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Wall Street Journal:
A secret Central Intelligence Agency initiative terminated by Director Leon Panetta was an attempt to carry out a 2001 presidential authorization to capture or kill al Qaeda operatives, according to former intelligence officials familiar with the matter.
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Anyone, under any condition has a right to seek out and kill OBL and his associates without explanation-- (even the president and CIA). Kapisch?
Part I
This excellent report by the WSJ sheds a lot of light on the recently disclosed CIA 'program' (I put 'program' in apostrophes because this term generally carries a connotation of exec.ution).
Some discussion points:
1) Design began as early as September 2001. This corresponds to President Bush's highly-classified finding and subsequent Memorandum of Notification (MON) issued September 17, which essentially authorized the CIA to go to wa.r against AQ and its affiliates (unprecedented in Agency history). From a NYT article circa 2002:
"Mr. Bush issued a presidential finding last year...providing the basic executive and legal authority for the CIA to either ki.ll or capture terr0rist leaders".
2) The WSJ confirms that the 'program' never became operational ("The initiative hadn't become fully operational at the time Mr. Panetta ended it"). In a previous article by the Times' Scott Shane, HIC ranking member Peter Hoekstra said that "there was talk, planning, maybe a little training...but it was never exec.uted".
In the same Shane article, Rep. Anna Eshoo (a hardc0re Pelosi ally) emphasizes the seriousness of the CIA's failure to brief the HIC, mentioning that she will be recommending an investigation into the matter. However, she DOES NOT dispute Hoekstra's account that the program was "NEVER EXE.CUTED".
3) Regarding the claim of foul play in not briefing Congress: Notification procedures laid out in NSDD 286 (which addresses NSA 1947) are not specific on reporting initial-stage programs/proposals.
Part II
Frankly, I believe that the Agency and VP Che.ney were correct in withholding briefing; the program was 'embryonic', and thus disclosure was neither necessary nor prudent. If government agencies were required to brief Congress on every single proposal it would necessitate a night.marish schedule. It would also increase the risk of leaks.
Furthermore, the aforementioned directive specifies notification of "special activities". Considering the program was in its initial stages (e.g. formulating tar.get packages), corresponding activities could still be categorized as standard intelligence gathering. Congress would have been informed if the program would have matured. As the article points, CIA leadership said "that the effort should be narrowed and that Congress should be briefed if the preparations reached a critical stage."
4) Bush's 9/17 MON was reported to Congress per relevant requirements. This in essence alerted Legislators of the CIA's authorization to as.sas.sinate AQ leaders:
"The administration must notify Congressional leaders of any covert action finding signed by the president. In the case of the presidential finding authorizing the use of let.hal force against members of AQ, Congressional leaders have been notified as required, the officials said". (NYT 2002)
Today's NYT article confirms this rationale: "Because the program never carried out any missions and because Congress had already signed off on the agency's broad authorities after Sept. 1 1, the officials and some Republican legislators said the CIA was not required to brief lawmakers on specifics of the program".
I have a feeling that a lot of these AQ operatives who have lost their lives worked closely with DC.
How many lives were taken during torture? I have read dozens, perhaps a hundred. Remember the interpreter who suddenly "took her own life" after watching one of these sessions? There was a commenter here who said that his friend was an interpreter who is suffering from a really bad case of PTSD because he saw American torturers gouge the eyes out of a man.
I guess they mean "suspected" operatives...since they are innocent until proven guilty, right? No?
Not in their world! As long as Bush says it is so then it is so!
Good point.
O Bin La is not of this world anymore according to Bhutto and several journalist who all became a sass in nation victims.
This should not have posted here. It was a response to someone else.
This was in response to rollingdivision.
Lillith...
Having touble getting to your links ....I click on propertys copy That URL and paste that one
and thanks for the info you are providing...
they used to work...now hufpo put their link before mine just erase theirs and it should work...thats what ive been told.
Oh my. Was that supposed to be a secret?
Obama had Panetta cancel the CIA program to capture or kill al Qaeda and Obama supporters are fine with that? What happened to imperative to capture or kill Bin Laden which Obama advocated throughout the election campaign. So we have over 50,000 soldier in Afghanistan, supposedly to "go after" Bin Linden and now if the CIA can get Obama has ordered them not to by canceling the program.
Are you seriously suggesting that was a "secret" program????
