Leaked emails show Stratfor official’s doubts about disposal of Bin Laden’s body
Source: thestar.com
Osama Bin Laden’s body may not have been buried at sea after all, according to leaked emails written by a senior official at the intelligence firm Stratfor.The emails were part of a massive WikiLeaks operation that in February began publishing information from Stratfor Global Intelligence, a U.S.-based firm which describes itself as “a publisher of geopolitical analysis.” It has been likened by some to a “shadow CIA.”
The data was obtained by the hacker group Anonymous. It successfully attacked one of the firm’s servers, allegedly stealing more than 5 million emails.
The U.S. government’s official position is that after the Al Qaeda leader was killed in Pakistan during a raid on his compound on May 2, 2011, his body was buried at sea in a proper Muslim ceremony in an undisclosed spot.
But Fred Burton, vice-president of intelligence at the Stratfor, wrote in a May 2 email sent from his BlackBerry that he believed bin Laden’s “body bound for Dover, DE on CIA plane. Than (sic) onward to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Bethesda.”
In another email Burton wrote: “If body dumped at sea, which I doubt, the touch is very Adolph Eichman (sic) like. The Tribe did the same thing with the Nazi’s ashes. We would want to photograph, DNA, fingerprint, etc. His body is a crime scene and I don’t see the FBI nor DOJ letting that happen.”
Eichmann was one of the architects of the Holocaust by Nazi Germany during World War II. He was captured by Israel’s secret service in Argentina and put on trial in Israel. He was found guilty and later executed.
Stratfor’s founder and CEO George Friedman replied: “Eichmann was seen alive for many months on trial before being sentenced to death and executed. No one wanted a monument to him so they cremated him. But I don’t know anyone who claimed he wasnt eicjhman (sic). No comparison with suddenly burying him at sea without any chance to view him which I doubt happened.”
In another email Burton wrote: “The U.S. government needs to make body pics available like the MX’s do, with OBL’s pants pulled down, to shout down the lunatics like Alex Jones and Glenn Beck.”
Stratfor’s Friedman issued a statement when Wikileaks first began publishing the emails, calling the theft and publication of the emails a “deplorable, unfortunate – and illegal — breach of privacy.”
He continued: “Some of the emails may be forged or altered to include inaccuracies. Some may be authentic. We will not validate either, nor will we explain the thinking that went into them. Having had our property stolen, we will not be victimized twice by submitting to questions about them.”
Friedman said that he believes the release of these emails is “a direct attack on Stratfor” and “another attempt to silence and intimidate the company, and one we reject. As you can see, emails sent to many people about my resignation were clearly forged.
“We do not know what else has been manufactured. Stratfor will not be silenced, and we will continue to publish the geopolitical analysis our friends and subscribers have come to rely on.”
He added: “Stratfor is not a government organization, nor is it affiliated with any government. The emails are private property. Like all private emails, they were written casually, with no expectation that anyone other than the sender and recipient would ever see them. And clearly, as with my supposed resignation letter, some of the emails may be fabricated or altered.”
The Toronto Star contacted Stratfor to ask the company about the leaked emails, but a spokesperson for the company said it would not be commenting directly on them. He directed the Star to Friedman’s statement and video on the company website.
Article from: thestar.com
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