CIA Bomber al-Balawi Was No Double Agent, Say Jordanians

Senior Jordanian intelligence sources speaking to TIME on condition of anonymity have disputed the claim that Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, whose suicide bombing of a U.S. facility in Afghanistan last week killed seven CIA operatives, had been a double agent working for al-Qaeda all along. Instead, they say, after he was initially turned following his arrest by the Jordanians in 2007, al-Balawi had been a useful asset whose work helped the Americans target al-Qaeda leaders. But, they claim, his outrage at the high number of civilian casualties inflicted in the resulting strikes may be the factor that prompted him to go back to the other side. The Jordanians, of course, were greatly embarrassed by the incident, and their denial of the claim that al-Balawi had never been genuinely committed to the fight against al-Qaeda will be received by many with a measure of skepticism...
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Picture Left:This undated image provided Thursday, Jan. 7, 2009 by al-Jazeera purports to show Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, the suspected Jordanian double agent who killed seven CIA officers in Afghanistan on Dec. 30, 2009. (AP Photo/english.aljazeera.net)