New York Times:
WASHINGTON Since 2001, the Central Intelligence Agency has developed plans to dispatch small teams overseas to kill senior Qaeda terrorists, according to current and former government officials.
Blackwater Hit Squads: What Was the CIA Thinking? - TIME
Blackwater Hit Squads: What Was the CIA Thinking? - TIME
Vice-Precedence: Being Number Two in the White House: More on Cheneys CIA Plot
MinnPost - Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh describes ...
Was The CIA Hiding Cheney's "Executive Assassination Ring"?
MinnPost - Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh describes ...
Was The CIA Hiding Cheney's "Executive Assassination Ring"?
MinnPost - Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh describes ...
Was The CIA Hiding Cheney's "Executive Assassination Ring"?
MinnPost - Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh describes ...
Was The CIA Hiding Cheney's "Executive Assassination Ring"?
MinnPost - Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh describes ...
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Seymour Hersh has been saying this for years and everybody laughed him off as crazy!!! I didn't. I think there is more that that administration did that will eventually come out. I just hope i'm not dead yet when it does.
If it was WWII the libs would complain about a secret program trying to assassinate hitler, and the americans would think the libs insane in the membrane!!
After this post I'm out of here, because I can't take the mixing of issues any longer. Personally, I would surmise that very few if any have an issue with what the intentions of the program was. What you along with others can't comprehend is that Cheney used rogue behavior as VP. What you along with others fail to understand is that our government is based on a system of checks and balances. What you along with others fail to understand is that there was and is a select body of representatives given the task of overseeing operations within the CIA by receiving the status of any and all existent operations and proposals. What you and others fail to understand is this information was held for 8 years. What you and others fail to understand as a citizen I rely on agencies within our government working within the rules of our land. What you and others fail to realize is that Cheney's action(s) were a slap in the face of our democracy. So please peddle those lame excuses to justify the law being broken somewhere else.
So your augument is that the CIA allegedly did not brief congress on something that every single person in the US knew was the case since 2001.
If the Congress were properly informed, NO.
ProudlyConservative42 I'm a Fan of ProudlyConservative42 I'm a fan of this user permalink
Here's some water for you: It is illegal for members of Congress to divulge classified information from briefings conducted by the CIA.
______________________________________________________________________________
Oh, so now if it's illegal, why are you on Pelosi's case??? She was prohibited by law from discussing what she had been told by the CIA! But yet you continually accuse her of knowing about the torture and doing nothing about it!
Sorry, you can't have it both ways!!!
ProudlyConservative42 = Criminal
Proudly Conservative does not understand that there are no such thing as ghosts. Especially when it comes to illegal cia operations! He can't grasp the concept!
I notice that Proudly has not responded! LMAO
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#31898065 - Cheney _ordered_ intelligence information withheld from Congress. Maddow has the best coverage to date from last night.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/12/us/politics/12intel.html - There is the NY Times article.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Security_Act_of_1947
The National Security Act was passed in 1947 to prevent secret programs from operating without Congressional oversight. This law is essential to preserving Democracy in America.
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode50/usc_sec_50_00000403----001-.html
TITLE 50 - CHAPTER 15 - SUBCHAPTER I - 403-1. Responsibilities and authorities of the Director of National Intelligence
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode50/usc_sec_50_00000403----001-.html
(a) Provision of intelligence
(1) The Director of National Intelligence shall be responsible for ensuring that national intelligence is provided:
(A) to the President;
(B) to the heads of departments and agencies of the executive branch;
(C) to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and senior military commanders;
(D) to the Senate and House of Representatives and the committees thereof; and
(E) to such other persons as the Director of National Intelligence determines to be appropriate.
SEC. 501. [50 U.S.C. 413] (a)(1) The President shall ensure that the congressional intelligence committees are kept fully and currently informed of the intelligence activities of the United States, including any significant anticipated intelligence activity as required by this title.
http://feinstein.senate.gov/crs-intel.htm
Thanks, rich...but do you really expect these tr0//s to read it? It's way over their heads!
They are criminal pedo files... I just keep repeating that they are criminals who support criminals who are committing crimes.
Over and over. It's the truth. They can challenge me all day and all night. I don't care.
^ That post up there is all original work. I started on it late last night and finished it up here over the past few pages. It would not hurt at all to copy that post and spread it around. Nobody else has seen it.
