LONDON (AP) — The FBI's most-wanted list features a dated black-and-white photograph for the man wanted in connection with the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya. Saif al-Adel, reads the glaring red banner, alias Muhammad Ibrahim Makkawi. But intelligence officials and people who say they know al-Adel and Makkawi tell The Associated Press that they are two different men. In the wake of Osama bin Laden's death, AP reporters around the globe began hunting for fresh details on al-Adel — al-Qaida's so-called third man because of his strategic military experience. Traversing a reporting trail that spanned from Europe to Egypt and from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran, a new picture started to emerge about the al-Adel investigation: that the FBI's manhunt dragged in the name of a one-time jihadist turned vocal al-Qaida critic who now can't get his name off the wanted list. Intelligence officials from five countries and a handful of sources who say they knew the men personally over the years confirmed to the AP that al-Adel and Makkawi were two distinct people. Some of those sources came forward with two photographs that show two different men. "That is certainly not Makkawi," Montasser el-Zayat, a lawyer who represented Makkawi in Egypt, told the AP after looking at the FBI's photo of al-Adel. In emails seen by the AP, a man who identifies himself as Makkawi says he has tried several times to clear his name but to no avail. In response to several questions, the FBI declined specific comment last week on whether it was possible the information it had been using was bad or dated. However, on Wednesday the FBI defended its characterization of al-Adel. "It is fair to say that a.k.a.'s/alias known to the FBI and used by subjects listed on our Most Wanted site or for that matter for any individual being sought by law enforcement, can also be the names of true individuals," said FBI spokeswoman Kathleen R. Wright. She said the FBI was confident the man on the poster was al-Adel, but offered no immediate redress for Makkawi over the possible use of his name on the poster. "The distinction in this case is such that we have a photo and other identifiers that distinguish one individual from another," Wright said in an email. She said al-Adel, like other suspects on the 'most wanted' list, was indicted by a U.S. grand jury. However, the original documents in al-Adel's case remain sealed, making it all but impossible for the public to see where the FBI obtained its original evidence or the basic details about al-Adel's identity. The description of al-Adel highlights the questionable intelligence that often goes into profiles of top suspects by the world's intelligence services. Many of the profiles are based on information obtained from captives under duress or worse. Some bits come from unreliable sources. Other tips are never verified. On the surface, some may ask why the world should care — one man is a jihadist with a $5 million bounty on his head; the other a former jihadist turned al-Qaida critic. But the case raises a number of important questions about the accuracy of FBI profiles and how stale or misleading intelligence could hamper searches. Even with fairly good leads, it took U.S. authorities more than a decade to find bin Laden. Al-Adel's profile, for example, was posted in October 2001 when the FBI "Most Wanted Terrorist" list was created — just a month after the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Although some of the descriptive details may be old, the FBI says the details are still accurate and relevant. "We have no information there have been any significant errors regarding the individuals in which we are seeking the public's assistance in locating," the FBI said. Yet since 9/11, dozens of people have been wrongly mistaken for suspected terrorists because of faulty or spotty intelligence. A German man snatched by the CIA in Macedonia and tortured at a secret prison in Afghanistan is suing Macedonia for his ordeal after U.S. courts rejected his case on the grounds that it could reveal government secrets. The man says he was kidnapped from Macedonia in 2003, apparently mistaken for a terror suspect. A Canadian engineer who was also caught up in the U.S. government's secret transfer of terror suspects to ghost sites was deported to Syria when he was mistaken for a terrorist as he changed planes in New York on his way home. The Supreme Court refused to hear his case against top Bush administration officials. "You are going to have good intelligence and bad intelligence, but the problem is when that bad intelligence is used to charge and detain people or to build cases against others," said Ben Wizner, the American Civil Liberties Union attorney representing Khaled el-Masri, the German who was sent to a secret prison and, according to Wizner, has suffered because of the trauma. "This faulty intelligence and disregard for the legal process has damaged and disrupted the lives of innocent people." It is unclear exactly how Makkawi's life has been affected. The former Egyptian army officer who worked in a counterterrorism unit has yet to come forward and did not respond to several emails sent by the AP. Still, in May a man who identified himself as Makkawi sent a handful of emails to journalists and commentators, saying he had been mistaken for al-Adel. In one email to the pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat, which publishes an English edition in London, he claimed he was a colonel in the Egyptian army, has long been an opponent of al-Qaida and other jihadist groups and has been mistaken for al-Adel ever since settling down in Pakistan. He says he and his family have been branded enemies of both the United States and al-Qaida — an unenviable position. In a third email sent to a London commentator and seen by the AP, the man said he and his family had survived multiple assassination attempts in Pakistan. He also says he appealed to officials in the Bush administration to clear his name, but without success. The email is full with basic biographical data — the man says he graduated from the Egyptian Military Academy in 1972, refused to participate in a war against Libya in 1977 and claims he was eventually viewed as a traitor by Egyptian authorities. It is easy enough to understand how the FBI might have thought Makkawi was simply an alias for al-Adel. A tip may have come from a detainee at the U.S. prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, who told investigators he met with a "Muhammad Ibrahim Makkawi, aka (al-Adel)," according to secret documents released by WikiLeaks. Others who say they know both men say al-Adel might intentionally be using Makkawi's name as revenge for Makkawi's pointed criticism of al-Qaida and other jihadist groups. But photographs provided to the AP by people who say they knew both al-Adel and Makkawi show two different men. The FBI's photo of al-Adel shows a slender man with thin hair, full lips and delicate features; a picture of Makkawi — which does not appear on the FBI poster — shows a stout man with a round face, bulbous nose and thick, curly hair. "The big difference between them is that Makkawi hates al-Qaida, hates these jihadist groups, and in particular hates the Egyptian jihadist groups where Zawahiri came from," said Noman Benotman, a former jihadist with links to al-Qaida and now an analyst at the London-based Quilliam Foundation, referring to the Egyptian eye doctor who has succeeded bin Laden as head of the terror network. Both al-Adel and Makkawi are Egyptian, reportedly served in the Egyptian army and were accused of links to jihadist groups. But Makkawi reportedly severed all ties with extremist groups after growing disillusioned with their goals and strategies. Specializing in counterterrorism operations, Makkawi was one of several army officers accused in 1987 of forming a jihadist group. Although he was released without charge after six months in jail, he was sacked from his army job and struggled to find consistent work afterward. In 1988, he reportedly sued the Egyptian interior ministry and demanded compensation. When the suit failed, he went to see family in Saudi Arabia, then went to Afghanistan, and eventually settled in Pakistan. Two British officials, who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity because they aren't authorized to discuss intelligence matters, confirmed that Makkawi is a different man from al-Adel and said he is not wanted as a terror suspect by the British government. Britain has no such public "most wanted" terrorist list. "Makkawi is a different man to el-Adel," one of the officials said. The shadowy world of intelligence has long been built on knowns and unknowns, truths and half-truths and spider webs of good, bad and old information that can take years before it is investigated, if at all. New leads often eclipse old information even as that old data lives on. "Intelligence is a business like anything else," Bob Ayers, a former U.S. intelligence officer, told the AP. Officials at Egypt's newly established National Security apparatus, which is now the gatekeeper of all documents and records related to the Islamic jihadists, declined to provide any details or information about al-Adel or Makkawi. The new body is replacing Egypt's State Security apparatus, which was dissolved after the toppling of Hosni Mubarak. "The individuals listed on the FBI Most Wanted Terrorist page will remain wanted in connection with their alleged crimes until such time as they have been arrested, charges are dropped or when credible physical evidence is obtained, which proves with 100 percent accuracy, that they are deceased," the FBI said.