You must be a Repub.
What? Are you speaking Palinese?
It must be a party specific ailment.
No....
C.I.A. Closes Unit Focused on Capture of bin Laden
Published: July 4, 2006
WASHINGTON, July 3 — The Central Intelligence Agency has closed a unit that for a decade had the mission of hunting Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants, intelligence officials confirmed Monday
The unit, known as Alec Station, was disbanded late last year and its analysts reassigned within the C.I.A. Counterterrorist Center, the officials said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/04/washington/04intel.html?hp&ex=1152072000&en=5ced05aa2a8d9b76&ei=5094&partner=homepage
So bushco closed it right?
Hmmmm from what I understand that aim hasn't changed, btw bushco didn't exactly do very well in that endeavor did he now, oh and just so you know, there is no problem with a secret program to try to kill al qaeda, just keeping it hidden from congress is ILLEGAL, I know that repubs are so in favor of the law but it seems only if it benefits them.
Was Paul Wellstone Murdered?
By Michael I. Niman, AlterNet. Posted October 28, 2002
Paul Wellstone was the only progressive in the U.S. Senate. Mother Jones magazine once described him as, "The first 1960s radical elected to the U.S. senate." He was also the last. Since defeating incumbent Republican Rudy Boschowitz 12 years ago in a grassroots upset, Wellstone emerged as the strongest, most persistent, most articulate and most vocal Senate opponent of the Bush administration. In a senate that is one heartbeat away from Republican control, Wellstone was more than just another Democrat.
He was often the lone voice standing firm against the status-quo policies of both the Democrats and the Republicans. As such, he earned the special ire of the Bush administration and the Republican Party, who made Wellstone's defeat that party's number one priority this year www.alternet.org/story/14399/?page=1 · Cached page
That is something I have tried to keep from saying. It was just a tragic loss and hopefully if he was murdered the culprits will be discovered.
I believe RANCHO, a website that does investigation into c theories said that it predicted a senator's demise by plane before it happened.
Hersh wrote about Cheney's 'secret' assassination ring in March 2009. According to Hersh,
the CIA was "deeply involved in domestic activities against people they thought to be enemies of the state. Without any legal authority for it. They haven’t been called on it yet. That does happen."
The group is called the Joint Special Operations Command -- JSOC. Hersh described it as "a special wing of our special operations community that is set up independently. They do not report to anybody, except in the Bush-Cheney days, they reported directly to the Cheney office...It’s an executive assassination ring essentially..."
"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.
Wiki has information on JSOC. They have been going into Iran with authorization from Bush and bi-partisan support. "The intent is to escalate covert operations against Iran to destabilize the country's religious leadership, gather intelligence about Iran's suspected nuclear-weapons program and support the minority Ahwazi Arab and Baluchi groups and other dissident organizations, and assassination of targeted officials. The finding was swiftly approved with bipartisan support which included an initial outlay of $300-400 million to finance its implementation."
Does anybody still not know why 'they' hate us so much?
Interesting read..... The following chapter, "The BCCI Game: Banking on America, Banking on Jihad," appears in investigative journalist Lucy Komisar's new book "A Game as Old as Empire," just published by Berrett-Koehler (San Francisco). Ties Between the Bush Family and Osama bin LadenHow the Bush family's private connection to a dirty offshore bank is the only link between Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. ... www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Bush.../Bushes_bin_Laden.html - Cached -
Very interesting. if what you say here is true( and I have no reason to say you are lying) then murder has transpired in all of our names. It does not surprise me, what surprises me is the willingness of some Americans to allow people to create this kind of world in all of our names. I do not approve of any torture,murder, or nation building (sealing) in my name. I don't not approve of any politician signing of on this crap in my name. Republican....Democrat...Green Party...It matters not to me. I will call for anyone that is found doing this to be voted out, and I hope i'm not
alone on that!
Those are the same tactics the Mossad uses so there is little reason to doubt its accuracy. The US gov't (CIA, military) has been drooling all over itself to adopt Israel's barbaric practices for years.
Israel is one of the few nations on the planet that legalizes torture and assassinations.
Now, the US has lowered itself into that cesspool.
Hmmm. So NOW the CIA mouthpieces are revealing the super-duper-whooper-secret must-never-be-revealed even-to-Congress program? And it turns out to be something we already knew -- that they were trying to kill Al Qaeda leaders?
