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NBC: Suspected Hezbollah spy worked in Baghdad questioning “high-ranking” Al Qaeda suspects

posted at 10:29 pm on November 14, 2007 by Allahpundit
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It’s the proverbial gift that keeps on giving, isn’t it?

Current and former intelligence officials tell NBC News that Nada Nadim Prouty had a much bigger role than officials at the FBI and CIA first acknowledged. In fact, Prouty was assigned to the CIA’s most sensitive post, Baghdad, and participated in the debriefings of high-ranking al- Qaida detainees.

A former colleague called Prouty “among the best and the brightest” CIA officers in Baghdad. She was so exceptional, agree officials of both agencies, the CIA recruited her from the FBI to work for the agency’s clandestine service at Langley, Va., in June 2003. She then went to Iraq for the agency to work with the U.S. military on the debriefings.

“Early on, she was an active agent in the debriefings,” said one former intelligence official. “It was more than translation.”…

“The issue is that she had access to very sensitive information regardless of where she was in the hierarchy,” said [NBC analyst Roger] Cressey. “Because she was able to interview high-value targets, that put her in a very unique position. So if she therefore shared that information, it could have cost major damage to our nation’s security.”

This would have been fully three years after she first started illicitly poking around in FBI computers. Remember too that according to a government official quoted in the Detroit Free Press, “[t]he CIA relied mainly on the FBI [background] checks” done on Prouty years earlier before, apparently, shipping her off to ground zero of the war on terror.

Say, who was it again who was CIA director in 2003? Oh, right.

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Comment pages:

Did she waterboard anybody? Because that would be interesting.

see-dubya on November 14, 2007 at 10:31 PM

And we are still winning, so neener neener little spookette.

bbz123 on November 14, 2007 at 10:37 PM

“This is not John Dillinger or Reilly Ace of Spies,” said the official. “She took an illegal shortcut to the American dream, then she made some inappropriate computer searches. At this point, there is no reason to treat this as a counterintelligence case. There is NO allegation she had ever ties to Hezbollah. You can’t let suspicions get ahead of the facts.”

So, the entire article save the last passage was a scare tactic?

Next…

sunny on November 14, 2007 at 10:41 PM

GTFO, how much worse is this gonna get?

Bad Candy on November 14, 2007 at 10:41 PM

Oh this get’s better all the time,I suppose next
the media will tell us, she was interrogateing the
Taliban in Afghanistan.

canopfor on November 14, 2007 at 10:41 PM

Perhaps they knew who she was and just using her as bait, catch all people she talks to and feed bad info. ? I have no idea, just wondering.

StuLongIsland on November 14, 2007 at 10:42 PM

offtopic: redacted is on right now on directv’s hdnet channel(mark cuban’s channel).

this movie is a disgrace, and it makes us look like a bunch of evil terrorists extremists.

this is sick, sad, and insane.

brian depalma is a f-cking disgrace and i’m furious.

Vincenzo on November 14, 2007 at 10:43 PM

Can I question her patriotism?

CurtZHP on November 14, 2007 at 10:44 PM

Her coworkers thought she was among the best and brightest.

I think that phrase was used in reference to Robert Hanssen as well. Maybe Ames.

Anyway you slice it, the deal she got is a slap on the wrist compared to what damage she may have done to national security and we’re still scratching the surface as to what intel she may have sent on to Hizbullah (which means Iran and/or Syria knows that information as well) or other terrorist groups.

lawhawk on November 14, 2007 at 10:45 PM

un-freaking believable.

Did she waterboard anybody? Because that would be interesting.

see-dubya on November 14, 2007 at 10:31 PM

Maybe we should take her to Gitmo for a little water sports.

Zorro on November 14, 2007 at 10:47 PM

So, the entire article save the last passage was a scare tactic?

Next…

sunny on November 14, 2007 at 10:41 PM

This could be the whole story, but…

What if she didn’t share accurate info in the field? How do we know her translations were accurate, and not totally made up? And when was she taken out of the field? Perhaps she did some damage, like prolonging the Iraq war by feeding our intelligence with misinformation. She wouldn’t have had to pass anything on to the terrorists to do serious damage.

Next question: was she a lone wolf?

stonemeister on November 14, 2007 at 10:47 PM

We still don’t know what we’re up against. And by we, I mean 99.99% of the ass-clowns in D.C.

reaganaut on November 14, 2007 at 10:48 PM

Did she waterboard anybody? Because that would be interesting.

She needs to be on the receiving end of some water boarding, shot in the face, and then hung upside down from a bridge.

MrC_5150 on November 14, 2007 at 10:50 PM

Can I question her patriotism?

CurtZHP on November 14, 2007 at 10:44 PM

Oh, I can believe she’s quite patriotic; apparently she convinced both the FBI and CIA of that fact. The only trouble is, those agencies forgot to ask to which country her patriotic fervor was directed.

