Michael von Wedel: A German Anti-Terror Cop's Lament

Michael von Wedel was a counterterrorism agent in Germany's Federal Bureau of Criminal Investigations (BKA). In 2002, he would be assigned the investigation of one Reda Seyam: a German-based Islamist and the presumed Qaeda financier of the 2002 Bali bombings. At one point, he would be ordered by his agency superiors to protect Seyam – namely, from the CIA. In his recent book, Die Abrechnung ["Settling Accounts"], Von Wedel writes that his investigations confirmed Seyam’s involvement in the Bali bombings. Nonetheless, no charges have ever been brought against Seyam in Germany, where he lives to this day on a reported €2300 a month in social benefits. Von Wedel, by contrast, was dismissed from his job at the BKA, charged with professional misconduct and was last reported to be living on a welfare check of €239 a month.

See my new article in Policy Review magazine here.