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p10 2_Layout 1 11/11/14 8:07 PM Page 1 WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2014 INTERNATIONAL Mountain to climb for Britain’s new spy chief LONDON: A keen mountaineer with a mili- going Sawers, who over the last five years tary background, Britain’s new spy chief worked to restore the reputation of the faces the daunting mission of rescuing the service after accusations of complicity in dented reputation of MI6 while combating torture, mass surveillance and false claims jihadist threats and facing down the men- about Iraq possessing weapons of mass ace of a new confrontation with Russia. destruction (WMD). In 2002, then-prime Alex Younger-or “C” as the heads of foreign minister Tony Blair used a discredited docu- intelligence agency are codenamed-was ment dubbed the “September Dossier” to appointed this month to preside over the justify the invasion of Iraq, which claimed imposing MI6 headquarters on London’s dictator Saddam Hussein could deploy River Thames, its stepped-block shape WMDs “within 45 minutes”. earning it comparisons to a Sumerian zig- “MI6’s reputation was damaged by the gurat temple. Something of a secret in WMD fiasco,” Stephen Dorril, an intelligence plain sight-special effects saw it blown up expert at the University of Huddersfield in the most recent James Bond film, said. Over the past year, “in what seems to “Skyfall”-the fortress is listed on maps as a be a deliberate public relations approach,” mere “government building”. As Younger’s former senior MI6 staff have appeared at predecessor John Sawers once said, “secret conferences and in the media giving organizations need to stay secret”. nuanced views of the so-called “War on As a career spy and MI6 insider, the 51- Terror”, Dorril said. It is a turnaround for an year-old Younger, an economics graduate organization which was not officially and former army officer, knows the territory acknowledged by the British government inside out. He has been with Britain’s spy until 1994. “I think this is maybe to distance agency-properly known to its employees as the service from any form of politicization the Secret Intelligence Service-since 1991. and pressure from government, but also to Younger rose through the ranks to become publicly improve the image of the service,” TURKEY-SYRIA BORDER: The Turkish flag flies on a grain silo backdropped by smoke in the Syrian town of Kobane, after an airstrike by the US the head of intelligence operations world- Dorril added. It is no small task. led coalition, seen from a hilltop outside Suruc, on the Turkey-Syria border. —AP wide for the past two years, according to a As he takes the reins of MI6, Younger brief biography released by the Foreign must take on his predecessor’s challenges- Office. In the past he has worked in Europe, including Iraq, Syria, and Ukraine - 10 the Middle East and Afghanistan, and weeks after Britain’s terror alert was raised directed MI6 operations to protect the to “severe” in the face of risks from jihadist Turbulent path for London Olympics in 2012. “Alex brings a groups. A resurgent Russia, whose actions wealth of relevant experience,” Foreign over Ukraine and stepped-up militarization Secretary Philip Hammond said on recall Cold War schemes, could also be Younger’s appointment. problematic. In his new post, Younger will Syria Kurd fighters take on the single-initial nickname “C” Iraq fiasco (famously changed to “M” in the Bond Described as a “cool customer” who is series, and referred to as “Control” in John “popular with his colleagues,” according to Le Carre’s spy novels). That initial was used Canadian-Israeli woman - first foreign female recruit a former senior MI6 officer who spoke to by the first director of the Secret ARBIL: A Canadian-born immigrant to Israel has woman to join YPG, the Kurds’ dominant fighting Rosenberg, among 11 people arrested in Israel The Daily Telegraph newspaper, Younger is Intelligence Service, George Mansfield become the first foreign woman to join Kurds force in northern Syria. She has crossed into “in a phony ‘lottery prize’ scheme that targeted said to have a forthright approach that won Smith-Cumming, to sign off on documents battling Islamic State in Syria, a Kurdish source Syria and is one of around 10 Westerners recruit- victims, mostly elderly”. Israel’s NRG news site him the job over two other candidates. His a century ago, and was adopted to refer to said yesterday, as details of the volunteer’s tur- ed by YPG, the source said. Rosenberg could not reported at the time that Rosenberg turned to task will be to continue the work of the out- MI6 chiefs ever since.