8 Americans die in suicide blast in Afghanistan

Stealthed · 12-30-2009, 14:38

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...12-30-15-02-18

CIA bombing raises question about safety protocols

By ANNE FLAHERTY
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The brazen attack that killed seven CIA employees at a remote outpost in Afghanistan is likely to raise questions about whether the agency could do more to protect its operatives on dangerous assignments.

Lawmakers on Thursday issued their condolences and withheld any judgment. But officials said they expected an eventual inquiry as to whether the CIA should re-examine how it deploys individuals in hostile regions and the lengths operatives are allowed to go to get information.

"We owe these brave men and women, and their families who are forever impacted, our deepest appreciation and thanks," said Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, the House Intelligence Committee chairman who had met with the CIA team on a recent trip to Afghanistan.

Wednesday's bombing was a devastating blow to the tightknit spy community. Among the seven CIA employees killed was the chief of the CIA post, whom former officials identified as a mother of three. Six more agency personnel were wounded in what was considered the most lethal attack for the CIA since the war in Afghanistan began in 2001 and possibly even since the 1983 embassy bombing in Beirut.

The bombing occurred at a former military base on the edge of Khost city, the capital of Khost province, which borders Pakistan and is a Taliban stronghold.

The Taliban claimed responsibility, with a spokesman saying the bomber had been an Afghan National Army officer who blew himself up inside a gym at the base. U.S. officials would not confirm that the bomber had been a member of the Afghan army, leaving open the possibility that the uniform had been stolen.

Two former U.S. officials told The Associated Press that the man had been invited onto the base and had not been searched. One of the officials, a former senior intelligence employee, said the man was being courted as an informant and that it was the first time he had been brought inside the camp.

Another U.S. official, a former CIA employee, said it's not uncommon for an operative to forgo additional security if it means gaining a potential informant's trust.

"When you're trying to build a rapport and literally ask them to risk his life for you, you've got a lot to do to build their trust," the former employee said.

President Barack Obama and CIA Director Leon Panetta were joined by several leading lawmakers on Thursday in praising agency employees for their work.

"Those who fell yesterday were far from home and close to the enemy, doing the hard work that must be done to protect our country from terrorism," Panetta said Thursday in a statement confirming the deaths. "We owe them our deepest gratitude, and we pledge to them and their families that we will never cease fighting for the cause to which they dedicated their lives - a safer America."

In a letter to CIA employees, Obama said their fallen colleagues came from a "long line of patriots" who had helped to keep the nation safe despite grave risks.

Harold E. Brown Jr. of Fairfax, Va., was among the dead, according to his father, Harold E. Brown Sr. The elder Brown said his 37-year-old son, who grew up in Bolton, Mass., served in the Army and worked for the State Department. He is survived by a wife and three children ages 12, 10 and 2.

The CIA did not release information about the victims, citing the sensitivity of their mission and other ongoing operations.

---

Associated Press writers Adam Goldman in New York City, and Pamela Hess and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

**Pete** · 12-30-2009, 15:06

BBC Story on it

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8435502.stm

AngelsSix · 12-30-2009, 19:11

It truly sucks no matter who it was...prayers out to the families tonight.

lindy · 12-30-2009, 20:40

(CNN) -- An attack by a suicide bomber at a military base in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday killed eight Americans believed to be CIA employees, a senior U.S. official told CNN.

Prayers out to the families and ones left behind regardless of their affiliation.

incarcerated · 12-30-2009, 21:58

The item below is from yesterday's news.
Have a plan to kill everyone you meet.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5BS2JW20091229

Afghan soldier kills U.S. service member at army base

Sharafuddin Sharafyar
HERAT, Afghanistan
Tue Dec 29, 2009 1:53pm EST
HERAT, Afghanistan (Reuters) - An Afghan soldier killed a U.S. service member and wounded two Italian soldiers when he opened fire on foreign troops at an army base in western Afghanistan on Tuesday, a senior Afghan army officer said.

The shooting is the latest in a string of such incidents, at a time when Western countries are pouring resources into training Afghan soldiers and police to fight the Taliban insurgency.

"The soldier opened fire on the two Italians and one American in a joint Afghan and foreign base," General Khair Mohammad Khawari, a senior officer in western Afghanistan, told Reuters.

"Two Italian soldiers were wounded, one American soldier was killed," Khawari said, adding that the Afghan soldier had been wounded when NATO forces returned fire and was now in hospital.

The assailant comes from an area north of the Afghan capital Kabul and is thought to have mental health problems, Khawari added. The Taliban traditionally had less of a hold in northern Afghanistan but have expanded their reach across the country.

A spokesman for NATO-led forces said a U.S. service member had died following a shooting incident in western Afghanistan. Foreign and Afghan forces were investigating the incident, he said, but declined to give any more details.

Italian Defense Ministry officials said the attack, which was deliberate and not a case of friendly fire, occurred during a routine supply operation....

lindy · 12-31-2009, 07:15

More info from the Washington Post.

MtnGoat · 12-31-2009, 08:14

My Prayers go out to their Families and Friends.

One thing I don't like reading is the point that this is CIA FOB. I really feel the media should only be allowed to report that this is a U.S. FOB Base or a U.S. Military Bases. Even if the reporter did go out to that base and did ask the locals what is this camp or base to you. Who lives here, ETC

I feel its a FP thing?!!??!

incarcerated · 12-31-2009, 15:25

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1262...IDDLTopStories

CIA Officers, Including Base Chief, Killed in Afghan Attack

Taliban Claims Responsibility for Suicide Bombing at Forward Operating Base
ASIA NEWS DECEMBER 31, 2009, 3:53 P.M. ET
By SIOBHAN GORMAN and ANAND GOPAL
WASHINGTON -- Seven Central Intelligence Agency officers and contractors were killed and six more wounded in a suicide bomb attack in Afghanistan, the CIA Director Leon Panetta said Thursday, the second largest single-day loss for the spy agency in its history.

