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Gaddafi Manipulates the CIA

One of the key arguments for rehabilitating Muammar Gaddafi during the Bush presidency was advanced by the Central Intelligence Agency, which claimed that the Libyan government had good access to information on al-Qaeda which it would share if Washington were to restore relations.  Even those making Gaddafi’s case conceded, however, that the Libyan leader was […]

One of the key arguments for rehabilitating Muammar Gaddafi during the Bush presidency was advanced by the Central Intelligence Agency, which claimed that the Libyan government had good access to information on al-Qaeda which it would share if Washington were to restore relations.  Even those making Gaddafi’s case conceded, however, that the Libyan leader was a ruthless killer and an international pariah by any normal standards.  Well, the results are in:  Colonel Gaddafi was so appreciative that he has in fact provided absolutely no useful information whatsoever on al-Qaeda, which has led some former senior officials at CIA to wonder where they went wrong in their analysis.  Intelligence officers are supposed to be masters of deception and manipulation but they are often blinded by ambition and the desire to obtain information on “hard” targets. In this case they were fooled by a man that they knew to be a world class rogue.

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