— AFP bulent past surfaced. Gill Rosenberg, 31, is a civil be reached by Reuters for comment. A source crime after running short on money, that she aviation pilot who enlisted in an Israeli army provided an Iraqi Kurdistan cellphone number was estranged from her parents and had tried in search-and-rescue unit before being arrested in for her, but it was turned off on Tuesday. vain to join the Mossad spy service. 2009, extradited to the United States and jailed Israel has maintained discreet military, intelli- over an international phone scam, one of her ‘After me’ gence and business ties with the Kurds since the former lawyers said. A Facebook page registered to Rosenberg 1960s, seeing in the minority ethnic group a On Monday, Israel Radio aired an interview showed photographs of her in settings marked buffer against shared Arab adversaries. The Kurds with Rosenberg in which she said she had trav- as Kurdish areas of Iraq and Syria. “In the IDF are spread through Syria, Turkey, Iran and Iraq. In eled to Iraq, was training with Kurdish guerrillas (Israeli army), we say ‘aharai’, After Me. Let’s show the latter country, they have the autonomous and would go into combat in next-door Syria. ISIS (Islamic State) what that means,” read a Nov Kurdish Regional Government (KRG). Israel bans The station did not name the interviewee, who 9 post. Yahel Ben-Oved, an Israeli lawyer who its citizens from traveling to enemy states, spoke North American-accented Hebrew, but represented Rosenberg in the US criminal pro- among them Syria and Iraq. It has been cracking source involved in the report identified her as ceedings, said they had no knowledge of her down on Israeli Arabs who return after volunteer- Rosenberg. joining the Kurds though they had spoken ing to fight with Islamic State or other rebels “They (the Kurds) are our brothers. They are recently. “It is exactly the sort of thing she would against Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s rule. good people. They love life, a lot like us, really,” do, though,” said Ben-Oved. Canada similarly worries about its citizens fight- Rosenberg said, explaining why she joined up Rosenberg had consented to extradition and ing in Syria. Israeli and Canadian officials said after contacting the guerrillas over the Internet. served around three years in a US prison under a they were aware of Rosenberg’s case, but did not A source in the Kurdistan region with knowledge plea bargain, Ben-Oved said. A 2009 FBI state- immediately elaborate on what if any efforts of the issue said Rosenberg was the first foreign ment on the case names her as Gillian were being made to return her.—Reuters Nigeria blasts US for refusal to sell arms JOHANNESBURG: Nigeria’s ambassador to the Boko Haram should be expanding and becom- Nigerian troops responsible for the deaths of United States has castigated Washington for ing more deadly.” thousands of detainees since a state of emer- refusing to sell “lethal weapons” to fight his Nigeria’s military on Oct 17 announced an gency was imposed in May 2013 in three north- country’s Islamic uprising, saying the extremists immediate cease-fire with Boko Haram, but the eastern states. In the latest such report, commu- otherwise would have been defeated long ago. militants have responded with more and dead- nity leaders and family members told AP that sol- Adebowale Ibidapo Adefuye said the United lier attacks. Adefuye confirmed that Washington diers raided homes in Potiskum, capital of Yobe States is letting down an old ally in its hour of has refused Nigeria’s requests because of allega- state, on Nov. 15 and dragged away young men need, and Nigeria’s people and government feel tions the defense forces have violated the aged between 18 and 30. Soldiers later dumped abandoned. “The US government has up till human rights of Boko Haram suspects. It was 18 bullet-ridden bodies at the hospital mortuary, today refused to grant Nigeria’s request to pur- not possible to get an immediate response from according to hospital records made available to chase lethal equipment that would have US officials. He said the allegations are based on AP. The military has not responded to requests brought down the terrorists within a short time,” rumors spread by political opponents as Nigeria for comment. The executions came two days ANDES: People visit the Cemetery of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia Adefuye told members of the Washington- prepares for February presidential elections. US after a suicide bomber killed 30 people in a pro- (FARC) in Andes, Caqueta Department, Colombia. —AFP based Council on Foreign Relations Monday laws ban sales of lethal weapons to countries cession of moderate Muslims. On Monday, night. “We find it difficult to understand how whose military are accused of gross human Potiskum was further terrorized when a suicide and why, in spite of the US presence in Nigeria rights abuses.