Why Morten Storm joined Al Qaeda, then the CIA

Why Morten Storm joined Al Qaeda, then the CIA

http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/episode/2014/09/15/why-morten-storm-joined-al-qaeda-then-the-cia/

Monday, September 15, 2014 | Categories: Books , Episodes 0

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Morten Storm, on the misty mountain road to deliver supplies to Awlaki, October 2008. He says as a double agent he infiltrated the Jihadis, with lethal effect. (Courtesy of Atlantic Monthly Press)

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By the time Morten Storm began to doubt extremists, he was in Al Qaeda's highest circles but working for the other side - the CIA. We've just been through a weekend with news of yet another ISIS beheading. The most-wanted-terrorists have new names, new affiliations ..Morten Storm's experiences offer insight into their world and the world of those trying to stop them.

Morten Storm pictures above with other Danes declared enemies of Islam. (Courtesy of Atlantic Monthly Press)

"I'm back Obama, and I'm back because of your arrogant foreign policy towards the Islamic State. Just as your missiles continue to strike our people, our knife will continue to strike the necks of your people."

Jihadi John, a militant with ISIS

He's known as Jihadi John, a militant with ISIS and familiar to many in the west for his gruesome and menacing videos.

This past weekend, a man - believed to be Jihadi John - was in a new video showing the killing of British aid worker David Cawthorne Haines. The London accent suggests he's a so-called Western Jihadi, one of many believed to be fighting on the battlefields of Syria.

They're from Britain, from Canada, from Denmark, like our next guest....though his story from inside that world of radical Islam is a different one.

"My life has always been radical. I knew that the only person who could get close to these people were people like me. I carried out a mission that led them to the world's most wanted terrorist."
Agent Morten Storm

Morten Storm grew up in Denmark, converted to Islam and found his way to Yemen and Al Qaeda's top leadership. But he subsequently had a dramatic loss of faith. He says he then became a double agent, spying for western intelligence.

Now, he's come out of the shadows to tell his story in a new book, Agent Storm: My Life Inside Al Qaeda and the CIA, and Morten Storm joined us from our studio in London.

This segment was produced by The Current's Peter Mitton.

The $250 000 CIA reward for the Aminah mission. (Courtesy of Atlantic Monthly Press)

Morten Storm protesting outside US Embassy in London in 2005. (Courtesy of Atlantic Monthly Press)