[Texgreen] Do you know what your spies in Baghdad are doing?

[Roger Baker]

<http://www.cq.com/public/20070119_homeland.html>



The chaotic, ubiquitous violence of Baghdad has kept the CIA indoors.

According to several well informed intelligence sources, hundreds of =20
CIA operatives have become virtual prisoners in the Green Zone, the =20
sprawling American enclave whose high walls and guards separate the =20
U.S. embassy, military command and related civilian agencies from the =20=

raging sectarian violence in Baghdad=92s streets.

The CIA operatives cannot safely roam the city to meet their few =20
agents, much less recruit new ones.

It=92s just too dangerous. CIA chiefs don=92t want to risk one getting =20=

kidnapped, tortured on camera and beheaded....

So =93they spend their days playing cards and watching DVDs,=94 said a =20=

former senior CIA operations official who maintains close ties in the =20=

agency....

But multiple CIA sources, who spoke freely only in exchange for =20
anonymity, said the agency=92s mission of recruiting and managing human =20=

spies in Baghdad was stillborn in the weeks following the 2003 =20
invasion and has never recovered, despite adding hundreds of =20
personnel in the past few years.