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| Fifth Column |
| Spy tried to sell US secrets to Saddam |
| 2006-01-11 |
| An immigrant accused of conspiring to sell US intelligence secrets to Saddam Hussein's government told jurors on Tuesday he was secretly working for the US government and may be confused with his dead identical twin. "I have served this country with all my heart," Shaaban Hafiz Ahmad Ali Shaaban said during opening statements delivered through interpreters in US district court. "I refuse to say I am one person with my brother. I refuse to answer for him on his behalf, and the evidence will show that," he said. Prosecutors said they would prove that Shaaban, 53, maintained multiple identities, intimidated a witness and tried to broker a $5m deal with the Iraqi intelligence service to sell the names of 60 US agents who were working in Iraq or who were to enter the country before the 2002 invasion. "(Iraqi) intelligence officers found a person in the US who wanted to help the government of Iraq, and they found the defendant, Mr Shaaban," said Sharon Jackson, an assistant US attorney. Shaaban was working as a truck driver and living in Greenfield, Indiana when he was arrested in March. His trial began with jury selection on Monday and is expected to take three weeks. It will include testimony from a former agent for the Iraqi intelligence service, who claims he arranged for Shaaban to travel to Baghdad in November 2002 to discuss the deal face-to-face. Prosecutors say negotiations broke down before the US coalition-led invasion toppled Hussein's regimen. The former Iraqi agent, who will not be named in court and will testify wearing a disguise, has since been captured and has received "financial assistance" from the US. Shaaban, who is representing himself with the help of two standby public defenders, said he never entered Iraq and was stopped at the Syrian border. He also said he was working to protect US troops deployed in the region. Although the government identifies him as Palestinian, Shaaban said he is one of 24 children - including five sets of twins - born to a Lebanese mother and an Azerbaijani father. Shaaban said he was sold as a child and did not know of his twin until the two were reunited years later in Moscow. The twins moved to the US and both worked as truck drivers, with his twin later dying in Chechnya, he said. Prosecutors said the tale of a twin is far-fetched. They planned to have experts testify that the fingerprints contained in two separate immigration files belonged to the same person. A federal grand jury indicted Shaaban in March on charges of illegally procuring naturalisation and a driver's licence, acting as a foreign agent, violating sanctions against Iraq and conspiracy. A later charge of witness tampering was added after prosecutors said he threatened another brother who lives in California and had agreed to testify against him. If convicted, Shaaban faces up to 65 years in prison and more than $1.5m in fines. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #4 Wow, what a tale. I suppose he believes that Allah will make the jury believe him. |
| Posted by: Ptah 2006-01-11 11:06 |
| #3 Spy tried to sell US secrets to Saddam Why? The editors of the NYT too busy to take your call? |
| Posted by: Speretle Thitle4440 2006-01-11 10:01 |
| #2 Ah, the old evil (and conveniently dead) twin excuse. |
| Posted by: Spot 2006-01-11 08:33 |
| #1 An immigrant accused of conspiring to sell US intelligence secrets to Saddam Hussein's government told jurors on Tuesday he was secretly working for the US government and may be confused with his dead identical twin. in other news the dog ate my homework woof |
| Posted by: RD 2006-01-11 06:13 |