The German Secret Service is a farce

The BND (the German Secret Service) is a farce. They couldn't even keep their operation in Irak a secret.

Be careful with assumptions like that.
So did the CIA with their "interrogation bases" in Europe.

These things never come out to the public with no reason.
And the reason is never (or VERY rarely) that a good journalist found a trail left by a clumsy secret service agent.

The secret services are a political tool, used in various ways.
Didn't it strike you odd that the German secret service thing came up right after the CIA "investigation bases" thing?

Don't be naive.

Though I must admit, the story about one of the agents who was in Bagdad having a publically available personal home page is a bit bizarre. It's no longer available, but up until a few weeks ago it outlined his current life in Australia, included photos of him, his house and car, and you could read in his guest book a number of greetings from Pullach (where the BND HQ is). This is from the SZ, never saw it myself. And as previously said, you can never be sure what is true when it comes to stories about the secret services.

I am not really following the story but from today's SZ it seems they are now trying to pin the blame on the ld government. But the point is spooks like the BND operate independent of which ever party is in "power".

And Ulrike Meinhof was an independent journalist.

Interesting with that Osterhoff too and how she is faring in the press. Well they'll always try to pull a Schleyer over the real story.

Hans off MT, no thread kidnapping !