Jewish & World News

While the forthcoming publication of "No Easy Day" is about to give American readers its own revelations about the raid that eliminated Osama Bin Laden last year, a new book published in Poland alleges that the Central Intelligence Agency could have assassinated the Al Qaeda chief back in 1999 — but chose not to do so out of fear it lacked the legal authority.

A former head of Poland’s foreign intelligence service faces charges of illegal detention and use of corporal punishment at an alleged secret CIA “black site” used to house high-ranking terrorism suspects. Zbigniew Siemiatowski confirmed to Gazeta Wyborcza, a Polish newspaper, that prosecutors had charged him as part of their long-running investigation into a secret detention centre in eastern Poland used by the CIA from 2002 to 2003 for suspects in transit to Guantanamo Bay, but said he refused to co-operate.

Shortly after 8 a.m. on March 16, 1984, like every other morning, CIA station chief in Beirut William Buckley left his 10th floor penthouse apartment in the western part of the city for the American Embassy. On that morning, he had decided to drive himself to work, against regulations for US officials in Lebanon at the time due to the danger of kidnapping. All non-essential staff and diplomats’ family members had been evacuated from the country a month earlier. As recalled at the time by the manager of Buckley’s apartment building, the CIA officer walked out of the building that morning and got into his car, parked in an adjacent lot. Almost immediately after leaving the parking lot, a white Renault in front of him stopped short and forced him to a stop. A gunman walked up to Buckley, pointed a pistol at his head and put him into the Renault without a fight. Aside from in two disturbing videos sent to US diplomats in the following months, he would never be seen alive again.

Washington - A prominent human rights group accused the CIA of conducting illegal human experiments and unethical medical research during interrogations of high-profile terrorism suspects under the George W. Bush administration.

New York - Historic aircraft will escort a B-17 bomber as it drops flowers over the Statue of Liberty in a public Memorial Day tribute to seven CIA employees killed in Afghanistan.

CIA officers in Afghanistan were so eager to meet the spy they believed would help them crack al-Qaida's leadership they planned a birthday celebration for his visit in December, current and former U.S. officials said. A birthday cake was waiting.

Dramatic video taken from a CIA surveillance craft shows Peruvian fighter jets opening fire on and shooting down a plane carrying innocent American missionaries who were mistaken for drug smugglers, ABC News reported. Peruvian pilots issued a warning, but because the missionary plane pilot was on a different frequency he did not hear it. The missionaries' pilot can be heard screaming for help as the fighter jets open fire. The pilot was flying missionaries Jim and Veronica "Roni" Bowers and their children -- Cory, 6, and 7-month-old Charity -- as they returned from a routine trip to Brazil. The video's release has re-ignited accusations that the CIA lied to Congress to cover up its role in the bungled 2001 operation, which ended in the deaths of Veronica Bowers and baby Charity. Read More: ABC News Watch CIA Video of Missionary Plane Shootdown

CIA director Leon Panetta visited Israel  last week to discuss the Iranian nuclear program, Politico.com reported on Sunday, citing Israeli sources. According to the report, Panetta met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Mossad chief Meir Dagan. The report cited a former Israeli official as saying that the main issues discussed were the Iranian nuclear program and general ties between the parties. A CIA spokesperson refused to comment on the report, and said the agency does not discuss the director's travels. According to other reports, Panetta also visited Cairo and held met with Egyptian Intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, as well as other officials. The last known visit by Panetta in Israel took place last May. During his visit, senior political and security sources conveyed through him a message to the Obama administration stating that Israel plans to coordinate its moves on Iran with the US. They stated that this commitment would ...

When Defne Bayrak arrives there is no mistaking she is the woman we have come to meet. Despite the cold she is composed and ready for the interview we agreed. She is ready to talk about the suicide bombing carried out by her double-agent husband just days earlier, an attack that left seven CIA operatives dead in Afghanistan. Read Full Story On CNN  Watch Shocking Video

The wife of an alleged suicide bomber who killed eight people at a U.S. base in Afghanistan last week says she is shocked by his actions but "proud" of what he did. Defne Bayrak, the Turkish wife of Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi -- a Jordanian doctor identified as the attacker -- said she doubted accusations her husband had been an intelligence agent, but was satisfied he did not die in vain. "I am proud of my husband. My husband accomplished a very big operation in such a war," she told reporters. "If he is a martyr, may God accept his martyrdom." Al-Balawi has been named as the suspected bomber behind a December 30 attack on a U.S. base in Khost, in southeastern Afghanistan, that killed killed seven CIA officers and contractors, and a Jordanian army captain. U.S. and Jordanian officials say al-Balawi had been recruited as a counterterrorism intelligence agent, despite concerns over his extremist views, and was being used in the hunt for a senior a...

Al Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing in Afghanistan last month that killed seven CIA employees and contractors and a Jordanian military officer, according to a statement posted on Islamist Web sites. Mustafa Abu Yazid, al Qaeda's commander of operations in Afghanistan and its No. 3 man, said the attack avenged the death of Baitullah Mehsud, leader of the Taliban in Pakistan who was killed in a missile strike last August, and al Qaeda operatives Saleh al-Somali and Abdullah al-Libi. The December 30 blast at a U.S. base in Khost, in southeastern Afghanistan, killed seven CIA operatives including two from private security firm Xe, formerly known as Blackwater. The eighth victim was Jordanian Army Capt. Sharif Ali bin Zeid, a cousin of Jordan's King Abdullah II. A former U.S. intelligence official identified the suicide bomber as Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, a Jordanian doctor who acted as a double agent. He was recruited as a counterterrorism intelli...

The Jordanian national that attacked a U.S. military base in Afghanistan, killing 7 CIA agents, was furious over the Israel's Gaza offensive, the London-based Arabic daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported on Thursday. The report quotes the brother of Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi as saying that his brother, a physician, had even made numerous attempts to join Jordan's doctor's association as way of reaching the Gaza Strip and aiding the local population. The attack was carried out by a Jordanian, Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, who had been recruited by the CIA as a counterterrorism intelligence source. Al- Balawi's brother added that his brother had notified their family that he intended to travel to Turkey to meet up with his wife, but she said he never arrived. "We thought that he was in Gaza the whole time," the brother told Al-Quds Al-Arabi. He added that the family received an anonymous phone call in which they were told that Al- Balawi had perpe...