Hooper's whopper.

In one of those moments where I sit around while other people work, I had another cast about for information on Canadian Security and Intelligence Service, deputy director of operations, Jack Hooper's testimony to the Senate defence committee.

After posting this, this morning, I found this in the Globe and Mail.

The deputy director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service said Monday that there are many people currently living in Canada who fought with al-Qaeda during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

HORSESHIT!

Either Hooper is the stupidest spy in the Canadian service or he fed a line to the Senate committee.

Al-Qaeda was formed in 1988 after a split from the Maktab al-Khadamat (MAK) which was a fund-raising organization. Neither the MAK nor al-Qaeda had any direct combatants during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. The fighters were the Mujahadeen, mostly organized by local mullahs and financed by the USA and Saudi Arabia.

Neither the MAK nor al-Qaeda ever conducted any form of military or guerilla operation in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation. Nor was either group involved in planning operations or providing a command structure during the Soviet occupation. The MAK was involved in financing and recruiting during the resistance to the Soviet presence but al-Qaeda didn't actually exist until the Soviets had withdrawn.

How do I know this? From the intelligence my unit was getting at the time.

And Hooper knows it too.

So who wrote Hooper's testimony? And why is he feeding a lie to a parliamentary committee?