AP sources: Suicide bomber invited on base

[darkstar]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON – The suicide bomber who killed seven CIA employees and wounded six more at a remote outpost in southeastern Afghanistan had been invited onto the base and had not been searched, two former U.S. officials have told The Associated Press.

A former senior intelligence official says the man was being courted as an informant and that it was the first time he had been brought inside the camp.

The official says a senior and experienced CIA debriefer came from Kabul for the meeting, suggesting that the purpose of the meeting was to gain intelligence.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091231/ap_on_go_ot/us_cia_afghan_attack

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I've got nothing to add. Stunned.

[TheCowsCameHome]

1. All the more reason to be out of that miserable hole.

[marshall]

17. He likely had the bomb stuffed up his own miserable hole

It's unbelievable. Next will be a mother with her freshly gutted baby that's been stuffed with explisives.

[bemildred]

18. I'm guessing a freshly gutted baby would cause difficulties in getting on base.

They invited this guy in, and did not search him.

[TwilightGardener]

2. Weird story. Might want to step up security precautions a little, ya think?

[Arctic Dave]

3. One of them main reasons fighting a modern indigenous insurgency is futile.

They are only your friend until they find the opportunity to kill you.

[darkstar]

4. Right. If you can't

trust an informant you've cultivated to the extent that you fly in agents, have the station chief present, etc., there's no winning that hearts and minds ground game, IMO.

[givemebackmycountry]

6. Boy, post #4 and post #5 say everything that I am thinking.

We ain't gonna "WIN" jack shit so fuck every asshole that says we must be "victorious".
We ain't gonna "change" shit, it's been that way for 2000 years and they kicked everyones ass that said "dudes, you need to change".
We ain't learned dick because last time I looked, there wasn't any Princeton there but these people are smart when it comes to blowing your ass up.
They ain't ever going to love us, respect us, be like us and they just are not that "into us".
We can spend every dime we have trying to make things better for them (while ignoring OUR country) and the first opportunity they get, they will exact revenge.

We need to get the fuck out of there.

[closeupready]

8. I've been thinking for a while about this, that since it is so obvious,

we must be there for a reason which has not been disclosed publicly, but which is considered overwhelmingly compelling.

[rfranklin]

9. yes, that is so obvious it is painful when I hear talk about "winning"

The purpose is not to "win," it is to control that area of Asia so that the Chinese can't control the flow of petroleum. But that wouldn't win the hearts and minds of the voters in America. You have to jack them up with some fantasy about Osama bin Laden and the Taliban and democracry for people who don't want it. (Especially because our "democracy" means easy access for corporate exploitation.)

[bermudat]

13. Ditto

They blew up the CIA? I thought the CIA were supposed to be badass.

So the CIA can't protect themselves any better than this?

This country needs to get the f*ck out but we won't because Obama

is invested in being a war president and the war profiteers won't

allow it.

[xchrom]

5. As cluster fucks go -- this one is going

To be hard to beat.

[MadMaddie]

7. So because he was a possible informant they threw all protocol

out the window. What the hell?

[benld74]

10. It was also the LAST time he was iinvited into the camp,,, FOLLOW PROTOCOL!!!

[pjt7]

11. The Asian Development Bank

is behind the Afghan Pipleline, who works for them in our Gov.?

[BP2]

12. Gotta ask:

Why the hell are we there again?

[Downwinder]

14. Could be, because our banker wants a pipeline to Iran,

and does not want to take the heat himself. How else can we repay debts, other than as a mercenary army?

[msongs]

15. Dick cheney is available. let's send him there as a citizen volunteer nt

[Arrowhead2k1]

16. lol, they really think they can get these tribal people on "our" infidel side? How naive.

This ain't Iraq. These people are even more extreme. They should be isolated not conquered.

[daleo]

19. The base was close to Pakistan

They must have trusted this guy. I wonder if that is significant. I also wonder if this has a connection to the allegations of U.S. forces pulling people (including 14 year olds) out of bed and shooting them. Perhaps a trusted source went off the reservation and decided to extract revenge.

[bemildred]

20. I was wondering if there was a connection too.

No way to tell so far.

[daleo]

22. The timing of events is noteworthy

The IED that killed the 5 Canadians was at about the same time, in an area that was supposed to be secure. It could be that somebody may have decided to send a message.

[bemildred]

25. Something like that.

It seems clear they got suckered, and that makes it clear they can be suckered. I have a distinct feeling that - like in Yemen - we are being played.

[daleo]

34. The possibility of drugs also occurred to me

There is a body of opinion that says intelligence agencies like the CIA get involved with drug running, whether to secure un-sourced "black" funding or just because agents fall prey to the temptations of easy money. If that were the case, undocumented visits by locals in the heroin trade would be likely. Perhaps that explains the lack of security in this case.

[bemildred]

36. Yipes.

I dunno. Speculating. But the ingredients are all there, and that would make you a real witches brew.

[Algorem]

21. since when do they tell us about CIA agents getting killed?

[shadowknows69]

24. Thank you. I've actually been wondering about that myself.

Doesn't it potentially put other assets in danger of exposure?

[Peace Patriot]

35. THAT is a very good question. nt

[shadowknows69]

23. WTF is going on?

[Ian David]

26. See if he ever gets invited anywhere else again. n/t

[UpInArms]

27. Afghanistan Suicide Bomber May Have Been Helped by CIA Informant

Source: Wall Street Journal

KABUL--The suicide bomber who killed eight Americans, including seven CIA officers, this week might have been able to get through multiple layers of security at the U.S. compound aided by an Afghan informant with the agency, a Western official said Friday.

If this is true, it suggests insurgents had turned the tables on the CIA and been able to place their own agents close to the facility the CIA used to cultivate informants.

On Wednesday, CIA officials had invited the attacker onto the base with the hopes of recruiting him as an informant. They used an Afghan intermediary to arrange the meeting. The attacker arrived, wearing an Afghan army uniform, officials said.

The assault shows a strategy the insurgency has increasingly employed here in recent months: using the uniforms and vehicles of the Afghan army and police to carry out attacks.

At times, militants strike with the help of sympathizers in the Afghan forces. In November, an Afghan police officer opened fire on Western forces, killing five British soldiers, and a similar incident happened in early December. Insurgent sympathizers in the police force helped plan both attacks, Afghan officials said.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126235171131012657.html?mod=article-outset-box

[peacebird]

28. can we declare "victory" and bring our folks home now?

please?


It's not like our staying there is actually helping anything, except the bank accunts of the corporations supplying arms and equipment to the military.

[geckosfeet]

29. It's pretty damn obvious they had turned the tables. It's Afghanistan. Their home turf.

They have an inherent advantage.

Afghanistan is much larger than Iraq, more tribal and less centralized. To state the obvious, this means a different strategy than used in Iraq is required.

Anti-US forces have had six years to plan for this.

[sulphurdunn]

30. How many CIA spooks do we have over there?

[Bigmack]

31. 7 less than we did.....

[ShockediSay]

32. Reportedly, our suicide bomber was

being recruited as an informant/collaborator

[KoKo]

33. Why do we think the people we invade are stupid? Afghani's have

been outwitting colonialists for centuries. Arrogance...