From Ishamael to Lanfear, from Graendal to Sammael, we have countless instances of Forsaken being possessed of quite a bit more knowledge than the protagonists with the capacity to execute plans within plans quite adroitly without completely understanding the cultures they are in.

It's not omniscience - it's called creating the groundwork for victory using subtle planning by playing your own agents against each other, setting events in motion in one place that don't make sense locally but that set you up for a coup elsewhere and defeating your enemy without lifting a finger.

In fact, I fail to see one response that can strike down the most critical aspect of Fionwe, darius, Heiko and my own disbelief: Graendal might have wanted Rand to come, and designed a series of lures.

No response addresses this, nor do they address the series of incidents that would need to happen to accomplish it. I find it interesting, for example, that arguing she is dead leaves plot holes yet approaching the scene from the direction that she wanted Rand to come to this place makes the gross manipulations leading up to Rand's mass murder/balefiring make sense.

The reason there is disbelief is simple - the entire chain of events leading up to that scene is so gross and obvious (even keeping in mind the obvious: that a Forsaken such as Graendal could Travel to the prison cell, remove or murder any possible informants and leave) that it smacks of a strategy a "super smart" person would use to draw a less intelligent opponents' attention.