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I just read today where AQ got that guy in Anbar by having someone dress up as a common strete beggar and having him plant the bomb under his car.

Now, maybe we are doing this, but why don’t we have guys dressing up as beggars or invalids or whatever and hitting AQ, having them in the Waziristan and the NWFP and places like that. Wouldn’t a few guys like that be able to blend in, to gather information, to do some pretty heavy damage? Isn’t that what the CIA should be focusing on?

This attack reminds me of the attack on Massoud before 9/11. Also the Hariri bombing, even the attack against Bashir Gemayel in Lebanon going back to the 80s. It’s so easy for AQ or whoever to kill one guy and plunge a whole area into chaos.

The reaction among the sunnis seems to be one of revenge and wnating get AQ so perhaps this will strengthen our ties with them and harden the sunnis against AQ

Now, maybe we are doing this, but why don’t we have guys dressing up as beggars or invalids or whatever and hitting AQ, having them in the Waziristan and the NWFP and places like that. Wouldn’t a few guys like that be able to blend in, to gather information, to do some pretty heavy damage? Isn’t that what the CIA should be focusing on?

No, our guys (or mimics) would stick out like sore thumb, immediately..(immediately!).....in this region of the world. Only getting fellow Pashtuns to rat out on their own...(and extremely difficult task)..That is the only way to go.....And AQ has made weekly beheadings of plenty routine....in order to try and stop such...

Quick snatch and grab Ops are the key.....Small hunter killer teams....Along with employing some big balled, Pashtuns or Uzbeks with their own personal axes to grind......But HQs have to be willing to take more risks.....That is the bottom line.

I assume that by now any “actionable” HUMINT (not SIGINT) intelligence in these parts of the world is gathered and acted upon by DIA and SO, not CIA... and, taking into account what we learned about CIA during Valerie Plame “episode”, it’s a good thing.

If you remember, there was a big fight during combining and reshuffling intelligence services into DHS, which ones would belong to / stay with Pentagon with independent capabilities and which ones would be folded into or controlled by CIA.

Dems in Congress wanted CIA have all control, I was happy when Rumsfeld wrested much of it to Pentagon.