Sacred Rage: The Wife of Al-Balawi Speaks Out

Photos: Courtesy Defne Bayrak via Newsweek Türkiye (left); Engin Iriz / Newsweek Türkiye /

Newsweek Online: The Bomber’s Wife, 7 January 2009
In an exclusive interview withNEWSWEEK Türkiye, the wife of the suicide bomber who killed seven CIA employees in Afghanistan talks about her husband's life and beliefs. http://www.newsweek.com/id/229792

By Adem Demir and Christopher Dickey | Newsweek Turkiye

Soft-spoken and composed, but unmistakably angry, the wife of the suicide bomber who killed himself and seven employees of the CIA in Afghanistan on Dec. 30 says flatly, "My husband was anti-American; so am I." About that, there are no regrets. In an exclusive interview Thursday, Defne Bayrak, 31, spent more than an hour at the offices of NEWSWEEK Türkiye in Istanbul talking about her husband, Dr. Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi; his beliefs; what he may have been offered by the CIA to work as a double agent on the trail of Al Qaeda's top leadership; and what she heard from those apostles of jihad who ultimately inspired him to kill and die....(more)