from Hacker News

Frederick Forsyth reveals MI6 spying past

by rb2e on 8/30/15, 1:59 PM with 18 comments

• by branchless on 8/30/15, 3:34 PM

  This article doesn't have a lot of information but my first instinct is to ask: if children are dying like flies and you are a reporter then the best way to confirm this to the British govt, to MI6 and to everyone would be to report on it.

  My second thought was: I wonder in the future how many people in positions of wealth/power will come out as having worked for GCHQ/MI6 given this seems to be a growth "industry" in the UK.

• by eps on 8/30/15, 4:56 PM

  Sounds like he was a recruited informant rather than a career intelligence officer. These capacities are quite a bit different.

• by jpatokal on 8/31/15, 5:33 AM

  Incidentally, Forsyth wrote a non-fiction book about Biafra: http://www.amazon.com/The-Biafra-Story-Making-African/dp/184...

  Turns out special agent fiction sells a lot better.

• by 1457389 on 8/30/15, 6:54 PM

  What happened to the other comments here?

• by 0xFFC on 8/30/15, 8:30 PM

  off the topic , since when bbc shows ads ?( I am not regular visitor of bbc/cnn/etc kind of news , but I thought bbc does not show ads )

• by Bulkington on 8/31/15, 12:40 AM

  From the article: Forsyth said he saw "no harm" in confirming the truth that "children were dying like flies" in Biafra.

  Yes, it's wonderful to be a journalist in a conflict zone where each side assumes you're an agent for whichever Western power is propping up the puppet regime/insurgency. And they have grounds for the suspicion.