The ex-FBI informant with a change of heart: 'There is no real hunt. It's fixed'

Craig Monteilh

described how she was adopted by a Muslim radical to eliminate potential threats to expose a portion of the ethics office is questionable practices

Craig Monteilh said

not resist when his FBI handlers gave the green light to have sex with Muslim women's sting operation was targeting. Neither at that time, had to turn away from the recording of their pillow talk.

"they said, if you increase the intelligence, go ahead and have sex. So I did," Monteilh said that the Guardian described his years as an informant for the FBI sent a secret mission to infiltrate mosques in Southern California.

is a stunning admission that goes to the heart of intelligence, surveillance of Muslim communities in the United States in the years after 9/11. While leaders of the police and the FBI stressed that they act to defend America against a terrorist attack, civil liberties groups have repeatedly insisted went too far and I tried a whole group religion as a suspect.

Monteilh was involved in one of the most controversial tactics: the use of "confidential informants" in case of so-called entrapment. That's when the suspects engaging in planning or false terrorist "attacks" on the request or under the close supervision of a secret undercover FBI informant. Often, informants have serious criminal records or are provided with a financial incentive to the alleged network.

In the case of four of Newburgh - where four men were convicted of false terrorist attacks against Jewish targets in the Bronx - a confidential informant offered $ 250,000, a free stay and a car from a suspects using the attack.

For Fort Dix Five, involving a false plan to attack a base in New Jersey, the military, the criminal past of one of the informants included attempted murder, while another admitted to the court at least two suspects jailed for life after he was not aware of a plot.

These actions lead to Muslim civil rights groups to question whether their communities are being unfairly targeted in a spy game is rigged against them. Monteilh said that this is exactly what happens. "The way the FBI conducts its operations, trapping is the game ... I know, I know the dynamics of it. This is a joke, a joke. There is a real fighter. Is fixed, "he said.

But Monteilh has now regrets his involvement in a plan called Operation Flex. Sitting in the kitchen of his modest home in Irvine, near Los Angeles, Monteilh said the FBI publicly apologize for his unsuccessful search to take action against radical Islamists in Orange County, even if they do not have much hope will happen. "They do not have the humility to admit a mistake," he said.

History

Monteilh sounds like something a paste thriller. Under the supervision of two FBI agents on muscular fitness instructor created a fictitious French-Syrian altar I called Farouk Aziz. In this form in 2006 Monteilh started hanging around mosques in Orange County - the long stretch of the southern suburbs of Los Angeles - and pretended to convert to Islam.

He was in charge of Muslim lawyer, and a blanket to record their conversations. All this information is then fed back to the FBI that Monteilh said to act as a radical himself to attract Islamist sympathizers.

However, far from being a success, as a Muslim community finally Monteilh nervous in the County of Orange, who has a restraining order against him. In an ironic twist, the FBI also reported Monteilh: not knowing who has been working undercover for the agency

Monteilh is not a spy. It is built on a large scale, but soft-spoken and friendly. He is 49 but looks younger. He lives in a small rented house in Irvine that integrates into the suburban sprawl Southern California. But Monteilh spy knows intimately the game well.

By his own account Monteilh obtained in undercover work after a meeting with a group of off-duty police officers working in a gym. Monteilh said he had spent time in prison in Chino, serving time for passing bad checks.

is a criminal past, he explains, saying he was traumatized by a nasty divorce. "It was a bad time in my life," he said. He and the police came to talk about criminals had met Monteilh in China. The information was so useful that Monteilh said he began working in drug cases and organized crime infiltration.

finally asked to work in the fight against terrorism and passed into the hands of two FBI handlers, called Kevin Armstrong and Paul Allen. Both agents have a mission and made an alias for it.

Laying

Farouk Aziz was to infiltrate local mosques and Islamic groups throughout Orange County. "Paul Allen, said:". Craig, who will be our worm Our man give us the actual pulse of the Muslim community in America, "said Monteilh

The operation was launched

enough. Monteilh started attending the mosques, posing as Aziz, and explaining that he wanted to know more about religion. In July 2006, the Islamic Center of Irvine, converted to Islam.

Monteilh also started going to mosques, including the Orange County Islamic Foundation. Monteilh began circulating endless mosque to mosque, spending long hours in prayer or reading books or just hang out to get people as much as possible to talk to him.

"Gradually I began to dress, hat, scarf and saw me slowly transform and grow a beard Then, about three or four months later, my managers FBI [] said, "OK, now start asking questions."

The questions were designed to eliminate the radicals. Monteilh his curiosity about the concepts of Jihad and what Muslims should do about the injustices in the world, especially when referring to American foreign policy.

talked about access to weapons, a possible desire to be a martyr and asked about soul mates. Its purpose was both trapping people in condemning the statements. "The ability is that I'll get to say something. I'm in curves that say "jihad", "he said.

course, the conversations were recorded.

Behind the scenes of a James Bond, Monteilh said he sometimes had a video recorder secret sewn into the shirt. At other times, it activates an audio recorder in their key ring.

• Monteilh left his keys in the offices and classrooms in mosques frequented in hopes of recording conversations that took place when he was not here. He did it so often that it has earned a reputation among the faithful of others being careless with their keys. Records are returned to his FBI handlers at least once a week.
also met with them every two months in a hotel room near Anaheim for a more intensive examination. Monteilh said he was grilled in some people and asked to see charts showing the networks of relations between the Muslim population of Orange County.

He said the FBI had two basic objectives. Firstly, to find potential members. Second, you can also use any information Monteilh discovered - as a lover, someone who is gay - people convert destined to become FBI informants themselves.

Neither seemed annoyed his FBI bosses, even when made a proposal to launch appeal to Muslim women and save them.

At a meeting hotel, the agent Kevin Armstrong said the FBI's attitude toward the vast expanse of the operation Flex - no concern for civil rights - by simply saying :. "Kevin is God"

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