US News
Report: Secret CIA programme planned al-Qaeda assassinations
Jul 13, 2009, 6:12 GMT
Washington - A secret operation halted last month by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director planned assassinations of al-Qaeda targets, a newspaper reported Monday.
The activities of the highly classified US operation weren't clear, and the agency refused to comment, but some officials said it followed a 2001 presidential directive to capture or kill al-Qaeda operatives, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing intelligence officials.
It quoted current and former officials as saying the agency spent money on planning and training but the initiative was reportedly not fully operational when CIA Director Leon Panetta ended it in June.
Some members of Congress accused the CIA and former president George W Bush's administration of deceiving lawmakers and deliberately failing to inform them of programme activities as required by law.
Panetta acknowledged that it had not been properly vetted with Congress. The new director under President Barack Obama said he only learned about it on June 23 and ordered it to end immediately.
Officials quoted by The Wall Street Journal said the project's proponents were seeking to build teams of CIA and military Special Forces commandos to emulate what the Israelis did after the 1972 Munich Olympics terrorist attacks.
'It was straight out of the movies,' the paper quoted one former intelligence official as saying. 'It was like: Let's kill them all.'
The administration of then-president Gerald Ford banned political assassinations by the CIA in response to investigations into intelligence abuses in the 1970s. After the 2001 terrorist attacks on US soil, Bush issued a directive authorizing the agency to capture and kill al-Qaeda members, the report said.
Also in September 2001, as CIA operatives were preparing for an offensive in Afghanistan, officials drafted cables that would have authorized assassinations of specified targets on the spot, the newspaper said.
The recent revelations have made the secret programme a new focus in a long-running battle between the US executive and legislative branches about oversight of the country's intelligence agencies.
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Older Talkback
page: 1
Now, shame on you Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney!!! How dare you kill or assassinate any of those misunderstood al Qaeda fellas. Now you just bend over and take this here paddle! We Democrats cannot tolerate that kind of overzealous mischief!!! Shame on you boys--now you just march right up those steps to the Supreme Court now and take your punishment for such nasty thoughts and behaviors.. sending our military boys out there in the dark and cold and heat like that to fight in the dust and those nasty mountains and such! Now you just apologize to the Merkan people and say you're sorry for bein so bellicose an all!
And on top of that (worst of all) you never told us congressmen and wimmin bout such evil deeds such as killin al Qaeda types!...and not lettin the Merkan press in on any of these shenanigans ...why that's just downright treasonous of you not to let the 'journalists' get advance scoop so we could get U.S. plans out on the 11 o'clock news the day before we were to go after those misunderstood terrorists....shame on you!!!!
Is it too late to do some Impeachin?? Downright shameful!!
...ya think?????
This is the smoking gun???
'Mr. Cheney...did you discuss assasinating Al Qeada operatives?'
'golly, Mr. Chairman...is the sky blue???'
'uh...Right, Mr. Cheney...thank you for testifying.'
are just too stupid to get the point. The point is not that they killed these scum-balls, but that they did not follow the correct (legal) procedures, which if followed they could have continued killing pell mell. I guess you idiots on the right do not understand that civilization is based on following certain rules in order to have a world than has some sorts of order. No wonder your luster has worn off and you have been lately lost all stature in the world.
By the way anyone that wants to be in SP4's corner has automatically lowered not only their intelligence level, but also any credibility they once had. Congrats!
Hey, 'I guess'.......Go cry your complaints about appropriate procedures to those lovely Mullahs over there in South Asia....do they follow procedures known to all when they stone women for flirting? or seeking out children to do their suicide killin or Jornalist beheading? Is that the TIME to follow procedures down to the very last letter? Think again O civilized one!
...what was Cheney supposed to have done that was illegal???? Someone throw a frickin bone here!
What does the AG NOT know that he requires checking into???? Cheney WANTS a hearing! He's ASKED for it! What if he DID ask the CIA (cannot TELL them by law) to do something????
Holder's other tittie in the wringer is that the Justice Dept. vetted interrogation techniques! Bush WENT to them first!
Whats next...cow tipping?
The (C)rap (I)n (A)ss is a worthless group of boyscouts that can't even collect good intel, let alone carry out a secret mission.
That CIA is still trying to assassinate Idi Amin.
...I think that's where they sent Joe Wilson again! That disguise as an american businessman is soooo good! The only thing missing is the shoe phone and agent 99.
This is news? It is well known that this type of activity by the U.S. government has been going on for years. In the case of violent Islamists it has been going on almost as far back as the first World Trade Center bombing, if we can believe people like former CIA officer Robert Baer. In perhaps the most high profile case, former president Clinton tried to take out bin Laden in Sudan years before the 9/11 attacks. I ask again, why is this being treated like news now?
Like most of what passes for news, this 'admission' or 'revelation' or whatever you want to call it is merely distraction served up to a populace which has a collective attention deficit disorder.
It fits well the pattern of illegal and 'extra judicial' activities pursued by the Bush administration during its tenure, but for my money, the really big news has already come and gone and nobody seems to care.
Is there anyone left who doesn't know that Al Qaeda personnel are targeted daily? That being the case, what is the secret?
'Someone throw a frickin bone here!'
What's the matter SP, lamenting your lack of manhood and want one?
Or are you taking toe-tapping to the next level?
I have to wonder about the poster above's infatuation with SP4: It's like he has a crush or something.
...the world is round.
SP4 has just discovered the world is round! What's his next revelation going to be - the Earth is not the center of the Universe? One day, he just might realize that the GOP is a dead White Elephant. A lumbering, morbidly obese, dim-witted relic from the dinosaur age.
'In a related incident I sparked-up another doobie and proceeded to post my fantasies on M&C'
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GoodJul 13th, 2009 - 12:26:26
Assassinate them all. I'd rather see wicked souls assassinated than loose one American life. Why should we be 'above that'' when they aren't? It's win or lose time. Wake up America.
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