This Newswek "web exclusive" is very much worth reading. If it is true, it’s too darn bad. And we may have the BBC to thank for blowing a potentially significant operation. The story claims that a premature leak made the story public, and this may have prevented us from breaking into al-Qaeda’s arms-buying network. It is possible that the FBI was trying to "flip" Lakhani, and then use him as an undercover informant who could have then led our guys to real-life Osama bin Laden operatives seeking sophisticated weapons. After the BBC report the FBI had to abort the plans.