Was The CIA Hiding Cheney's "Executive Assassination Ring"?

The revelation from seven Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee that they were misled about a critical CIA program has sparked a debate that touches on the most sensitive areas of national security policy. What program, exactly, was being kept secret?

No one is answering the question, citing the sensitivities that come when discussing classified intelligence matters. But in various conversations with sources on and off the Hill, two general theories have emerged. The first is that the CIA was keeping quiet about the use of waterboarding on terrorist suspects. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said she was misled by the intelligence agency on that very subject. It's also the story told to the Huffington Post by a source with knowledge of the letter the seven House Democrats penned to CIA chief Leon Panetta, in which they complained about being misled.

But the dates don't line up. In their letter, the lawmakers note that members of Congress were "misled" for "a number of years, from 2001 to this week." Pelosi, however, contended that the CIA lied to her about the use of harsh interrogation techniques during the fall of 2002.

And in a conversation with the Huffington Post, Rep. Anna Eshoo, (D-Calif.), one of the letter's signatories, said that Panetta "stopped the program the day after he was informed." Waterboarding was ended as a practice during the Bush years.

So what are the "significant actions" that these seven lawmakers insist were kept from Congress? Another theory being bandied about concerns an "executive assassination ring" that was allegedly set up and answered to former Vice President Dick Cheney. The New Yorker's Seymour Hersh, building off earlier reporting from the New York Times, dropped news of the possibility that such a ring existed in a March 2009 discussion sponsored by the University of Minnesota.

"It is a special wing of our special operations community that is set up independently," Hersh said. "They do not report to anybody, except in the Bush-Cheney days, they reported directly to the Cheney office. They did not report to the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff or to Mr. [Robert] Gates, the secretary of defense. They reported directly to him. ...

"Congress has no oversight of it," he added. "It's an executive assassination ring essentially, and it's been going on and on and on. Just today in the Times there was a story that its leaders, a three star admiral named [William H.] McRaven, ordered a stop to it because there were so many collateral deaths. Under President Bush's authority, they've been going into countries, not talking to the ambassador or the CIA station chief, and finding people on a list and executing them and leaving. That's been going on, in the name of all of us."

Asked if this was the basis of her letter to Panetta, Eshoo said she could not discuss what was a "highly classified program." She did, however, note that when Panetta told House Intelligence Committee members what it was that had been kept secret, "the whole committee was stunned, even Republicans." A Republican committee member told Who Runs Gov's Greg Sargent it was something they hadn't heard before.

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Panetta himself was kept in the dark about the program -- whatever it was -- having only been told about the classified activity on June 23. "His own top leadership didn't even brief him that this program existed," said Eshoo.

The day after he found out, on June 24, the CIA header briefed members of Congress about the matter. Two days later, on June 26, the seven lawmakers wrote Panetta asking him to publicly correct an earlier statement he had made, in which he declared that it was not the CIA's "policy or practice to mislead Congress."

Asked why it took two weeks for that letter to Panetta to become public (news of the letter broke on Tuesday evening) Eshoo said it was simply a matter of clearance.

"I was informed by one of the committee lawyers that the letter should be classified and so it was sent to him classified," the California Democrat replied. "The lawyers made a determination recently that it did not need to be classified so we made it public."

Had she received a response from the CIA? "We have not," Eshoo said.

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Comments

[Eggsackley]

I was disappointed that the last Congress did not consider impeaching Cheney. His hand in the Abu Ghraib mess was evident by then. I have been disappointed by the unwillingness of the Obama administration to look into evidence of crimes against humanity by high officials of the Bush Administration. Unless there is a thorough housecleaning, there is a clear danger that another future administration might engage in the same kind of conduct. I hope that Holder will now push to appoint an independent prosecutor. If not Congress needs to take charge and commence a thorough investigation.

[yachtie]

This is just the TIP of the ICEBERG.