FBI: “Whoopsie!”
CIA: “My bad!” (giggle)

Splashman on November 14, 2007 at 10:54 PM

MrC_5150 on November 14, 2007 at 10:50 PM

AP, clean up please…

sunny on November 14, 2007 at 10:56 PM

Here’s a wild thought: With Prouty’s family ties to the HezzBalls (themselves closely tied to Iranian leadership), and her “active interrogation” role in Baghdad with captured al- Qaida, did she help to hide the Iranian role in supplying IEDs and other weapons, training and funds to AQ in Iraq?

Recognition of the depth of Iranian involvement in the mayhem in Iraq was very late coming…

T J Green on November 14, 2007 at 10:58 PM

stonemeister on November 14, 2007 at 10:47 PM

You can be sure answers to those questions are being diligently pursued this very minute, but you and I are unlikely to ever learn them, because the two agencies’ efforts at CYA will be even more diligent and effective than their investigation.

Splashman on November 14, 2007 at 11:00 PM

How is she a suspected spy? Is she first person to ever make some inquiries for some relatives?

pedestrian on November 14, 2007 at 11:00 PM

MrC_5150 on November 14, 2007 at 10:50 PM

I hope you get banned. That’s dKos/HuffPo crap.

Splashman on November 14, 2007 at 11:02 PM

A former colleague called Prouty “among the best and the brightest” CIA officers in Baghdad. She was so exceptional, agree officials of both agencies, the CIA recruited her from the FBI to work for the agency’s clandestine service at Langley, Va., in June 2003. She then went to Iraq for the agency to work with the U.S. military on the debriefings.

She was working Baghdad before 2003 and was so good the CIA recruited her? So she was liaising with CIA?

Beacuse…

Prouty, 37, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to using her security clearance to illegally access files on government computers about the Islamic terrorist group Hizbollah. She also confessed to fraudulently obtaining US citizenship through a sham marriage. After her wedding in 1990, Prouty worked as a waitress at Middle Eastern restaurants in Detroit, where she was recruited by the FBI in 1999. It is believed she was “talent spotted” to spy on the city’s large Arab-American population. The FBI gave her full security clearance and then posted her to its Washington field office, which investigates crimes against US citizens overseas.

While there, she used her pass to gain access to restricted FBI computer files. According to court documents, she wanted to know if her sister and brother-in-law were being linked by the US to Hizbollah. In June 2003, she left the FBI to join the CIA as an undercover agent.

LINK

Topsecretk9 on November 14, 2007 at 11:05 PM

her computer searches led U.S. officials to question her.

Let’s hope they are seriously checking out the computer searches of the last 20 or so years.

Sure congers up Peter Lance’s book Triple Cross doesn’t it?

How Bin Laden’s Master Spy Penetrated the CIA, the Green Berets and the FBI – and why Patrick Fitzgerald failed to stop him

Topsecretk9 on November 14, 2007 at 11:23 PM

There’ll be more. There’ll be others. They may be many. It may get worse before it gets better. It’s gonna be a long long war. Everyone needs to get used to that little fact of life. And even more depressing… as long as conservatives are in the White House the major fighting will be over there. Once the liberals are put into control the major fighting will move here. That will be worse.

Griz on November 14, 2007 at 11:38 PM

I hate even bringing this name up because she has been embraced by so many repugnant elements including Alex Jones, but this sentence has stuck with me for years now and may be relevant to this case. Or not.

She also expressed concerns about a co-worker who had previously worked for an organization under FBI surveillance and had a relationship with a foreign intelligence officer also under surveillance.

“She” is former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds, who as I said has been embraced by an awful lot of horrible people over the years (and doesn’t always come across as the sanest person in the world herself). But it’s either a wild coincidence or it’s possible that Edmonds knew about Prouty several years ago, tried to alert her bosses, and got rebuffed and possibly fired for it.

Bryan on November 14, 2007 at 11:38 PM

oh I’m so going to eat my words on this aren’t I?

Kaptain Amerika on November 14, 2007 at 11:43 PM

Great. It’s as if the “War On Terror” is being run by Police Squad.

Mike Honcho on November 14, 2007 at 11:48 PM

she has been embraced by so many repugnant elements including Alex Jones

These people embrace only those who reinforce their craven agenda. They fight tooth and nail people even on their own side who challenge it…

Case in point

Topsecretk9 on November 14, 2007 at 11:54 PM

Bryan

It doesn’t matter that someone inside said it and when, others also had given early warnings of Hansen and Ames.

You don’t have to be on the inside to conclude that the bad guys want to put somebody into place.

Hey it’s what we try to do in the game so they do to.

What you really have to wonder about is why are our own crosschecks so weak to see so many repeats.

Each time one of these stories break there are what seem to be obvious clues and evidence of big red flags flying in the wind.

Just looking into our intel community is not enough. Right now the number of contractors exceeds the number of government employees.

There are too many places to tap in and more than enough trying to do so.

To go to great lengths to gather intel and have all that effort lost because the bad guys hear you know it and plan around your knowledge puts you back at square one or worse because then they take a hard look at how you found out to start with.

