The CIA and The Militant Who Eluded It in Norway

While he was held in Amsterdam, Krekar said, he was questioned by FBI agents on two occasions, even though he wasn't wanted on U.S. charges. "They wanted to talk about al-Qaeda," he recalled. "I didn't answer anything. I said, 'Just ask about me and my group.' "

Krekar was released in January 2003 after Jordan failed to provide detailed evidence against him. He flew to Oslo, where authorities weren't eager to let him return but didn't have a legal basis for refusing him entry.

In U.S. Spies' Sights

Three months later, on April 24, a CIA officer arrived in Oslo on an SAS flight from New York. He checked into the Radisson SAS Plaza Hotel in Oslo, a few blocks from Krekar's apartment, and registered as an employee of a fictitious technology firm in Hyattsville, Md.

The same CIA officer, using a false cover name, had been present in Milan two months earlier for the abduction of a radical Muslim cleric, Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, according to Italian prosecutors.

Nasr was taken to Egypt, where he says he was tortured. Italian authorities have filed kidnapping charges against 25 CIA operatives, including the officer who later flew to Norway. None has been arrested.

The spies' European travels were reconstructed by Italian investigators who traced their frequent-flier and credit-card account records. The existence of the records was first reported by Stavanger Aftenblad, a Norwegian newspaper.

Four days after the CIA officer arrived in Oslo, Krekar's attorney, Meling, said he received a warning about his client from a Norwegian government source, via an intermediary. Although the message was vague, it made clear that U.S. spies had Krekar in their sights. In response, the lawyer wrote a letter to Norwegian police, requesting extra protection for Krekar.

The CIA operative left Norway on May 18. But two weeks later, he was replaced by a female U.S. spy -- also charged in the Italian kidnapping case -- who flew to Oslo from Chicago.

She was joined a month later by another female agent, according to Stavanger Aftenblad. Both women registered under fictitious names and businesses and rented a car for a month, the newspaper reported. Both left the country by summer's end.

What else the spies did in Norway is unknown. But at the time of their visit, their cover was jeopardized as rumors swirled about their presence in Oslo.

In May 2003, local news media reported that the Norwegian government had approved plans for undercover U.S. agents to come to Norway to investigate Islamic radicals, including Krekar. Norwegian officials would not confirm or deny the reports but said foreign intelligence agents would not be allowed to operate in the country independently.

Meanwhile, Norwegian authorities, with the aid of intelligence provided by U.S. officials, tried to deal with Krekar in other ways.

The cleric was arrested on the eve of the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 but released a few weeks later for lack of evidence. Later that year, Norwegian prosecutors opened another investigation, this time focusing on allegations that Krekar had ordered Ansar recruits to stage suicide bombings in Iraq.

The case hinged on a key witness: a would-be suicide bomber who was captured in Iraq and handed over to U.S. forces. The failed bomber told Iraqi officials that Krekar was behind the plot. When he was interviewed by Norwegian investigators in Baghdad, however, the man recanted, saying he had been tortured until he agreed to testify against Krekar.

Norwegian immigration officials have tried for years to kick Krekar out of the country. Citing classified evidence, the government first declared Krekar a threat to national security in 2003 and ordered him deported.

He has appealed to the courts, where he has lost repeatedly. On Nov. 22, an appellate court upheld the government's decision, declaring, "Reasons exist to fear that the plaintiff has links with terrorist activities and groups."

But chances are remote he'll have to leave Oslo anytime soon.

Under Norwegian law, no one can be deported to a country where he or she could face torture or the death penalty. Judges in Norway have ruled that Iraq is such a place and will probably remain that way for years.

"I think Mullah Krekar can get a mortgage and prepare for a long and secure stay in Norway," Arvid Sjoedin, another of his attorneys, said last month.