CIA mole inside al-Qaeda

Exclusive Book Excerpt:
How an Al-Qaeda Cell Planned a Poison-gas Attack on the N.Y. Subway

The plot was called off by Bin Laden's No. 2 only 45 days from zero hour, according to a new book by Ron Suskind
Al-Qaeda terrorists came within 45 days of attacking the New York subway system with a lethal gas similar to that used in Nazi death camps. They were stopped not by any intelligence breakthrough, but by an order from Osama bin Laden's deputy, Ayman Zawahiri. And the U.S. learned of the plot from a CIA mole inside al-Qaeda. These are some of the more startling revelations by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ron Suskind, whose new book The One Percent Doctrine is excerpted in the forthcoming issue of TIME. It will appear on Time.com early Sunday morning.

[Full Story Here]

I hope the information in this book isn't another one of those half-baked stories the MSM is so prone to. Time Magazine, like the New York Times, is not the most reliable of sources. And why are we revealing a mole inside al-Qaeda?  More CIA big mouths or traitorous press?

Related:

Media Exposes US Intelligence Inside Al Qaeda

By AJStrata on Bin Laden/GWOT

When will the news media stop their holy quest for the almighty dollar and just let our intelligence secrets stay secret? Want to give a life threatening tip to the terrorists? Well you start by leaking the fact we have agents inside their organization:

Conventional wisdom has long held that the U.S. has no human intelligence assets inside al Qaeda. “That is not true,” writes Suskind. Over the previous six months, U.S. agents had been receiving accurate tips from a man the writer identifies simply as “Ali,” a management-level al-Qaeda operative who believed his leaders had erred in attacking the U.S. directly.

If Ali is not safe, he is now probably dead. ... More

 Hmmm. Looks like AJ had the same questions I had as soon as I read the story.

MacRanger is downright dismissive. He also points out that Suskind has been involved in a previous publication hoax designed to hurt George Bush. The title of his post says it all, doesn't it?

Ron Suskind - Fibber McGee stikes again?

You really don't have to read much farther than the first sentence. The point is that our intelligence is still broken, Bush is a dolt and his policies aren't responsible for there not being an attack since 9/11. Bin Laden's number 2 "spared" us.

Please! No Mr. Suskind, YOU spare us. **additional*** As Newsmax warned, this is just the first in several bash Bush before the 2006 midterms books. (Remember the same script before the 2004 elections?).

I've been waiting to see what Powerline would have to say about this story ever since reading Mac's report that they broke the hoax story surrounding Suskind's previous book.  It is disturbing to see that they too have questions as to whether this story comes as a result of yet another insider CIA leak. I realize that it is all speculation at this point. A sad commentary made sadder because the stakes are so high:

I don't think much of Ron Suskind; he co-authored The Price of Loyalty, a book that was in some ways deeply misleading, with Paul O'Neill. You can't tell from the Time excerpt who Suskind's sources are, but it sounds like he's basing the story on leaks from inside the CIA, which means that they will have an anti-administration spin.

If nothing else, the story highlights the fecklessness of the Democrats, who have just published their plan for "A New Direction for America" that never mentions al Qaeda, terrorism, or any aspect of national security.

James Joyner is also dubious and worried about how a reporter got the story in the first place:

It’s interesting and, as AllahPundit notes, rather chilly. Still, I can’t help being a bit dubious of this level of detailed intelligence being in the hands of a reporter, kept secret long enough for him to write a book, combined with the lack of an attack in the subsequent three years. 

Oh–and this doesn’t make TIME’s cover. . . .

Call me skeptical. I do love a good spy novel and action adventure novels, so if the story is riveting and the writing decent, I'll enjoy the story for that, even if the truth of it turns out to be something less than now advertised. If true, well then I'll pray.

Comments

[M. Simon]

Nothing like getting the other guys started on a full scale mole hunt.

Or making them think a mole hunt is just what we want.

Wilderness of Mirrors.

See the career of James Jesus Angleton.

Time may be some very useful idiots indeed.