CIA prepared birthday cake for double agent who bombed Afghan base

[CTuttle]

Source: The Guardian

CIA officers in Afghanistan were so eager to meet the spy they believed would help them crack al-Qaida's leadership, they planned a birthday celebration complete with cake for his visit in December, according to officials.

But before they could begin to question their source, he detonated a powerful bomb, killing himself and seven CIA employees, in one of the deadliest attacks in the agency's history. Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, a 36-year-old doctor who had been recruited by Jordanian intelligence officials, was a double agent.

The account, confirmed by current and former officials briefed on the case, is the latest evidence that CIA officials at the Afghan base had trusted Balawi and wanted to build rapport with him. The bombing not only weakened US intelligence operations, it started a contentious debate within the intelligence community about whether the CIA was too lax with its security.

The CIA director, Leon Panetta, has scoffed at suggestions that security lapses were to blame for the attack. But it remains unclear why there was such a large contingent around Balawi when the bomb erupted.

It was not unusual for CIA officers to offer gestures such as a birthday cake or a small gift for spies they oversee, former intelligence officials said. Such gestures lightened the mood, relieved pressure and convinced an informant of his importance.

"Normally though, that's something you do after you've established a relationship," said the former CIA and National Security Council official Bruce Riedel, who was not aware of the CIA's birthday plans for Balawi. "It's not something you do on the first date."

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/25/cia-birthday-cake-afghanistan-bomber

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WTF were they thinking...?

[RaleighNCDUer]

1. No doubt, they were thinking

"This is NOT going as well as they're saying back home - we gotta get some results from this guy."

[nyc 4 Biden]

2. i dont give a crap about the birthday cake.

although i'm sure it will be propped up as a RW talking point about how "weak dems" prefer gathering intelligence. i'm more concerned with how the guy got a bomb within striking distance to that many CIA personnel.

eta: spelling

[Ian David]

5. It's more about how the CIA has been strained to the breaking point by this endless war.

They had an inexperienced CIA person in charge of security at the base.

[TwilightGardener]

3. That just makes me sad. Still feel bad for those agents and their families.

[Ian David]

6. I feel less bad about CIA losses since I learned about their war crimes.

Not that I condone bombing them.

[TwilightGardener]

7. For all we know, none of these men were involved in anything immoral--

they may have been gathering intelligence that would allow our forces to achieve their missions sooner and come home, or would keep them safer while they are deployed there. They died in service to their country--that earns my respect.

[Vinnie From Indy]

8. I agree!!

Painting with a broad brush in these circumstances is just plain wrong. The fact is that our military and intelligence agencies are filled with our fellow Americans and they have mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers just like we do. I feel for all of them and I hope that we can bring them home yesterday and quit with these tragic, wasteful, dishonest wars.

[Ian David]

4. Tip-off should have been when he brought his own birthday present to the party.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5M0BEZry3do/SWJjO6cALmI/AAAAAAAABXc/I50QEYvdTLs/s400/Jokey+Smurf.gif

[nyy1998]

10. LOL

[howard112211]

9. The cake is a lie !!

[hayu_lol]

11. What sort of juvenile minds is our money hiring for the CIA?

Reagan, you may remember, bought the Ayatollah an illustrated bible, a highly decorated chocolate cake, and a bunch of missles.

Has this mindset been set in stone back at Langly?

[htuttle]

12. I was remembering that very thing when I read this story

A cake? Who the hell brings 'office cake' to a spy?