Did the CIA arrange a marriage in order to kill Al-Awlaki?
- By Dashiell Bennett
- Atlantic Wire
- October 15, 2012
- Comments
Anwar al-Awlaki
AP
A Danish spy claims that the third marriage of terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki was actually part of a CIA plot to set up the al-Qaeda leader for a CIA assassination attempt. A former member of Denmark's intelligence service claims that he was paid by the CIA to introduce the American-born al-Awlaki to his future bride via letters and video proposals.
According to several reports in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten over the weekend, the spy is 36-year-old Morten Storm, a Dutch citizen who converted to Islam and moved to Yemen in the late 1990s. Storm says that he befriend many Islamic radicals during his time there, but became disillusioned with their cause and turned against them in 2006, offering to become a spy on behalf of PET, Denmark's intelligence agency.
Storm says that in 2009, al-Awlaki asked him to help find a European Muslim woman to become his third wife. So Storm recruited a Croatian woman, who's identified as "Aminah" in the reports, who was sympathetic to al-Awlaki via Facebook and helped introduce them. All the while, Storm says he was paid $250,000 by the CIA to set up the marriage, and they also supplied a suitcase rigged with tracking devices that was given to the woman—who was not in on the plot—when she traveled to Yemen to meet al-Awlaki. The supposed idea behind the plot was to use the device to determine the terrorist's location and then kill them both with a bombing strike. The plan failed when the al-Awlaki's aides made her get rid of the suitcase upon her arrival, but al-Awlaki and Aminah did eventually marry.
By using this service you agree not to post material that is obscene, harassing, defamatory, or otherwise objectionable. Although GovExec.com does not monitor comments posted to this site (and has no obligation to), it reserves the right to delete, edit, or move any material that it deems to be in violation of this rule.
Many Feds Face Furloughs Twice
Lawmakers Push Retroactive Furlough Pay
How Long Has the Shutdown Lasted?
In Focus: Who Faces Furloughs?
No TSP Contributions During a Shutdown
How Contractors Might Weather a Shutdown
Get the Future of Defense Directly In Your Inbox
Nextgov Prime - The Most Powerful Moment in Federal IT
Sponsored
Social Business: The Power of Delivering Exceptional Customer Experiences
Research Report: Powering Continuous Monitoring Through Big Data
