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CIA director responds to criticism of agency
 [Al Arabiya Latest] CIA Director Leon Panetta, in an article published Sunday, revealed that a Jordanian doctor who killed seven agency operatives was about to be searched before he blew himself up at a US military base in Afghanistan.
"This was not a question of trusting a potential intelligence asset, even one who had provided information that we could verify independently. It is never that simple, and no one ignored the hazards," Panetta wrote in The Washington Post.
| Though Leon can be quite a weasel in his political forays, I'd like to think that in running CIA he has a modicum of professionalism and can be trusted with this account. But I'd also like confirmation. |
"The individual was about to be searched by our security officers -- a distance away from other intelligence personnel -- when he set off his explosives."
" The individual was about to be searched by our security officers -- a distance away from other intelligence personnel -- when he set off his explosives "
CIA Director Leon Panetta |
The Post said the Central Intelligence Agency had been planning to speak with the suicide bomber about ways to kill Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda's number two leader, a top U.S. target who remains at large.
Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, a Jordanian of Palestinian origin who is said to have been a triple agent, blew himself up at a U.S. military base in Khost near the Pakistani border on December 30, in the deadliest attack against the spy agency since 1983.
In addition to the agents, Balawi also killed his Jordanian handler -- a top intelligence officer and member of the royal family.
Nearly everyone within sight of the bomber died instantly when thousands of steel pellets exploded from the device.
| That's a Palestinian-style device, not really surprising from a Jordanian. We'll probably not be told whether or not the pellets were coated with rat poison, also Palestinian-style, which prevents the victims blood from coagulating and results in more deaths and debilitation than the initial wounds would indicate. |
According to The Post, the victims included a top CIA expert on al-Qaeda, a 45-year-old woman with three children who had spent nearly 10 years in the agency's counterterrorism center and had several brief tours in Afghanistan.
At least six other people, including the CIA's second-in-command in Afghanistan, were wounded, the paper said, citing U.S. officials briefed on the incident.
| Let us wish them speedy healing and revenge on the killer's entire line of management. |
Posted by: Fred 2010-01-11 |
