WikiLeaks releases CIA paper on U.S. as 'Exporter of
Terrorism'
A little-known fact, according to a once-secret CIA analysis, is that
America has long been an exporter of terrorism. And if that phenomenon
were to become a widely-held perception, it could damage relations with
foreign allies, the agency analysis said, and dampen their willingness
to cooperate in "extrajudicial" activities, such as the rendition and
interrogation of terrorist suspects.
That is the conclusion of a three-page classified analysis produced in
February by the CIA's Red Cell, a think tank set up after the 9/11
attacks by then CIA Director George Tenet to provide "out-of-the-box"
analyses on "a full range of relevant analytic issues."
Titled "What if Foreigners See the United States as an 'Exporter of
Terrorism'?" the leaked paper, released Wednesday by the Web site
WikiLeaks, cites the example of Pakistani-American David Headley, among
others, to make its case that America is a terrorism exporter. This year
Headley pleaded guilty to conducting surveillance in support of the 2008
Lashkar-i-Taiba attack in Mumbai, India, that killed more than 160
people. The militant group facilitated his movement between the U.S.,
Pakistan and India, the agency paper said.
Such exports are not new, the paper said. In 1994, an American Jewish
doctor named Baruch Goldstein emigrated from New York to Israel, joined
the extremist group Kach and killed 29 Palestinians praying at a mosque
at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron, it said. That helped trigger a
wave of bus bombings by the extremist Palestinian group, Hamas group in
1995, it noted.
As Wikileaks disclosures go, this paper is more whiffle ball than
bombshell. Last month the organization published 76,000 classified U.S.
military records and field reports on the war in Afghanistan. That
disclosure prompted criticism that the information put U.S. soldiers and
Afghan informants at risk and demands from the Pentagon that the
documents be returned. WikiLeaks says it is still planning to release
15,000 more Afghan war records that it has been reviewing to redact
names and other information that could cause harm.
CIA spokeswoman Marie Harf downplayed the significance of the analysis:
"These sorts of analytic products -- clearly identified as coming from
the Agency's 'Red Cell' -- are designed simply to provoke thought and
present different points of view."
A U.S. official who declined to speak for attribution was more
dismissive. "This is not exactly a blockbuster paper," the official
said.
While counterterrorism experts focus on the threat to the homeland,
al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups "may be increasingly looking for
Americans to operate overseas," the Red Cell report said.
And if the made-in-the-US brand becomes well-known, foreign partners may
become balky, perhaps even requesting "the rendition of U.S. citizens"
they deem to be terrorists. U.S. refusal to hand over its citizens could
strain alliances, and "in extreme cases... might lead some governments
to consider secretly extracting U.S. citizens suspected of foreign
terrorism from U.S. soil."
This is not the first Red Cell report that WikiLeaks has released. It
earlier published a March Red Cell "special memorandum" suggesting
strategies to boost sagging public support for the Afghan war in France
and Germany.
By Ellen Nakashima | August 25, 2010; 5:40 PM ET
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