A lot of money and lives could have been saved if they had only published a 'Most Wanted' list with the pictures of all the bad dudes offering a respectable reward of $50M per head.
They did! Remember the deck of cards showing the 52 most wanted AQ leaders, plus those in Saddam's regime?
So far, they have had no takers on their bounty program!
So does Obama brief Congress every time before he fires a missle into Pakistan?
Congress is likely notified regularly, and according to the law, they are updated every time a change is made in the program.
Meanwhile, you are supporting criminal acts, and the criminals themselves.
What does that make you personally Anni?
How do you know there are no hidden programs from Obama to the CIA?
Firing missles into Pakistan is not what is the problem. The United States Armed Forces is engaged in a war against Al-Queda.
Once again the problem is NOT what he Obama administrtion is legally doing, the problem is what Bushco illegally done..............................Is this broken record week?
Does he legally have to? I doubt it. There is a huge difference between approved military actions and secret CIA assassinations.
Not only has President Obama told Congress, but he has told the citizens and the world. He made this information perfectly clear during the election and upon taking office, that at anytime he had the information regarding AQ he would take them out, even in Pakistan.
So are you implying that it was a secret that the CIA was trying to eliminate Al Queda operatives?
I'm glad the program was thought out, too bad it was not implemeted. Or was it?
It has been running for 8 years. Panetta shut down the CIA end just a few days ago.
Panetta has been CIA Director for over 4 months and he was not informed.
So what you are saying is that you and Mr. Panetta were the only 2 people in the country, perhaps the world, that is shocked and dismayed that the CIA was actually engaged in planning and perhaps executing that plan to eliminate Al Queda operatives....? How disingenuous.
did you raed the stories that you posted links to everyone states congress gave approval and that the program never got off the ground in other words NOTHING TO TELL
Given the fact that there were innocent people in Gitmo and Abu Gharib, what is to say that innocent people were not marked here in the US? What all these tro11s don't understand is that even the illegal wiretapping was targeting innocent American citizens. There are just too many things that have happened in the last 8 years that we should trust that Bush/Cheney were looking out for the best interests of the American Citizens. The Iraq war certainly didn't benefit us, but it sure benefited Blackwell and Haliburton.
It's not like we can trust anything that came out of that administration. I honestly believe that the fact that America hasn't been hit is merely a coincidence, since it takes that long for them to plan and implement an attack. It's not anything that Bush/Cheney did. The first attack on the world trade center happened in 1993 and the second one was in 2001. Did Clinton keep us safe during those 8 years?
Republicans are pedo files and they think Americans are children.
http://www.armchairsubversive.org/
I believe much may be found inside c-street !
They shoulda contracted the job out to the Russians; they're good at it, we're not.
Don't forget the Lies AG Muskasey Told to Congress with non disclosure........Many men are F' Liars! This is Far worse than anything in United States History
"Many men"....?
You're single, right?
Why do Republicans support criminal acts, and why do Republicans support the criminals who commit them?
I posted a comment at 9:10am that has not made it for some reason, so I'll try again! If the original post appears, my apologies all 'round!
Something about this whole story about taking out AQ leaders does not pass the smell test. This is probably something that most Americans would not object to, but it was reported that "even the republicans were shocked" when they found out the details.
If the CIA had hit squads to take out AQ leaders, what would prevent them from taking out a foreign head of state who had fallen into disfavor? What would prevent them from taking out an American citizen, a political "enemy" to the powers that be? A very slippery slope indeed!
I think that what we have been told is some kind of cover story. As usual, we are being fed a bunch of BS by the MSM.
I have been making that point for days. Thank you for your post. Please repeat it, ad lib ;-)
Thanks, rich! From you, that's a compliment! :=)
It's more palatable to color it "k ill AQ" !!!
Yet, GW allowed OB to walk out of Tora Bora !!???
If they got him, they would not have a reason to maintain their as.sas.sin.nation machine.
Yes he did! But if they had gotten OBL, there would have been no obscene profits from the war that followed! Follow the money!
I am not opposed to CIA hit squads assassinating Al Qaida members, even if it does raise questions in international law. But that is a separate issue from the illegal way in which the program was kept secret from Congressional approval and oversight.
When it came out that Cheney’s secret program – the smoking gun, if you will- was to target Al Qaida operatives, I thought it was one of those things very few people would object to, and I had been hoping for a more heinous program to tie Cheney to. As it turns out, the smoking gun isn’t the program, but the way it was implemented by leaving out Congressional intelligence committees. They are two separate issues and when Liz Cheney goes on every interview, she positions it as if the Democrats are supporting Al Qaida.
