Khaled Talib's Blog, page 18

Everything is bigger in Texas

During a trip to Jordan many years ago, I purchased two fancy daggers from a bazaar. You know how it is with souvenirs, especially if you see something exotic.

On my way back to Singapore, I declared to the Jordanian airport customs what I was packing. They had no issue. They gave me a piece of formal paper like a receipt, and left the daggers with the security guy to carry on board the plane. I was told the security guy would released them to me when the plane landed in Kuala Lumpur during my transit.

At Kuala Lumpur airport, the security guy handed the daggers to me outside the doors of the plane. His job was done.

The Malaysians, aware of what I was carrying, gave me another piece of formal paper that allows me to carry the daggers on board the shuttle. I assumed everything would be fine when I landed in Singapore. Everybody was cool, everybody had common sense… until I arrived in Singapore.

Upon my arrival at Singapore airport, I took the liberty to declare what I had in my possession. I even showed the authorities the papers I was carrying. Wrong move.

The next thing I knew, I was hauled into a room and interrogated by the police. The police officers adopted an aggressive tone when they spoke to me. Arms crossed, they asked me why I bought those daggers, and even wanted to know what else I had in my suitcase.

Of course, I was humored by the enlarged situation. For me, it was entertainment seeing their exaggerated behavior. I realized, of course, it was pointless discussing with these people. I knew I had to break it down for them. So this is what I said to the senior uniform officer sitting behind the desk as the rest flanked me:

“If I really wanted to harm someone, I wouldn’t bother going all the way to Jordan to buy daggers, and then declare what I was carrying. I just have to walk into my grandmother’s kitchen, borrow her Japanese steak knives to do something nasty. Believe me, she’s got sharp ones.”

My explanation sunk into the senior officer’s mind. He let me keep the daggers, but it had to be quarantined for two weeks at the Police Arms & Explosives Division before they were returned to me. As the saying goes, everything is bigger in Texas.

Female Spies

Contrary to popular belief, the world of espionage isn’t a man’s domain.  Here are some examples of women in history who have served their allegiances with as much distinction as their male counterparts. 

 

Doris Bohrer was an operative for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) (the CIA’s precursor) in the 1940s, and served in Italy.At the age of 20, she helped plot the Allied invasion on the Italian front and eventually wound up stationed on the country’s Adriatic coast.   She returned to Washington, where she became the agency’s deputy chief of counter-intelligence.

 

 

 

Elizabeth “Betty” McIntosh is the oldest living CIA ‘spy girl.’ She was one of the few women who worked overseas for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). During World War II,  she created false news reports, postcards, documents, and radio messages designed to spread disinformation to undermine Japanese troop morale. She then went on to work for the CIA until her retirement in 1973.

Born on August 7, 1876, in the Netherlands, Mata Hari (Geertruida Zelle) was a professional dancer and mistress who accepted an assignment to spy for France in 1916. She was hired to pass military information to the French government. However, Mata Hari was accused of being a German spy. She was executed by firing squad on October 15, 1917, after French authorities learned of her alleged double agency.

 

 

 

Antonia Ford was alleged to have been a US Confederate secret agent. After being reported to authorities by a Union spy, Ford was arrested and jailed in Washington, D.C. at the Old Capitol Prison in early 1863. During her confinement, her arresting officer, Major Willard,  worked for her release. Ford was  freed, and later married Major Willard on March 10, 1864.

 

 

 

Noor Inayat Khan was a British intelligence officer who ran a spy network in Paris. For ten months she was tortured by the Gestapo desperate for any information. She was eventually executed at Dachau concentration camp on September 13, 1944, aged just 30.