cross posted from Progressive Junction
A CIA official stationed in Algeria, where an Al Qaeda cell is actively operating, has been accused of raping two or more Muslim women, both in that location and possibly at his previous assignment in Egypt.
According to the report from ABC News, officials discovered more than a dozen video tapes of sex acts with other women. The women claim that the official mixed their drinks with a date rape drug and proceeded to record the activity.
"It has the potential to be quite explosive if it's not handled well by the United States government," said Isobel Coleman, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations who specializes in women's issues in the Middle East.
"This isn't the type of thing that's going to be easily pushed under the carpet," she said.
This may create a firestorm of further anti-American sentiment just at a time when Obama seems to be making some headway into normalizing American relations with the Muslim world.
"This will be seen as the typical ugly American," said former CIA officer Bob Baer, reacting to the ABC News report. "My question is how the CIA would not have picked up on this in their own regular reviews of CIA officers overseas," Baer said.
"From a national security standpoint," said Baer, the alleged rapes would be "not only wrong but could open him up to potential blackmail and that's something the CIA should have picked up on," said Baer. "This is indicative of personnel problems of all sorts that run through the agency," he said.
So far no charges have been filed, but a grand jury indictment seems to be in the wings and may be filed as early as next month. ABC news seems to have an exclusive on this story as no details are available from other outlets.