Wayne Madsen

Wayne Madsen, one of the more controversial anti-Bush investigators, has -- allegedly -- received death threats.

I probably can't cross-post this to the BradBlog, since Brad became -- rather justifiably -- miffed at Madsen after his mishandling of the mysterious Five Star Trust affair. (Long story. If you weren't around when it all came down, and if you're in the mood for a long story which may include a shaggy dog or two, check it out here.) Even so, I've always found much of Madsen's work intriguing. While I don't file his stuff under "take this to the bank," I do place it in the "check it out" folder.

Is he the sort to perpetrate a hoax? Doesn't seem likely. Hoaxers are usually younger, devil-may-care types.

So if we rule out the "hoax" theory, what do we make of this? An unnamed source within the intelligence community, we are told, sent Madsen the following:

We have reason to think that a "project" will be undertaken against "someone" considered problematic now...not next week but NOW. That person is not specified but is in the US, in an apartment setting and lives alone. It is a "he" and he works via www. This information is specific to an intent but not specific to a person. The source is impeccable and you know my track record which have parallel sourcing. The "project" will be assigned to "parallel contractors" who will make any action appear random and witnesses would suggest Middle Eastern in source. Actions would be carried out in or near the home. We do not hear things like this often (almost never) and so far every warning of this type has been within 24 hours of action and these warnings have proven 100% accurate in the past. We do not know of any direct reason for someone to use this source to provide wrong or misleading information or for use by those who are "contracting" this action. Your recent work and profile make us tell you this directly.

Please respond with a note that all is normal there. Please consider the warning we received as it can be applied to many including yourself. It is possible that someone considers "us" linked in some way and that this warning may be a "deterrent" to work that some may not want completed. We have no reason to think this but I want to consider every possible angle and application to this warning. Please consider what can be done while taking any measures you think necessary to avoid this "project". We consider this warning as coming with the highest level "authenticity" and purity of motive, but the subject and message subject and it's specifications were too unusual to be sure of intent.

On his own page, Madsen advises:

August 29, 2005 -- Attention Bush Team operators and supporters: Threats and intimidation do not work here. WMR will continue to bring news and informed opinion from Washington, DC and beyond, regardless of veiled threats and intimidation tactics from the Republican and neo-con camps. After an unfortunate temporary disruption based on a credible threat, we're back in force.

So what was really going on here?

One may learn possibly-related details from Alan Simpson's Political Intelligence page, here Here, we learn that Madsen received another, perhaps-related threat of legal action from Mohammed Hussein al Amoudi, concerning an article published in 2002. The folks at Counterpunch (which has printed Madsen's writings in the past) recently published a retraction of sorts -- or at least, a "clarification" -- denying any connection between al Amoudi and the funding of terror, a connection which Madsen has implied in the past. Al Amoudi was also named in the 911 survivors' lawsuit.

For a deeper look into that particular can-o-worms, check out this page and scroll down. (Keep in mind that we must deal with two individuals named Al Amoudi.)

You'll also want to read Kurt Nimmo's assessment of the threats against Wayne Madsen. (Well, maybe I should say alleged threats, even if I do tend to discount the hoax theory.)

Right now, I'm not sure what to think. Naturally, I hope that the threat was nothing more than a sick joke, and that Mr. Madsen remains safe and sound.