CommentGuy on November 15, 2007 at 12:29 AM

Tops- when I googled her name last night, I found a case of a Rwandan (in Rwanda) that she had interrogated in 2002. That’s when she was still with the FBI.

MayBee on November 15, 2007 at 12:36 AM

Remember when they used to shoot spies?

Buford on November 15, 2007 at 12:41 AM

MayBee

I know, but how did she come to the attention of the CIA?

She had to be liaising or something (like working some Iraqi intel) in order to be recruited by them

She was so exceptional, agree officials of both agencies, the CIA recruited her from the FBI to work for the agency’s clandestine service at Langley, Va.,

Working an African homicide seems to be odd “exceptional” makings for the Baghdad desk.

Topsecretk9 on November 15, 2007 at 12:47 AM

This is also an odd thing I brought up in the other thread

It is believed she was “talent spotted” to spy on the city’s large Arab-American population.

but, they assigned her to out of country american homicides?

Dunno, maybe there is more to the story. Maybe, we have a reverse moleage happening.

Topsecretk9 on November 15, 2007 at 12:52 AM

Also Maybee

Did you think it was kinda weirdish she got her CPA license in VA this year, before September?

Topsecretk9 on November 15, 2007 at 1:10 AM

Our justice department won’t charge anybody with sedition or treason no matter what they do, but well, how about NOW? Is this enough? (if true, of course, and proven in a court of law)

Will there EVER be enough for the DOJ?

JustTruth101 on November 15, 2007 at 1:15 AM

I wonder if she was in Baghdad about the time our troops got ambushed in the town don South. Remember, that peaceful town that things just were not right that day. Some thought the Iraqi guards were in on it. It may of been payback for the capture of the Iranians. Hmmm, I just wonder.

WoosterOh on November 15, 2007 at 1:39 AM

Entagor is very sad. It was the week of 911 that Entagor, living in Dearborn a couple blocks from La Shish, remembers the train derailment where the tracks cross Monroe street just behind La Shish. Entagor watched a reporter on the morning news announce the derailment; the report was cut short as if it never began. That afternoon Entagor’s friend had to detour around the railroad crossing which was closed off with yellow crime tape. Local news killed that story.

2002-2003 Entagor tried to report to the local FBI serious problems encountered with a group at least superficially connected to local Hezbollah money launderers and Entagor was blown off multiple times. Now there is concern that the information passed on was shared or deleted by the moles

Entagor cannot forget the first call to the FBI: I want to report X, Y, Z. FBI: thank you. Entagor: don’t you need the address which is the location of the problem. FBI: oh, if you want to give it, ok. Last phone call: there is a serious problem with X, Y and Z and nothing has been done. FBI: how do you know we aren’t doing something? Entagor to self: Because the X, Y, and Z is still going on and you have not asked for details or interviewed me

Entagor pushed the yada yada button and moved out of Dearborn. Are we too stupid to live?

entagor on November 15, 2007 at 2:55 AM

Go back to sleep, America.

Shy Guy on November 15, 2007 at 3:40 AM

Is it SNAFU (situation normal – all f###ed up) or
FUBAR ( f###ed up beyond all recognition) ???

silverfox on November 15, 2007 at 4:24 AM

From the other thread, from Debbie Schlussel’s link.

…In fact, her entire family, the El-Aouar a/k/a Al Aouar family is Druze. Her sister, Elfat, though, likely converted to Islam to marry Shia Muslim Hezbollah financier Talal Chahine.

And the sisters were active along with the entire Aouar family in Lebanon’s Syrian National Socialist Party, whose goal is a greater Arabic nation joining Lebanon, Syria, Cyprus, “Palestine” (all of Israel), and even part of Turkey.

One of Prouty’s and El-Aouar’s relatives, Nidal El-Aouar trained in Syria, North Korea, and the-then Communist Soviet Union in booby-trapping cars for explosions on behalf of Syria. He was also involved in many roadside bombs, my Lebanese sources say.

Is it just me, or are there like a million dots to be connected here?

Buy Danish on November 15, 2007 at 7:58 AM

If she is released in 12 months then the end of our nation is nigh.

12thman on November 15, 2007 at 8:13 AM

If she tortured anyone during her ‘debriefings’ that COULD be construed as a false flag attack. Damn the truthers ARE getting to me. Dance with the Devil, the Devil don’t change…

BohicaTwentyTwo on November 15, 2007 at 8:39 AM

If she tortured anyone during her ‘debriefings’ that COULD be construed as a false flag attack. Damn the truthers ARE getting to me. Dance with the Devil, the Devil don’t change…

BohicaTwentyTwo on November 15, 2007 at 8:39 AM

If she “tortured” anyone during her debriefings with high ranking al Qaeda detainees and got positive results, I’d give her a medal. My fear is that this scumbag willfully turned sensitive information over to al Qaeda that resulted in the deaths of some of our troops and damaged national security. If the latter is true, this scumbag deserves the death I imagined in my earlier post.