Read below and you will get a picture, how that ICEBERG sank the US.
It will be extremely hard to swallow, and very painful to digest:
“Collateral Damage” by E. P Heidner, part I and II.
>>> www.scribd.com/people/documents/2169400-ep-heidner

[Caliwoman]

What happened to Senator Wellstone? When does the trial for treason begin?

[shylove2]

Probably a good idea given the Bush administration's willingness to retaliate against critics and descenting views. What would you think they might do with authorization for secret programs in this country against terrorists and sex offenders. Could these be wildcards capable of being applied to just about anyone you want, who knows what it is you want, who you want to do it to, what you want to do to them and how you go about doing it to them and why.
Actually it may be hard for any administration to restrain themselves when given such power. And if you can cherry pick people around the world for special treatment why not do the same at home where it is quite a bit easier to cover up. You can also imagine all kinds of people bending over backward to help our intelligence agencies protect us anyway they want and perhaps look the other way when they get overly enthusiastic in doing it. Power without checks and balances as we can see with demonizing Iraq is a very dangerous thing. And now everyone has been encouraged to take the gloves of civilization off in order to more effectively do their jobs, because civilization often gets in our way of doing what we are certain is right such as getting rid of the WMD's we knewn Iraq had and where.

[Arvid0823]

Time for a special prosecutor to put sunshine on Cheney.

We know already he manipulated WMD intelligence to lead the US into IRAQ, "his" subsidiary -- KBR -- has a slimy record of cost overruns, excessive charges, and "electical showers", and withholding intelligence of a covert CIA program from Congress.

[Ipanemagirl]

HOW ABOUT Telling the CIA , that Cheney is no longer in charge, so lets have it out, even if its been cancelled! Who did they mnage to kill? Bin laden?or was it just rivals?lol

[lthuedk 1]

http://www.light-to-dark.com/War_Criminal_One.html

[LinkSync]

What is needed is that the power to classify anything as secret be taken away from the Executive Branch and be put in the hands of the Legislative Branch as a working part of it's oversight duties.

That way if they want it to be a secret they have to tell about it first.

[sammyscout]

The five time draft dodger was not brave enough to go to defend his country but was braver. He circumvented the law and organized a hit squad to take out unsuspecting US politicians that didn't agree with his policies.

But like President Obama said, lets look to the future and forgive the last administration. Obama thinks that he will be judged less harshly by the wilderness party because of this, just in case they take office again.

[Emerald1943]

What could possibly be the top secret program that "shocked even the republicans"?

We already know about the secret prisons, torture, the rape and torture of children, deaths of detainees in our custody, and the old distraction waterboarding. What could possibly be worse??

This has the stench of Cheney all over it!

Attorney General Holder, do your duty!

[1dogs2]

Same questions I asked myself when this story broke, and recalling Cheney's remark that "sometimes you have to work on the dark side" (which caused my flesh to crawl when I heard him say it), concluded that it was probably an assassination program. It also makes sense in view of Bush's remark that the results of much of the national security work being done was never made public, but that it had been very successful in capturing or otherwise neutralizing numerous terrorists.

[missouriwatcher]

I am not surprised at this. All the Bush/Cheney laundry needs to be aired; bring it on into the sunlight.

[jsgaetano]

This needs to be investigated.

How many US citizens did Cheney have killed? What criteria was used to select targets?

[whitequeen96]

Boy, that's a horrifying thought! And even more horrifying is that it is a real possibility!

[Yellowbird]

i AM CONVINCED that this assassination ring killed Senator Wellstone and his party, JFK Junior, and others.

[Congzilla]

"But the dates don't line up. In their letter, the lawmakers note that members of Congress were "misled" for "a number of years, from 2001 to this week." Pelosi, however, contended that the CIA lied to her about the use of harsh interrogation techniques during the fall of 2002."

How does fall 2002 not fall within 2001 - 2--9?

[trav6]

Those who choose to ignore this, are completely ignorant. How many more facts do we need people??