Where did alpmighty say this? :waitasec:
I'm curious how we know the CIA is involved at all, if the CIA is top secret and there was a misidentified spy issue at hand, you'd think that there'd be no way in the world that the public would know the CIA is involved?
To me they are just using this story as an excuse to go poking around in Turkey or Syria.
In fact the story about Ziya going to Syria, doesn't seem to make a lot of sense but does give the CIA an excuse to go investigate at the border.
Alpmighty, you'd know more about that than most of us, does this seem weird to you or a real possibility?
Saying the homeless man disappeared over the border of a country he'd never been to before doesn't make a lot of sense to me?
I suppose though, comparatively in the US if someone committed a capital murder in the US they might flee to Canada to avoid extradition to a state that has the death penalty. I'm pretty sure Canada won't send them back.
And even just to go on the run, many Americans would have the idea of escaping over the border to Mexico. It's happened many times.
CIA already is in Syria, has been for some time.
Shift to sophisticated tactics and the advanced command and control of the rebels in contrast to the beginning of the uprising combined with sophisticated US weaponry ending up in their hands and Libyan caches that were overtaken after Qaddafi's fall ending up in Syrian rebel hands are all indicators of this.
The United States government currently has the incentive to maintain a deniable existence in Syria as not to disturb the delicate balance of power vis-a-vis Russia, the single most powerful Assad ally.
The United States government wants Assad regime to end. Moreover, it is the principal interest of the United States as to ensure the power in post-Assad Syria does not fall into centers of power that might be antagonistic to the United States.
Finally, covert action is singularly under CIA jurisdiction. While USSOCOM units are perfectly capable of direct-action type covert operations, most of such units are not specialized in maintaining plausible deniability in prolonged operations. Operation Neptune's Spear for instance, the killing of Osama Bin Laden was conducted by USN Seal Team 6. However, since it was a covert action, planning and responsibility was CIA's, in particular, the Special Activities Division.
Those who currently assist, arm and help Syrian rebels are Special Activities Division officers.
Now, since Chewy asked specifically whether CIA can use SS murder and the manhunt for Ziya as a pretext for nosing around Turkey, I'll elaborate on that.
The United States government would not need to use CIA for nosing around Turkey. There's already increased US military presence in Turkey, in areas very close to Syrian border. Add to that the fact that CIA operations in Turkey are already official, known and in cooperation with Turkish government and there is little to no reason for CIA to use SS murder to nose around Turkey.
US Embassy in Ankara, which also hosts the CIA station in Turkey is the United States' powerhouse and the principal center of presence in the region. Take a look at the diplomatic cables that were leaked from SIPRnet before, numerically, most correspondence there either originates from or addressed to US Embassy in Ankara.
Turkey and the United States are very much in the same business, ladies and gentleman, and are on the same side.
