Despite the efficiency of crime labs in TV dramas, or the storied deductions of Sherlock Holmes, law enforcement officials will tell you that most criminals are caught by informants. This truth extends to international terrorism. The recent effort to place explosives on cargo aircraft headed to the United States was apparently foiled by a tip-off. A year ago, the underwear bomber was actually turned in by his own father, but the U.S. embassy in Lagos, Nigeria, failed to take proper action.
Former CIA operative Robert Baer published a memoir some years ago, See No Evil, (which was part of the basis for the 2005 film Syriana). Baer includes a tantalizing portrait of one of his best informants, who he calls Hasan, a man who walked into the U.S. embassy in Beirut in 1987 and offered to help.
Hasan risked his life by actually joining Hizballah, and passing information to Baer at clandestine safe spots around Beirut. At their first meeting, Baer had asked him why he decided to meet with the CIA. “I can’t stand the murder of innocent people,” he replied. “What Hizballah does is wrong.”
Hasan’s actions cry out for more explanation, but Baer unfortunately drops the subject. Hasan must have lived with an intense internal struggle. On the one hand, his human, ethical beliefs, quite probably based on his Muslim religion and culture, prompted him to repudiate Hizballah’s hostage-taking and violence. On the other, American warships regularly shelled his city, and America’s ally, Israel, had invaded his nation a few years earlier, bringing death and destruction.
No doubt Hasan’s agonizing dilemma is played out today in many parts of the world. You are living, say, in a suburb of Karachi, or in Jeddah, or in Britain. You notice suspicious activity by relatives, or neighbors. You are uncomfortable. You turn on your television. First, you see a speech by President Barack Obama, reassuring you that America does not regard Islam as the enemy.
Then, the latest news from Palestine. Occupying Israeli soldiers shoot and kill nonviolent demonstrators, and uproot olive groves.
Next, you learn that hateful people in America are willing to violate the U.S. Constitution to block the construction of a peaceful mosque in downtown Manhattan.
But you also see film footage about the Mavi Marmara, with people from all over the world, including some Israelis, willing to risk (and lose) their lives to help Gaza.
The suspicious activity continues around you. What will you do?
