The Miernik Dossier

77. NOTE BY THE KHARTOUM STATION.

The information contained in the above memorandum did not come into our possession until 20 July, when Qasim returned to Khartoum. Qasim gave us no advance notice of his plan concerning Qemal-who was, of course, the agent we called “Firecracker.” It was therefore impossible to inform Qasim of Firecracker’s value to us, not to mention the considerable service he had already rendered to his country.

It is our impression that Qasim’s proposals to the Amir were in the nature of a spur-of-the-moment attempt to salvage his operation to destroy the ALF and to rescue his own credit with the Amir. This turn of events could not have been anticipated except through advance briefing of Qasim on Firecracker’s role and identity. This would have constituted a breach of security that at the time was considered unacceptable.