Today's special: Crispy fried jihadis... via weaselzippers.net
A Jordanian double agent killed seven CIA officers as well as a Jordanian intelligence officer at the U.S. outpost in Khost province, Afghanistan, last week, NBC reports.
The asset, Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, was a doctor from the hometown of slain Jordanian Al Qaeda operative Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, who had been arrested by Jordanian authorities last year, and they thought, reformed. Al-Balawi reportedly told his Jordanian intelligence handler that he had information he had to give to the CIA related to Ayman Al-Zawahiri, the Egyptian-born Al Qaeda deputy to Osama bin Laden. via politico.com
In an undated photo provided by Amy Messner, Scott Michael Roberson is seen. Roberson, 39, was working as a security officer for the CIA when the blast on Dec. 30, 2009 rocked the remote outpost in Khost province in Afghanistan, said his sister, Amy Messner of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. (AP Photo/Amy Messner) via kansascity.com
The Jordanian Embassy confirmed this morning that the Jordanian officer reported killed in the Khost attack, Sharif Ali bin Zeid, was a distant relative of King Abdullah II and the Jordanian ambassador to Washington, Zeid Ra'ad Zeid al-Hussein. The embassy would not confirm that the Jordanian official was an intelligence official. via politico.com
The AP identifies a second of the seven CIA officials killed in the suicide attack as Scott Michael Roberson, 39, said to be working as a security officer for the CIA, and identified to the AP by his sister. Previously the family of Harold E. Brown has identified him as another of the American officials killed in the Khost attack. So far not publicly identified is the Khost CIA base chief, said to be a female veteran clandestine service officer with three children. via politico.com
