CIA bomber 'not properly vetted'

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  • xman
    Admin
    • Sep 2006
    • 24007

    CIA bomber 'not properly vetted'

    </span> Al-Balawi (r) was arrested by Jordanian intelligence a year before the deadly attack
    A suicide bomber who killed seven CIA agents at a meeting at a remote base in eastern Afghanistan in January had not been properly vetted, the CIA said.

    Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, a Jordanian al-Qaeda sympathiser, blew himself up after promising to give crucial intelligence on top US targets.

    In a letter to employees, CIA director Leon Panetta cited a range of failures that gave him proximity to the agents.

    The attack was the worst against US intelligence officials since 1983.

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    Mr Panetta said a classified report into the incident had found al-Balawi had already provided intelligence that had been independently corroborated, and CIA officers believed he had more to offer.

    "He had confirmed access within extremist circles, making a covert relationship with him - if he was acting in good faith - potentially very productive," Mr Panetta wrote. "But he had not rejected his terrorist roots."

    Al-Balawi, 36, had been a doctor in Jordan, and had been arrested by Jordanian intelligence a year before the deadly attack at Forward Operating Base Chapman.

    He was then reportedly recruited by the Jordanians and the CIA, who wrongly thought they had turned him, and given a mission to find al-Qaeda leaders.

    This article is from the BBC News website. ? British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.


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