CIA in the Middle East: from Operation Ajax to Falafel to Cafe Milano to the Pizza Hut Conspiracy………

      


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“Lebanon has long been a playground for spies from across the Middle East. But in 2011, it appeared that U.S. intelligence services were getting badly outplayed by their rivals. More than a dozen informants recruited by the CIA were reportedly captured by Hezbollah and Iran, after the groups learned where the American spies were meeting their agents. The CIA officers made Hezbollah’s job easy by employing shockingly sloppy tradecraft. According to current and former U.S. officials, two Hezbollah agents posing as potential recruits learned the location where the CIA officers met their informants — a Pizza Hut in Beirut. And the code word that the CIA allegedly used to set a meeting? “PIZZA.” From there, Hezbollah’s internal security only had to observe the Pizza Hut………….”

I recall sometime after the September 11 attacks reading a media report about the FBI seeking “Iranian” terrorists in the United States. Apparently they sought to uncover “Iranian” terrorists in the USA by having their agents hanging around “Falafel” joints in San Francisco. Iranian “Falafel” joints? And most sensible people in this country believe Falefel is an Israeli dish (it is now, maybe more so than Pirozhki). This was like seeking Arab terrorists by hanging around Chelo Kebab joints, or kosher delis (a possibility). I posted some advice on that at the time.

Which all reminds me: WTF happened to all these Iranian plotters, like that Jack Arbabsiar of Texas who allegedly plotted with the Mexican drug cartels to blow up the powerless Saudi ambassador in Washington? I recall pundits and columnists rushing to identify the target as Cafe Milano in Georgetown. And I wondered t the time why anyone would want to blow up a restaurant just because the food is mediocre and overpriced. Many in Georgetown are mediocre and overpriced: I would just stay away.
Cheers
mhg

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