THAT'S the program Leon Panetta thought was so radioactive he terminated it as soon as he found out? THAT'S what Cheney was determined to keep absolutely secret from Congress, in violation of the law?
Total BS. This source-free story is just a smoke screen for a subject the CIA and Cheney are desperate to change -- a subject that spells prison bars for them if it is sees the light of day.
and they let Bin Laden go......
July 12, 2009
Elite Officer Recalls Bin Laden Hunt
Delta Force Commander Says The Best Plan To Kill The Al Qaeda Leader In 2001 Was Nixed
60 Minutes - Interviews, Profiles & Reports - CBS NewsJun 14, 2009 ... [CBS News] Video clips and interactive features on recently aired stories.
www.cbsnews.com/sections/60minutes/main3415.shtml - Cached - Similar
And why did the CIA destroy those tapes?
"'The American public needs to understand we're talking about rape and murder here. We're not just talking about giving people a humiliating experience,' Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina told reporters after Rumsfeld testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee. 'We're talking about rape and murder -- and some very serious charges.'
This is Mr. Gonzorunner. Read this very carefully O.K.
The problem is not that we HAVE an intelligence agency. The problem we have is that this CIA was used as a political tool and was directed to violate the laws of the United States. We have this because the Director of the CIA has admitted as much. It is the duty of the congress to investigate, it also the duty of the Attorney General to look into these type of matters. Trying to spin this to make it seem that people are against the people that followed the illegal orders of higher ups is not accurate at all. Anything Else?
what laws were violated? what 'illegal orders'?
What is law you jek?
18 USC 113c, Torture.
USC = United States Code, colloquially known as "federal law."
You can even look it up & read if for yourself. There is no CIA exemption nor is there a presidential exemption.
And the BHO administration ISN"T using the CIA as a political tool to get back at the Bush administration! Come on!!! This isn't about protecting our country. Its about getting even with the previous administration. And if a few people are prosecuted that were only following orders, then they were thrown under the bus to get back at the previous administration. If congress investigates, it will be another grand standing event in front of the TV cameras so the Congressional democrats can act like the give a sh*t.
Wow that is so silly...poor bush ..just a victim of liberalisim
Barack Obama has not even said a word about this. As a matter of fact people on the left have complained that the President has not gone after the Bush administration. It is the constitutional duty of the congress and the attorney general to investigate in matters like these. If youdon't like that then i'm afraid you will just have to get over it, or move to another country.
terrorists like Pat Tillman?
By MARTHA MENDOZA The Associated Press Friday, July 27, 2007; 1:48 AM SAN FRANCISCO -- Army medical examiners were suspicious about the close proximity of the three bullet holes in Pat Tillman's forehead and tried without success to get authorities to investigate whether the former NFL player's death amounted to a crime, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. "The medical evidence did not match up with the, with the scenario as described," a doctor who examined Tillman's body after he was killed on the battlefield in Afghanistan in 2004 told investigators. The doctors _ whose names were blacked out _ said that the bullet holes were so close together that it appeared the Army Ranger was cut down by an M-16 fired from a mere 10 yards or so away. Thats called a triple shot.....
Tillman was going to tour against the war with Noam Chomskey when he got back........
Cont.
"The medical evidence did not match up with the, with the scenario as described," a doctor who examined Tillman's body after he was killed on the battlefield in Afghanistan in 2004 told investigators. The doctors - whose names were blacked out - said that the bullet holes were so close together that it appeared the Army Ranger was cut down by an M-16 fired from a mere 10 yards or so away." A "Shot group" on Pat Tillman's forehead indicates ONE shot killed him, and then he was "double checked", then "triple checked" at POINT BLANK range, to make sure he was dead. ( 3 shots = "Shot Group" )
They let Bin Ladin go......
60 minutes;
July 12, 2009
Elite Officer Recalls Bin Laden Hunt
Delta Force Commander Says The Best Plan To Kill The Al Qaeda Leader In 2001 Was Nixed
60 Minutes - Interviews, Profiles & Reports - CBS NewsJun 14, 2009 ... [CBS News] Video clips and interactive features on recently aired stories.
www.cbsnews.com/sections/60minutes/main3415.shtml - Cached - Similar
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First Posted: 07-12-09 10:20 PM | Updated: 07-12-09 11:05 PM