Monday, July 11, 2011
The CIA is sneakier than I had thought
Whether or not it succeeded, this strikes me as a fairly creative black op:
The CIA organised a fake vaccination programme in the town where it believed Osama bin Laden was hiding in an elaborate attempt to obtain DNA from the fugitive al-Qaida leader's family, a Guardian investigation has found.
As part of extensive preparations for the raid that killed Bin Laden in May, CIA agents recruited a senior Pakistani doctor to organise the vaccine drive in Abbottabad, even starting the "project" in a poorer part of town to make it look more authentic, according to Pakistani and US officials and local residents.
Not surprisingly, our "friends" the Pakistanis are not amused.
The doctor, Shakil Afridi, has since been arrested by the Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) for co-operating with American intelligence agents...
The doctor is one of several people suspected of helping the CIA to have been arrested by the ISI, but he is thought to be the only one still in custody.
Pakistan is furious over being kept in the dark about the raid, and the US is angry that the Pakistani investigation appears more focused on finding out how the CIA was able to track down the al-Qaida leader than on how Bin Laden was able to live in Abbottabad for five years.
Props to the CIA for running the op, even if it may not have succeeded in getting Bin Laden family DNA, and brickbats to the Pakistanis taking our foreign aid money without finding Bin Laden in their own backyard. Don't they know they were being bribed?
4 Comments:
By 
, at
Mon Jul 11, 10:55:00 PM:
Cool plan, except that it gives third-world knuckleheads another retarded reason to hate and fear vaccinations.
By 
Mr. Bingley, at
Tue Jul 12, 08:00:00 AM:
Can this Administration ever do anything right and not blab it?
By , at
Tue Jul 12, 03:44:00 PM:
It's time to cut off the bribe machine. Tell the ISI if they want to restore U.S. funding, the interservices can first prove they are worthy by dismantling/destroying their creature, the Taliban. Meanwhile, we will continue to destroy the remnants of al Qaeda in the tribal hinterlands, alleged Pakistani sovereignty be damned.
Additionally, we should make very ostentatious overtures to India, maybe even sign a multi-billion dollar mutual-defense treaty or two. If Pakistan wants back in, I'm sure some there are smart enough to figure out what it will take to re-ingratiate themselves into our graft-dispensing good graces.
By , at
Tue Jul 12, 09:57:00 PM:
Great Story...
But if this was connected to some Holder/Obama scheme to have DNA evidence for a Civilian Court Trial, I think we could have saved taxpayer funds.
We knew a great deal about the terrorists when we did some serious interrogation, and we know they must be detained in GITMO, or eliminated on the Battle Field.
The jumping through hoops often makes the task (victory) more complex, and Team Obama's "no win" strategy of appeasement is a waste.
