What BND Was Up To In Middle East

Despite his legal wrangles with the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) last year, the journalist and historian Erich Schmidt-Enboom went onto the offensive again this month with a highly detailed account of the German foreign intelligence agency’s clandestine operations in the Middle East over the past 50 years. The book is entitled: BND: Der Deutsche Geheimdienst im Nahen Ostenn (Herbig Verlag). With the German authorities deciding last week to open an investigation into the CIA’s kidnapping of a German citizen of Lebanese origin, Khaled el Masri, Schmidt-Eenboom underscores long-standing cooperation between BND and the CIA, in the Masri case as in others, such as efforts to track down Al Qaeda; engaging in special operations in Iraq; and in secret missions against the Taliban in Afghanistan. The journalist also points to a double game regarding Iran’s nuclear arms and reveals the contents of a BND report in September, 2006 that showed how Russian intelligence operatives working for SVR in Damascus intercepted Israeli communications in the July, 2006 in Lebanon, to the advantage of Hezbollah.