, because his book mentions how "minor details have been edited or fabricated for protection of the author", it is unclear if he is deaf in his left ear instead of his right, or if this ever really happened.
Introduction to Abdullah and Abdurahman Khadr
Nasiri's book Inside the Jihad: My Life with al Qaeda, a Spy's storyInside the Jihad: My Life with al Qaeda, a Spy's story
Inside the Jihad: My Life with al Qaeda, a Spy's story is a book published by Basic Books, written by a Moroccan who has adopted the pen-name Omar Nasiri....
contains Nasiri's account of meeting two boys he was to learn were sons of the Khadr family
Khadr family
The Khadr family is a Canadian family noted for their ties to Osama bin Laden and alleged connections to al Qaeda. The family maintains that they have not broken any Canadian laws, and they have never been charged with any crimes by Canadian authorities.The Khadr family comprises:*The father,...
. Although he identified them as Abdurahman
Abdurahman Khadr
Abdurahman Khadr is the third child of the Egyptian Canadian Khadr family, and was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba, after being detained in Afghanistan under suspicion of connections to Al-Qaeda...
and Omar Khadr
Omar Khadr
Omar Ahmed Khadr is a Canadian child soldier and one of the juveniles held at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. He was convicted of five charges under the United States Military Commissions Act of 2009 including murder in violation of the law of war and providing material support for terrorism,...
, the family has disputed his identification, stating that it was Abdullah
Abdullah Khadr
Abdullah Ahmed Khadr is the oldest son of Ahmed Khadr and brother of Omar Khadr who has been charged with war crimes before the Guantanamo military commission....
and Abdurahman who were at the camp.
Nasiri states that, when he was attending the Khaldan training camp, ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi
Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi
Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi was a Libyan paramilitary trainer for Al-Qaeda. After being captured and interrogated by the American and Egyptian forces, the information he gave under torture by Egyptian authorities was cited by the George W. Bush Administration in the months preceding the 2003 invasion of...
, the camp's director, introduced the two boys as "Hamza" and "Osama".
According to Nasiri the two boys constantly fought with one another.
He said their fights were unlike those of normal brothers, and gave an account of an incident on the marksmanship range, where the two boys were yelling at one another, turned their guns on one another, and all the other people on the firing range thought they were going to open fire on one another.
Nasiri's account of Osama, the younger of the two sons, was that he was "almost hyperactive", and was constantly talking, bragging. According to Nasiri, he bragged about how important his father was, and offered Nasiri his first hint of Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
's role in running the camp -- telling him "the other Osama" paid for all the food consumed there.
Nasiri described the older son as much quieter, but he did tell about an incident, when he had been present in a public square, during the siege of Khowst, in 1991.
A mortar shell landed in the square, but didn't go off. Nasiri said that the older son told him the Afghans were so desperate for money that a crowd started to try to dismantle the mortar shell, in order to sell the parts to the fighters. Nasiri said that he told him that everyone trying to dismantle the shell was killed in the explosion when one of the salvagers tried to get it open by hitting it with a hammer.
See also
- Belgian State Security ServiceBelgian State Security ServiceThe Belgian State Security Service, known in Dutch as Veiligheid van de Staat, or Staatsveiligheid , and in French as Sûreté de l'État , is a Belgian intelligence agency...
- Belgian General Information and Security ServiceBelgian General Information and Security ServiceThe General Intelligence and Security Service , known in Dutch as Algemene Dienst Inlichting en Veiligheid , and in French as Service Général du Renseignement et de la Sécurité is the Belgian military intelligence service under responsibility of the Minister of National Defense...
- DGSE or Direction générale de la sécurité extérieureDirection générale de la sécurité extérieureThe General Directorate for External Security is France's external intelligence agency. Operating under the direction of the French ministry of defence, the agency works alongside the DCRI in providing intelligence and national security, notably by performing paramilitary and counterintelligence...
- DSTDirection de la surveillance du territoireThe Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire was a directorate of the French National Police operating as a domestic intelligence agency. It was responsible for counterespionage, counterterrorism and more generally the security of France against foreign threats and interference...
or Direction de la surveillance du territoireDirection de la surveillance du territoireThe Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire was a directorate of the French National Police operating as a domestic intelligence agency. It was responsible for counterespionage, counterterrorism and more generally the security of France against foreign threats and interference... - MI6
- MI5MI5The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
- GIAGIA-Persons:*Gia Allemand , model*Gia Carangi , model*Gia Carides , actress*Gia Darling , transsexual adult film actress*Gia Farrell , singer*Gia Johnson , model*Gia Long , Vietnamese Emperor...
or Armed Islamic GroupArmed Islamic GroupThe Armed Islamic Group is an Islamist organisation that wants to overthrow the Algerian government and replace it with an Islamic state... - Afghan training campAfghan training campAn Afghan training camp is a camp or facility used for militant training located in pre-2002 Afghanistan. At the time of the September 11, 2001 attacks, Indian intelligence officials estimated that there were over 120 training camps operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan, run by a variety of...
- Khalden training campKhalden training campThe Khalden training camp was a military training camp in Afghanistan. According to the documentary Son of al Qaeda there were hundreds of military training camps in Afghanistan which were tied to al Qaeda...
- Derunta training campDerunta training campThe Derunta training camp was one of the most well-known of many military training camps that have been alleged to have been affiliated with al Qaeda.-Training with poisons:...
Publications
He authored the following books:- ISBN 978-1-85065-861-0 "Inside the Global Jihad: How I Infiltrated Al Qaeda and Was Abandoned by Western Intelligence"
- ISBN 978-0-465-02388-2 "Inside the Jihad: My Life with al Qaeda, a Spy's storyInside the Jihad: My Life with al Qaeda, a Spy's storyInside the Jihad: My Life with al Qaeda, a Spy's story is a book published by Basic Books, written by a Moroccan who has adopted the pen-name Omar Nasiri....
"
External links
- "UK 'ignored spy's al-Qaeda fear'" - from BBC NewsBBC NewsBBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
16 November 2006 - "Spy lifts lid on al-Qaeda" - from BBC NewsBBC NewsBBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
16 November 2006 - The Newsnight special - online video (only available in the UK. Link may possibly expire within a few days).
- A shorter (4 minute) version of the interview presented in the Newsnight special.
- Al-Qaida 'planted information to encourage US invasion' - GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
article November 17, 2006 - After a Decade at War With West, Al-Qaeda Still Impervious to Spies by Craig Witlock of the Washington Post March 20, 2008