SAS trained Mujahedin fighters in Scotland

["Michael Keaney" <Michael.Keaney@xxxxxx>]

Michael Pugliese reports:

Scots link to US terror suspect

=====

The links go deeper than that. In an apparent breach of the selectively
draconian Official Secrets Act, former ITN journalist and co-honcho of
the flagship "News at Ten" programme (with the Thatcherite Alistair
Burnet) Sandy Gall detailed in his memoirs how he was hired by MI6, at
the CIA's behest presumably, to keep the British public informed about
the brave freedom fighters battling against Soviet tyranny. The intrepid
Sandy made numerous visits to Afghanistan during this period, drumming
up support by fund-raising for children's charities, etc., showing the
"oppportunities" that lay ahead for the Afghans once they were free of
communism and able to determine their own futures.

His charity still functions, apparently:

http://www.sandygallsafghanistanappeal.org/

As you might expect, John Pilger has covered this:

In his auto-biography, News from the Front, the ITN correspondent and
newscaster Sandy Gall boasted of his high government and MI6 contacts
and the work he did for them. 'I received a call from a friend in
British Intelligence,' he wrote, 'telling me that the Foreign Secretary
remained particularly concerned about Afghanistan and was anxious to
keep the war "in front of the British public"; how could this be done?
Would I talk to someone from his office and give him, and Lord
Carrington, the benefit of my advice? Feeling flattered, I agreed ...'
Gall made Afghanistan his speciality. In the 1980s, he went on a number
of trips with the mojahedin, the guerrillas fighting the Soviet
occupiers. On the eve of one of these assignments, which began in
Pakistan, he went to see the Pakistani dictator, General Zia, who
clearly regarded Gall as an important ally. Both MI6 and the CIA were
backing Zia as the ruler of a 'frontline' state in this important Cold
War conflict with the Soviet Union. As they strolled through his garden,
the General, one of the world's nastiest fundamentalist tyrants, asked
Gall if there was anything he wanted.

' "Yes," [Gall] said, "would it be possible to have some SAM 7s with
us?" Zia laughed. "SAM 7s? I don't see why not. But why?" ' "We're
likely to come under attack by Mi24 gunships, I suppose, and it would
make some spectacular pictures if one of them were to be shot down."
'Zia laughed again, seeing the point. "I'll see to it," he promised.
"You'll get your SAMs." '

Gall got his missile, which, he wrote, 'we fired', but it malfunctioned.
Back in London, he was invited to lunch by the head of MI6. 'It was very
informal,' wrote Gall, 'the cook was off, so we had cold meat and salad,
with plenty of wine.' Britain's leading spymaster wanted information
about Afghanistan from Gall who, once again, was 'flattered, of course,
and anxious to pass on what I could in terms of first-hand knowledge'.

Moreover, the man from ITN determined 'not to prise any information out
of him in return', even though 'this is not normally how a journalist's
mind works'. The reason for this journalistic reticence was that
'avuncularly charming' as the head of MI6 might be, 'he was far too
experienced to let slip anything he did not wish to'.

In 1992, an internal committee of the Central Intelligence Agency
reported that the CIA now had excellent links with the media. 'We have
relationships with reporters', it said, '[that] have helped us turn some
intelligence failure stories into intelligence success stories. Some
responses to the media can be handled in a one-shot phone call. Others,
such as the BBC's six-part series, draw heavily on [CIA] sources.'

See http://pilger.carlton.com/media/guardians10

Gall, at least until recently, has been plying his trade around
conferences to do with Afghan politics, etc., so it's possible British
viewers can look forward to expert musings from this source. His
charity, as of January this year, remains on the UN's approved list of
NGOs working in Afghanistan (see
http://www.un.org/french/docs/sc/committees/Afghanistan/6994e.html).

Michael K.