Informant's Fire Brings Shadowy Tale

[sled]

Informant's Fire Brings Shadowy Tale

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A813-2004Nov20.html

Yemeni Man Helped, Squabbled With FBI

By Caryle Murphy
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 21, 2004; Page A01

Mohamed Alanssi slid the photos of his once-happy life across the
table of a Union Station restaurant. The portrait of his wife with two
of his six children. The picture showing the living room of the $1
million home he built in his native Yemen when he was a prosperous
businessman. The 1970s snapshot of him as a low-level employee at the
U.S. Embassy in Yemen, shaking hands with the U.S. ambassador.

But that happiness ended after he made the mistake of becoming an FBI
terrorism informant, Alanssi said tearfully in an interview three
weeks ago. His cooperation had been leaked, and his family in Yemen
was angry with him. Some of them called him a traitor. His wife was
dying of cancer, he was penniless, and the U.S. residency papers the
FBI had promised him had not materialized, he said.

Last week, Alanssi's despondency drove him to attempt suicide by
setting himself on fire in front of the White House. In a note faxed
to The Washington Post and his FBI handlers hours before, Alanssi said
he would not testify at a high-profile terrorism trial in New York in
January because his family in Yemen would be killed in revenge and "me
too I will be a dead man."

His dramatic act put the murky, secretive world of informants under a
rare spotlight. It is a world become doubly important since the 2001
terrorist attacks, as U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies
strive to infiltrate al Qaeda and other terrorist networks to prevent
attacks. Alanssi's highly publicized suicide attempt may make that
task more difficult, some experts said.

[xchrom]

1. amazing that these people -- whether it's plame

or this guy have no backing seemingly to protect them and their families -- good luck trying to build an effective spy agency with this kind of track record.
like nobody else is going to know this stuff, right?

[MountainLaurel]

2. kick