LUNCH WITH THE FT - THE GIRL WHO FOUND BIN LADEN

Jen is waiting for me in the plush Belvedere restaurant, at the Peninsula Beverley Hills.

Jen is the real life Carrie Mathison, the CIA agent in the TV drama Homeland.

Jen spent 5 years tracking bin Laden.

She looks like a real feisty female.

Jen

We order two Maine Lobster Salads, with sweet corn and jicama, tarragon, radicchio and frisee and lime marinated chioggia beets.

I ask Jen how one begins looking for a man like Osama.

"Well," she says, "The bin Ladens were investors in Arbusto, the Texas oil company started by George W. Bush. But I could hardly ask George Bush how much he knows about the family." 

She takes a sip of Chateau Lafite and continues: "On the morning of September 11, 2001, George W. Bush's father, George H. W. Bush, was meeting with Osama bin Laden's brother, Shafig bin Laden, in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Washington, on Carlyle Group business." 

I asked if she had approached Shafig.

She shakes her head.

Salem bin Laden

"The bin Laden family have been helpful to the CIA, in the past," Jen explains. "During the 1980's, Salem bin Laden helped the Reagan Administration when it secretly arranged for an estimated thirty-four million dollars to be funnelled through Saudi Arabia to the Contras, in Nicaragua. 

"Salem had a house in Florida, but he's dead now. Plane accident." 

I point out that a number of people met Osama in an American hospital in July 2001. 

One of these people was the local CIA station chief Larry Mitchell.

Jen takes a last bite of Lobster and chews it thoroughly.

She says: "I could have spoken to Prince Turki al-Faisal, who was also at the American hospital. But he was not available, and neither was Larry Mitchell."

We see the arrival of our Grilled Prime Filet Mignon, yukon potato puree, bloomsdale spinach, cipollini onions, asparagus and cabernet jus. 

"I was quite a lowly CIA officer," explains Jen. "It's only fairly recently that I was recruited out of college. I'm only in my twenties."

So, how did she find Osama?

"I can give you some clues," she says, as she cuts into her steak.

"In the TV drama Homeland, Carrie was warned by an asset that an American was working for Al-Qaeda.

"That's the way it works. 

"Imagine if Osama was working for the CIA. Imagine if Al-Qaeda is run by the CIA. 

"Imagine if I have never actually been to Pakistan."

I asked her explain further.

But Jen's minder appeared and explained that Jen had an urgent appointment.

It was like the ending to Wag The Dog.



"The CIA's Larry Mitchell met Osama in an American hospital in 2001"

aangirfan: BIN LADEN, AFRIDI, MI6
aangirfan.blogspot.com/2012/07/bin-laden-afridi-mi6.html29 Jul 2012 – Of course Afridi never saw Bin Laden, who had been dead for years, and was not successful in getting DNA samples from anyone.

aangirfan: MK OLSEN, SARKOZY, CARLYLE, BIN LADEN, ROCCO ...
aangirfan.blogspot.com/.../mk-olsen-sarkozy-carlyle-bin-laden.html2 Jun 2012 – The Carlyle Group has been linked to the CIA and the bin Laden family.aangirfan: CIA CONTROL OF FRANCE - OPERATION SARKOZY ...

aangirfan: BIN LADEN WIFE IS A CIA FAKE
aangirfan.blogspot.com/2012/04/bin-laden-wife-is-cia-fake.html1 Apr 2012 – Amal Ahmed Abdul Fatah, also known as Amal Ahmed al-Sadah, was allegedly 'the youngest of Osama bin Laden's five wives'. At first the ...

aangirfan: BREIVIK, BIN LADEN AND BLOOD DIAMONDS
aangirfan.blogspot.com/.../breivik-bin-laden-and-blood-diamonds.ht...1 Jun 2012 – The CIA and its friends arranged for Bin Laden and Anders Breivik to be ...The UK's Observer newspaper (Bin Laden's $20m African 'blood ...

Omar bin Laden and wife (THE BIN LADEN FAMILY
OSAMA BIN LADEN)

aangirfan: THE BIN LADEN LETTERS
aangirfan.blogspot.com/2012/05/bin-laden-letters.html3 May 2012 – THE BIN LADEN LETTERS. Letter from Osama bin Laden, April 2011 ...CLASSIC CIA PROPAGANDA - OMAR BIN LADEN · 9 11 Planning ...

aangirfan: BIBLES IN 'BIN LADEN' COMPOUND.
aangirfan.blogspot.com/2012/03/bibles-in-bin-laden-compound.html1 Mar 2012 – Pakistan officials found the Bibles at the 'Osama bin Laden' house when... Bible copies found at Osama bin Laden's hideout – The Express.

aangirfan: OSAMA'S MOTHER AND OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS
aangirfan.blogspot.com/.../osamas-mother-and-other-family-member...28 Apr 2012 – (The Hidden Financial Ties between the Bush and the Bin Laden . ...Osama bin Laden's niece is called Waffah and she is a 'pop star, reality TV ...

aangirfan: THE BIN LADEN FAMILY
aangirfan.blogspot.com/2011/05/bin-laden-family.html2 May 2011 – Osama bin Laden at Oxford (on the right) In 1931, Osama bin Laden'sfather, Mohammed, set up the the BinLaden Group. The group deals in ...

aangirfan: NAVY SEALS ATTACK A BUNCH OF WOMEN AND KIDS?
aangirfan.blogspot.com/.../navy-seals-attack-bunch-of-women-and.ht...4 May 2012 – Osama bin Laden Osama's doctor in the American Hospital in July 2001... According to Le Figaro, 11 October 2001 (The CIA met Bin Laden ...

1. aangirfan: LONDON AND BIN LADEN

   aangirfan.blogspot.com/2012/02/london-and-bin-laden.html

   25 Feb 2012 – In the mid 1990s, Osama bin Laden lived in London, at a house near ...London is the home of MI6, which 'halted a bid to arrest bin Laden' ...
2. aangirfan: WERE WE BRAINWASHED?

   aangirfan.blogspot.com/2012/06/were-we-brainwashed.html

   18 Jun 2012 – Osama bin laden's neice. In the mid-1980s, the bin Laden family were reportedly helping the CIA. Quoting a French intelligence report, The ...

aangirfan: CLASSIC CIA PROPAGANDA - OMAR BIN LADEN