Phone Taps

On the afternoon of October 9, 2003, an Iraqi employee named Safa Shukir received a call on his cell phone purportedly from Kirk von Ackermann. The caller said he had a flat tire, was stranded in the Jabal Hamrin, and asked Shukir to come get him and 'bring a jack.' Minutes later, a passing patrol reported an abandoned vehicle.

General assumption to date is von Ackermann placed the call. Maybe he didn't.

U.S. tapped intimate calls from Americans overseas, 2 eavesdroppers say
By Greg Miller, Los Angeles Times, October 9, 2008

U.S. intelligence analysts eavesdropped on personal calls between Americans overseas and their families back home and monitored the communications of workers with the Red Cross and other humanitarian organizations, according to two military linguists involved in U.S. surveillance programs. [...]

Kinne said the recordings she transcribed were mainly intercepted transmissions from satellite phones in the Middle East.

From Iraq, Kirk von Ackermann called his wife Megan who was in the U.S., on the afternoon of October 8, 2003. That call between Iraq and the U.S. should have triggered ongoing monitoring by the NSA of von Ackermann's satellite phone. Recordings taken during the time period of October 8-9th could answer the question: did someone pretend to be Kirk von Ackermann and use his satellite phone to call a young Iraqi employee for assistance?

My opinion? I think an impostor placed the call.

Related Post

Note to CID about NSA
April 21, 2008

The Bridge Theory
March 25, 2008