Love Of Deep Dish Pizza May Have Killed CIA Agents, Informants In Iran, Lebanon
This is not a funny story:
CIA Spies Caught, Fear Execution
If these agents are executed, it's a tragedy of epic proportions. If the government of Iran can somehow put a kibosh on the killings (perhaps in exchange for
recent sanctions against Iran being reconsidered), it's still a major blow to American intelligence operations in the Middle East.
The craziest part is that the spies may have been compromised due to the location where they repeatedly (and seemingly without deviation) chose to meet:
In Beirut, two Hezbollah double agents pretended to go to work for the CIA. Hezbollah then learned of the restaurant where multiple CIA officers were meeting with several agents, according to the four current and former officials briefed on the case. The CIA used the codeword "PIZZA" when discussing where to meet with the agents, according to U.S. officials. Two former officials describe the location as a Beirut Pizza Hut. A current US official denied that CIA officers met their agents at Pizza Hut.
From there, Hezbollah's internal security arm identified at least a dozen informants, and the identities of several CIA case officers...
One former senior intelligence official told ABC News that CIA officers ignored warnings that the operation could be compromised by using the same location for meetings with multiple assets.
"We were lazy and the CIA is now flying blind against Hezbollah," the former official said.
Lazy? Or just in love with deep dish... or stuffed crust? It's not something to laugh about, but something that just makes you shake your head and wonder. Isn't it common sense not to always meet in the same place?
After all, the pizza's not even that good.
This never would have happened if they just ordered in Domino's.
