Eight American civilians were killed today

[ms]

Dec. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Eight American civilians were killed today in a suicide-bomb attack on a U.S. military base in Afghanistan, a U.S. official said.

A single attacker was responsible for the blast, which also caused an unspecified number of injuries, according to the official, who asked not to be identified.

A Pentagon spokeswoman, Lieutenant Colonel Almarah Belk, said the Americans died in an explosion at Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost province. Belk said she didn’t know what installations or agencies are located at the base.

“We mourn the loss of life in this attack, and are withholding further details pending notification of next of kin,” State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said in an e-mailed statement.

The U.S. has been expanding the ranks of civilian aid experts in Afghanistan in parallel with the surge of military reinforcements aimed at the Taliban insurgency.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Todd Vician said the explosion is under investigation.

Khost is located in eastern Afghanistan, along the border with Pakistan.

[BBF]

There has got to be "inside" help in this or the CIA is more of a Keystone Cops outfit then I thought.

BTW.  Just how "civilian" are CIA operatives

[beerbelly]

MS, I don't know why people get all up tight about the damm war! Everyone there volunteered to be there! No one was drafted! The civilians for the big bucks. The military people to serve their country or for the adventure of it. So why th3e hell are you yelling about it?
                                                   Beerbelly

[alsaqr]

Seven CIA agents were killed and six were wounded by the bomb.  The bomber was invited into the camp as a prospective operative:  He was not searched. 

[Redtail1949]

yep people get killed when they do not take care of business that is the way it is. i can not wait until we toast some of the scum in yemen.

[ShadowMover]

Looks like incompetence to me. According to the link:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091231/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan
" Former CIA officials said the base chief, a mother of three, would have directed and coordinated CIA operations and intelligence gathering in the province, a hotbed of Taliban and insurgent activity because of its proximity to Pakistan's lawless tribal region."
She was obviously clueless in that type of situation; whoever sent her ought to be fired as well.  Maybe I'm being harsh, but why wasn't this person searched, multiple times.  A woman CIA agent going to Taliban territory is the equivalent of sending a man into a tiger cage with a piece of prime rib strapped to his belt during feeding time.

Civilians? I guess the terrorist was a 'civilian' too by their definition?

My condolences to the families of the dead and injured Americans. They will never get any answers or satisfactory explanations.

[williamlayton]

There are many risk being in one of these camps---one of which is having to deal with locals.
there are two or three agencies in these camps, besides CIA.
These camps are embeded outside of the help of armed forces for many reasons.
These boys have agood idea of the risk and what it takes to get the job done---this is not their first rodeo.
Blessings

[BBF]

TM7
Am not at home for a while so I'm just reading local stuff and what gets posted here.
William:
 Re rodeo,  I guess they expected tame ponies.

[williamlayton]

FU's don't generally offer second chances.
These are intelligent people over there, they watch and have their own intelligence sources.
Just as we do, they exploit security lapses.
No I don't think they are tame ponies by any stretch of the imagination.
I know what I think happened.
Blessings

[alsaqr]

The suicide bomber was a Jordanian doctor.  He had been earrested in Jordan about a year and the Jordanian intelligence folks thought that they had turned him.  One of the eople killed at Khost was a Jordanian intelligence officer.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100104/ap_on_go_ot/us_cia_afghan_attack

WASHINGTON – The suicide bomber who killed eight people inside a CIA base in eastern Afghanistan last week was a Jordanian doctor recruited by Jordanian intelligence, a former senior U.S. intelligence official and a foreign government official confirmed Monday.

The bombing killed seven CIA employees_ four officers and three contracted security guards_ and a Jordanian intelligence officer, Ali bin Zaid, according to a second former U.S. intelligence official. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the incident.

The former senior intelligence official and the foreign official said the bomber was Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, a 36-year old doctor from Zarqa, Jordan. NBC News first reported the bomber's identity.

He was arrested more than a year ago by Jordanian intelligence and was thought to have been persuaded to support U.S. and Jordanian efforts against al-Qaida, according to the NBC report. He was invited to Camp Chapman, a tightly secured CIA forward base in Khost province on the fractious Afghan-Pakistan frontier, because he was offering urgent information to track down Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's right-hand man.

[williamlayton]

Folks, and this is not preaching, you are seeking an understanding of things you cannot find an answer too. This is not life in America---BG's are not BG's as we want them to be. They are investments and investments go sour.
You may want to control but if not careful, you may become the one controlled and doing the bidding of another that is in direct opposition to your desires.
It is a position of pride and wanting to do something so bad that you become a victim of your own desire.
It is a game. Pride and personal ambitions can get you killed.
Blessings  

[jimster]

Yes, I think you hit it pretty close there williamlayton. 

Plus....we must remember that no place is safe...not even our own military bases in our own country.
How could any place be safe? 

Jim
 

[williamlayton]

Business is business. This is not war as most would consider.
There are places for beaurecrats and there is a place for professionals--the two are not necessarily the same though there is that attempt.
Consider this:
In a business war, there are few rules. It is simply business.
These are business camps. They are not in contact with the military and the military is not involved in their business. It is not possible for the military to come to their immediate aid.
Blessings