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| Report: FBI Helped Family of Qaida Hostage Make Ransom Payment |
| 2015-04-30 |
| [AnNahar] The FBI facilitated a 2012 ransom payment of $250,000 to al-Qaeda from the family of a kidnapped U.S. aid worker later killed in a drone strike, The Wall Street Journal said Wednesday. The Federal Bureau of Investigation's role, previously undisclosed, runs counter to Washington's longstanding public opposition to paying ransoms to secure the release of hostages. ABC News reported at the weekend that a National Counterterrorism Center advisory group, acting on White House orders, is expected to recommend that U.S. officials stop prosecuting families of American hostages who communicate with kidnappers abroad or raise funds and pay ransoms. Warren Weinstein was snatched by al-Qaeda in Pakistain in 2011 and killed with fellow hostage and Italian aid worker Giovanni Lo Porta in a CIA drone strike in January targeting a suspected hideout of the terror group in Pakistain's tribal areas. The Journal said the FBI vetted a Pak middleman used by the Weinstein family to transport the $250,000 ransom payment and provided additional intelligence for an exchange. The Pak intermediary told the newspaper that the ransom was transferred to kidnappers in 2012 in $100 bills in the northwestern Pak city of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. , but Weinstein was never released. U.S. officials told the newspaper, however, that the FBI agents did not directly authorize or approve ransom payments, which would have violated U.S. hostage policy, and instead provided the information in part to protect the family. A family front man said over the weekend that Weinstein's relatives "took the advice of those in government who deal with such issues on a regular basis and were disappointed that their efforts were not ultimately successful." U.S. officials said the FBI had indicated to the family that the ransom option was probably the least bad of the unattractive options available to secure Weinstein's release. But the FBI also warned the family that al-Qaeda might not release Weinstein even after receiving the money. Because U.S. law enforcement and spy agencies did not have credible intelligence about Weinstein's location in Pakistain at any given point, a rescue mission was not a realistic option, officials told the newspaper. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #1 So we're already sanctioning ransom payments....whilst bloviating an anti-ransom U.S. foreign policy. Nice, very nice. How was it we were able to identify the location of Ben Ladin again? Can I hear that absolutely amazing prisoner snatch story one more time please? Yes, the one where multiple helo lifts were flown more than 300km to Abbottabad, Pakistan, loitered on the ground for 45+ minutes, then returned to based totally undetected. Yes, that's the one. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2015-04-30 03:12 |