Michael Schwartz: CIA Terror Bombings, Bob Gates, and The Rise of Hezbollah - Politics on The Huffington Post
Michael Schwartz: CIA Terror Bombings, Bob Gates, and The Rise of Hezbollah - Politics on The Huffington Post: "'In our shop, we knew what Casey would be looking for in revenge for the barracks bombing and what the Israelis and Saudis were pushing,' related one analyst who would later become a senior Agency official. 'We laid out all the unknowables and caveats and how we were being whipsawed [by allied spy agencies], and we sent it upstairs for Gates to give to Casey, and we recommended it be bootlegged to the NSC and White House and even to Defense if it came to that.'
When there was no sign that Gates had done anything with their warning, two of the analysts confronted the deputy director. 'This is terrible,' one of them told him.
'We are not here to pick a fight with the boss,' Gates answered dismissively. 'I'm not particularly concerned about some set-to in Lebanon.'
The CIA did not just try to assassinate Muhammad Husain Fadlallah. Instead the Agency carbombed his entire neighborhood with an explosion that was felt 'miles away in the Chouf Mountains and well out in the Mediterranean.' Whether or not the cleric was the perpetrator, the message would be clear to all concerned: attacks on American marines would result in retribution against the whole offending community. It was, in short, an act of state terrorism. Eighty-one people were killed and over 200 wounded in the crowded impoverished Bir El-Abed neighborhood where Fadlallah lived. (Fadlallah himself was unhurt -- he had been delayed arriving home that evening because he stopped on the street 'to speak to an elderly woman.') "
When there was no sign that Gates had done anything with their warning, two of the analysts confronted the deputy director. 'This is terrible,' one of them told him.
'We are not here to pick a fight with the boss,' Gates answered dismissively. 'I'm not particularly concerned about some set-to in Lebanon.'
The CIA did not just try to assassinate Muhammad Husain Fadlallah. Instead the Agency carbombed his entire neighborhood with an explosion that was felt 'miles away in the Chouf Mountains and well out in the Mediterranean.' Whether or not the cleric was the perpetrator, the message would be clear to all concerned: attacks on American marines would result in retribution against the whole offending community. It was, in short, an act of state terrorism. Eighty-one people were killed and over 200 wounded in the crowded impoverished Bir El-Abed neighborhood where Fadlallah lived. (Fadlallah himself was unhurt -- he had been delayed arriving home that evening because he stopped on the street 'to speak to an elderly woman.') "
Comments