Wikileaks Global Intelligence Files: Israel Day 4, Bin Laden’s Body Brought Back to U.S.

Turkey Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Photo: wiki commons.

The website WikiLeaks has continued releasing for a fourth day what it says will eventually be 5 million e-mails sent between July 2004 and late December 2011 by the private intelligence company Stratfor.

In an email dated November 7, 2008, a Stratfor staff member claims that Democrats made a “six-figure donation” to Rev. Jesse [Jackson], according to an unidentified source. This was allegedly done to “keep his yap shut after his diatribe about the Jews and Israel.”

In 2008 at an international relations conference in France, “Jackson was quoted as saying that ‘Zionists who have controlled American policy for decades’ would lose much of their influence should Senator Obama be elected president.”

The Obama presidential campaign responded by stating “Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. is not an adviser to the Obama campaign and is therefore in no position to interpret or share Barack Obama’s views on Israel and foreign policy…” and also mentioned Obama’s “unshakeable commitment to Israel’s security.”

Wikileaks claims that Osama bin Laden’s body was transferred to Dover, Delaware on a CIA plane.  An email dated May 2, 2011 states the body will then be moved “…to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Bethesda.” Two US Air Force Airlift Wings are based at Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware. In another email dated May 2, 2011 a Stratfor staff member expresses doubt that Bin Laden’s corpse was buried at sea and mentions, “We would want to photograph, DNA, fingerprint, etc. His body is a crime scene and I don’t see the FBI nor DOJ letting that happen.”

In an email dated June 17, 2010, Stratfor CEO George Friedman wrote the following after the Gaza flotilla incident, “The Turks have taken a tremendous beating and the Israelis have come out in remarkably good position.”

Friedman also wrote: “…the Israeli-Turkish intelligence sharing agreement required that the Turks screen the passengers on the ships. This screening took place but the Israelis have now shown the Turks and others intelligence that the Turks either (1) failed to detect the intentions of a group of people in the flotilla or their backgrounds) (2) detected it and failed to tell either Israel or the United States or (3) intentionally deceived Israel.”

According to Friedman, the Turkish military lost some of its capabilities to deal with the PKK [Kurdish militant group] after Israel withdrew its trainers on UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles, also known as drones].

Friedman claimed, “The Israelis are offering to end the Gaza blockade precisely because they know the Egyptians will do the heavy lifting for them on Hamas.”

He also made the following statement: “The Israelis have waged a superb propaganda campaign focusing on the attack on them and in Europe, a series of articles charging critics of Israel with anti-semitism, written by significant figures in Europe, has stemmed the hemorrhage. Anti-Muslim and anti-Turkish feeling in Europe is deeper than anti-Israeli feeling among the public. Intellectuals and others of course remain anti-Israeli, but they don’t shape political life and the political leaders are not prepared to go too far with a pro-Turkish, pro-Arab policy.”

In the same email chain, a Stratfor staff member, Emre Dogru, said “…Israel’s decision to pull UAV instructors is not huge” and mentioned that Turkey has six UAVs “and will get remaining four.” Emre Dogru added that if Israel starts to lobby the US to stop real time intelligence sharing with Turkey “that would be the nightmare of Erdogan.”

In the same email chain, a source claims that Israeli UAVs were transferred to the “air base in Batman (a southeastern province of Turkey).” These UAVs were then reportedly used to provide real-time intelligence to the Turkish army during an offensive in to northern Iraq. The source has a reliability rating of B and a credibility rating of 2, the second highest Stratfor rankings. This email also mentions that “Turkey doesn’t need Israeli assistance to fly them [UAVs] …but of course, Turks may need Israeli help to fix if there is a technical problem in UAVs.”

A Stratfor staff member states that “Greek Cyprus FM sought political support in Israel” in a separate email dated September 16, 2011. The email mentions the energy dispute between Cyprus and Turkey. The Stratfor staff member is skeptical “that Israel would get involved in this controversy for Greek Cyprus while it is having its a) own offshore reserves dispute with Lebanon b) troubles with Turkey.” Turkey is also observed to have “military options” in the Eastern Mediterranean which it could use against Israel or even Cyprus.