[KLIMOV25gyi]

WASHINGTON — Intelligence officials thought they had “flipped” him. The Jordanian-born doctor who had gained a reputation for his online messages in favor of jihad in Afghanistan now claimed he had urgent information to share with CIA officers about al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden’s top lieutenant.

Once his debriefing began inside Camp Chapman, a tightly secured CIA forward base in Khost province on the fractious Afghan-Pakistan frontier, the double agent revealed his true mission by detonating the explosive vest he was wearing. The blast last Wednesday killed seven CIA employees and a Jordanian intelligence officer, and injured six other CIA personnel.

A former senior U.S. intelligence official and a foreign government official confirmed Monday that the suicide bomber, Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, 36, of Zarqa, Jordan, had been invited to Camp Chapman. Zarqa is the hometown of slain al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. NBC News first reported the bomber’s identity.

A second former U.S. intelligence official identified the dead as four CIA officers and three contracted security guards with the American spy agency and a Jordanian intelligence officer, Ali bin Zaid. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the incident.

Al-Balawi was arrested more than a year ago by Jordanian intelligence, NBC News reported. He was invited to Camp Chapman because he was offering urgent information to track down Ayman al-Zawahri, bin Laden’s right-hand man.

The CIA declined to comment on the report.

Hajj Yacoub, a self-proclaimed spokesman for the Taliban in Pakistan, identified the bomber on Muslim militant Web sites as Hammam Khalil Mohammed, also known as Abu-Dujana al-Khurasani. There was no independent confirmation of Yacoub’s statement.

Al-Balawi was not searched for bombs when he got onto Camp Chapman, according to both former officials and a current intelligence official. He detonated the explosive shortly after his debriefing began, according to one of the former intelligence officials.

The bodies of the CIA employees arrived Monday at Dover Air Force Base, Del., in a small private ceremony attended by CIA Director Leon Panetta, other agency and national security officials, and friends and family, said CIA spokesman George Little.

“These patriots courageously served their nation. The agency extends its gratitude to the United States military for their unwavering support since the attack, including their assistance at Dover,” Little said in a statement.

The former senior intelligence official said one of the big unanswered questions is why so many people were present for the debriefing — the interview of the source — when the explosive was detonated.

A half-dozen former CIA officers told The Associated Press that in most cases, only one or two agency officers would typically meet with a possible informant along with an interpreter. Such small meetings would normally be used to limit the danger and the possible exposure of the identities of both officers and informants.

An online jihadist magazine in September posted an interview with al-Balawi, according to SITE Monitoring Service, a terrorist watch group that reads and translates messages on extremist forums.

SITE said Monday that al-Balawi used his pseudonym — identified as Khorsani — in the postings, describing how he rose through the ranks of online jihadist forums. He said he went to Afghanistan to fight, and he exhorted others to do violence.

“No words are more eloquent than those proven by acts, so that if that Muslim survives, he will be one who proves his words with acts. If he dies in the Cause of Allah, he will grant his words glory that will be permanent marks on the path to guide to jihad, with permission from Allah,” al-Balawi wrote, according to SITE’s translation.

A Jordanian government official, who was not authorized to speak to the press, said the Jordanian government has no connection to the bomber. The official said the Jordanian government had not verified whether the bomber was Jordanian.

The Taliban’s Yacoub said the Jordanian intelligence officer, bin Zaid, was helping the CIA recruit agents to spy on al-Qaida in Afghanistan. Bin Zaid allegedly recruited the suicide bomber.

Jordan’s state news agency Petra identified bin Zaid as an army officer on a humanitarian mission in Afghanistan. It said he was killed Wednesday evening “as a martyr while performing the sacred duty of the Jordanian forces in Afghanistan.” It did not provide other details.

The Jordanian military released a brief statement acknowledging bin Zaid had been killed in Afghanistan, but it did not mention he was working with Jordanian intelligence or cooperating with the CIA.

Bin Zaid’s family declined to comment.

Bin Zaid is known to be a relative of Jordan’s King Abdullah II. He held the title of sharif, or nobleman, which was bestowed upon him by the Jordanian monarch.

King Abdullah and other members of the royal family received Bin Zaid’s body, which was repatriated Saturday in a private ceremony. His wake was held in the Royal Palace.

The death of bin Zaid underscored the close relationship between the Jordanian intelligence service and the CIA in the U.S. global war on terrorism.

Jordan is known to have acted as a proxy jailer for the CIA in 2004, when Jordanian intelligence officers interrogated several al-Qaida militants who were flew in on rendition flights from Guantanamo Bay.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch and several other watchdogs rebuked Jordan for what they described then as systematic torture of the detainees. Jordan denied the link to the CIA and the abuse allegations.

A key U.S. ally in the Middle East, Jordan also contributed valuable intelligence data to the United States, which helped track down al-Zarqawi, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike in June 2006.


Article: http://www.militarytimes.com/news/20...attack_010510/

[andrekuper]

Did no one think to give him even a perfunctory pat-down ??

[dalnecymync]

According to one of the news channels which had a CIA operative (former) on it, he thought that "Maybe they felt padding him down would show a lack of trust whic is important when flipping someone to be your operative.."

[adoreorerie]

The CIA thinks a lot of things. Sometimes I wonder if CIA stands for Central Idiots Agency.
They think they are all high and mighty. The 9/11 plot just slipped right by you guys didn't it ?

I am very sorry for the recent loss of your employees by the way.

[JohnVK]

All part of Obama's failed and ill-advised war in Afghanistan. A quagmire in every sense of the word.

[CuittisIL]

All part of Obama's failed and ill-advised war in Afghanistan. A quagmire in every sense of the word.

OBAMA'S failed and ill-advised war in Afghanistan ?? I think you mean BUSH'S failed and ill-advised war in Afghanistan.

[Keyclenef]

The CIA thinks a lot of things. Sometimes I wonder if CIA stands for Central Idiots Agency. .

Na. its Complete Idiot Association.