SADDAM'S CIA COUP

(3 of 3)

As relations between Barzani and Talabani worsened, the CIA seems to have been unaware of the alliance that formed between Barzani and Saddam. "I have to conclude that the CIA was taken by surprise, because otherwise they would have evacuated every piece of equipment and looked after the I.N.C. and other friendly Kurds," says Baram. "The CIA isn't irresponsible; it just didn't have good information on what was happening inside Saddam's palace or in Barzani's headquarters." This assessment appears to be confirmed by Abu Khadim, who said both the CIA agents and the I.N.C. soldiers in Erbil were completely astonished by the attack at 4 a.m. on Aug. 31. "We never thought they would be actively involved," said the colonel. "We thought they would just shell us, as they have done in the past."

When Saddam's army rolled north, CIA officials claim, they were able to extract everyone with whom the agency had a close association, meaning about two dozen security guards and their families, plus several paid informants. Even so, the CIA is viewed as having abandoned several hundred congress members. As for their mission, it no longer exists. "Our entire covert action program has gone to hell," says a U.S. official.

The impression that working for the CIA can amount to a kiss of death is unlikely to be mitigated by the news that the Clinton Administration will evacuate some 2,500 aid workers, clerks, drivers and translators employed with U.S. military and relief operations who fled to the Turkish border in northern Iraq. As for Abu Khadim and his men, they are still waiting in Salahuddin. "We are in great danger," he said. "The CIA couldn't help us; we are soldiers and had to fight. But now we are asking them to do something for us as soon as possible: evacuation."

After the Kurdish debacle, the CIA will probably find it increasingly difficult to persuade the U.S. Congress to fund similar operations in Iraq and all but impossible to recruit new operatives. "The CIA has fled and abandoned a large number of people," says Rend Rahim Francke, director of the anti-Saddam Iraq Foundation in Washington. "All Iraqis--all those in the opposition--feel extremely let down by the U.S." The damage may also spill into the CIA's semicovert operation, aimed at moderating the regime in Iran. "It's going to give pause to anyone wanting to work with us on Iran," says a knowledgeable official.

Because covert operations are usually kept secret, it is unlikely that any public hearing will ever be held to determine how many CIA associates were killed in Iraq. But this much is clear: the agency's reputation has been demolished. "It may be that the CIA actually made tremendous efforts to protect its people," says Baram. "But the perception among Iraqis is that having anything to do with Americans is dangerous to your health." The rout will make the CIA's future tasks in the Middle East--and perhaps the rest of the world--harder still to achieve.

--Reported by Scott MacLeod/Tehran, Elaine Shannon and Lewis M. Simons/Washington and James Wilde/Erbil

Discuss Iraq on our Website, time.com or in the TIME forums on CompuServe.