Among the casualties was the agency's base chief, former intelligence officials said.

The Taliban claimed responsibility Thursday for the bombing, the worst loss of life for the U.S. in Afghanistan since October....

The number of casualties in Wednesday's attack was second to those the agency sustained in the Beirut embassy bombing in 1983, which killed eight CIA officers. That attack eradicated the agency's entire Middle East group and was one of the key events that drove the creation of the CIA's Counterterrorist Center a few years later.

"It will mark this generation the same way Beirut marked mine," said Ron Marks, a 16-year CIA veteran, who left the agency in 1999. With CIA officers deployed to the far reaches of Afghanistan and Pakistan for extended periods, he said, the agency has been lucky to have avoided such attacks for as long as it did. "This is what you're going to have to expect," he said.

On Capitol Hill, the chairmen of the House and Senate intelligence committees issued statements of condolence....

Basenshukai · 12-31-2009, 18:18

Maybe I'm paranoid, but something about all of these events in the last three months alone has me with the hair on the back of my neck standing up. For some reason I'm thinking something big may happen on New Year's Day. If it was me, that's when I'd attack. Maybe it's nothing... but I'm still carrying my piece tonight... and I'm not drinking.

Paslode · 12-31-2009, 20:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rangertab1

I wonder if they are here...on The Continent...in our midst.......waiting for the 'signal'? I wonder how many? 200-300?

They are here and have been for sometime.

glebo · 01-01-2010, 06:51

RT-1 "what the 'signal' of surprise will be? Wonder when? Where? Hmmmmmmmm"

"The Chair is against the wall"....."John has a long mustach".

Or something like that.

But you can bey your bottom dollar, they are here waiting......and so am I, to help them to their virgins.

dadof18x'er · 01-01-2010, 07:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by glebo

RT-1 "what the 'signal' of surprise will be? Wonder when? Where? Hmmmmmmmm"

"The Chair is against the wall"....."John has a long mustach".

Or something like that.

But you can bey your bottom dollar, they are here waiting......and so am I, to help them to their virgins.

they would be foolish to wait till the nation swings back toward the right and builds up our defenses, we seem to be ripe for the plucking....God Have Mercy on us!!

G · 01-01-2010, 08:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by Basenshukai

Maybe I'm paranoid, but something about all of these events in the last three months alone has me with the hair on the back of my neck standing up. For some reason I'm thinking something big may happen on New Year's Day. If it was me, that's when I'd attack. Maybe it's nothing... but I'm still carrying my piece tonight... and I'm not drinking.

Basenshukai,

Whether or not anything happens on New Years Day, the atmosphere at the moment reminds me of the couple of years leading up to 9/11. (2000, & most of 2001). Lot's of foiled plots, major & minor, indications that the bad guys are working towards another big hit.

Could it be that while we're all mainly focused on A/stan, Yemen is now equivalent to A/stan in the late 90's in terms of training and logistical bases for AQ and the global jihad guys? If not Yemen, somewhere else? Are we (the invested Western countries) flexible and smart enough to move as fast as they do? I have my doubts (not about the guys that go in to do the hard work, but about the capacity of govt. to react appropriately to the signs before them).

I can only hope, but in the meantime - I agree, the hair in the back of my neck is standing up too.....

Take Care

G

kgoerz · 01-01-2010, 08:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rangertab1

I wonder if they are here...on The Continent...in our midst.......waiting for the 'signal'? I wonder how many? 200-300? I wonder how many wanna-bes will react because of what they think/heard/dreamed/guessed is the Grand Plan against America? Wonder what the 'signal' of surprise will be? Wonder when? Where? Hmmmmmmmm.

Let us enjoy our cookies and milk and remember to share with the children. The look on their face as the cookie meets the taste-bud region is heavenly....amen.

CIA.....you are being watched and the system you work within will continue to be used against you, my brethren. You are hated by haters. You are the most prized intelligence target to OBL, both in the field and on The Continent. You will bleed again and that will be a Goddambed shame....Lord forgive me.

Remember, gentle and not so gentle men, the most brilliant of the Evil will always challange the most brilliant of the Good. Soon.......very soon. I shall wait and listen from my front porch.

Cheers to 2010......it will be one for the ages. YMMV.

More like just 2 or 3 would do it. 2 or 3 shooting sprees in consecutive days in random places. This country would shut down. The Military would be patrolling Schools and Malls. I'm sure it would be in states where CCW is forbidden. The only fear Suicide attackers have is the possibility Failure.

**The Reaper** · 01-01-2010, 10:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by kgoerz

More like just 2 or 3 would do it. 2 or 3 shooting sprees in consecutive days in random places. This country would shut down. The Military would be patrolling Schools and Malls. I'm sure it would be in states where CCW is forbidden. The only fear Suicide attackers have is the possibility Failure.

Exactly.

No practical security or defense. Best hope is that LEO, security, or CCWs get them soon after they start firing. Might even get away with it and get out alive, at least the first few times.

One or two sprees per day for a few days. Remember the DC Sniper?

Is there anything in the mall worth your life? What do you do as a business owner when people refuse to come to your place of business, in an already depressed economy?

TR