No, Liz, the Democrats are opposing a secret CIA program instigated by your father, they are angry that he discarded our system of checks and balances. And that is what just might get him in jail. As usual, it’s not the crime, it’s the cover-up.
Never mind that the acted as if he was the president, when he had absolutely no authority to do any of the things he did. We all knew he was the one pulling the strings, but it is unbelievable to me how Bush/Cheney did whatever they wanted and walked all over our rights as citizens, and justified it by saying they were keeping us safe.
The fact is, that if these assassination squads were true, even they failed! Everything they ever did failed.
Conservatism = Criminal Failure
He HAD to act as President. The Shrub was too busy going on vacation to run the country and to abide by our laws! Somebody had to run the show! Very scary!
Cheney is in some deep doo here! I am reminded by the case of Al Capone. The Feds had been after him for racketeering and murder but were unable to nail him on those charges. He was finally put away for tax fraud instead.
We know that Cheney broke many laws with impunity during his stint as VP which may or may not be prosecutable. But the fact that he ordered the CIA to withhold information from Congress could just be what takes him down.
If the law says it is at the discretion of the Executive Branch when and if to inform Congress of such activities, then it is a useless law IMHO. But if that is the law, then no laws were broken, but it appears that Panetta thought it was warranted for Congress to be notified, so it probably bears looking at.
If Cheney did this without Bush's knowledge, that is a problem.
Finally I think the program itself was a good idea and wonder why it was canceled.
The law doesn't say that.
That's the case Liz Cheney was making on Morning Joe this morning, and none questioned it.
The "germain" law is the National Security Act of 1947...
http://www.intelligence.gov/0-natsecact_1947.shtml
It establishes our modern day Security Appartus, such as the National Security Council, The CIA, etc.
And it REQUIRES THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH TO BRIEF THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCh.
Newsflash - This is not a dictatorship - The President (Vice President) do not have carte blanche. It is a Republic where elected officials oversee the Executive Branch.
Deal with it!
It is illegal. President Ford banned political assassinations through an executive order right before he left office.
Are you actually arguing that the US should not seek to eliminate Al Queda leadership. If so then the preditor attacks carried out by this administration is "breaking the law"
I don't think killing AQ leaders qualifies as political assassinations.
AQ declared war on us through their actions.
The law is very specific in two separte sections. There is no wiggle room to order that Congress not be informed. Panetta was not informed. 8 years this was going on.
That is clearly a criminal act.
Clearly ! What is the justification ... the Patriot Act ??
It is not within the power of the Executive Branch to stiff arm the congress.
The Law is clear on this subject. The CIA must inform congress about all intelligence matters period. It is also not enough to say that this program was not operational. If it exsisted at all, then the congress should have been notified.
The program never became operational. Panetta's just trying to save Pelosi. That's what happens when you put a political hack in charge of an intelligence agency--the politicization of intelligence. Throw in the Cheney boogieman and everyone starts to hyperventilate. Mission Accomplished.
How could Panetta order an immediate halt to a program that was not operational.
Republicans make false statements in order to commit serial criminal acts.
Including the serial torture rapes of children, and the production of kiddie torture porn.
Still you support them. What does that make you JulieSA? You personally.
I have never heard anyone accuse Panetta of being a political hack. I have never heard his integrity questioned. I think he must have legitimate concerns.
The problem that you and Bushco have with that assesment that the program was not operational, is that it is not to SHUT DOWN a program that is not operational. There is no such thing as a non-exsisting program that has EXISTED since 2001.
What is so hard for you or anyone else to understand? Congress was not told. It doesn't matter what status the program held, it existed, therefore information should of been passed on. The support of secrecy will be the death of America.
This is also a charade to get attention off the fact this administration is totally failing to fix the economy. And has in fact added to the disaster.
Soooooo they had this assassination squad they hid from congress for 8 years but come on, they never used it.
Do we have any reason to believe that?
No.
Do we have any reason to believe anything they say?
No.........again. We have reason to demand that the law be followed.
http://feinstein.senate.gov/crs-intel.htm
There it is in Congress:
The President's otherwise exclusive control over national intelligence, however, is tempered by a statutory obligation to keep Congress, through its two congressional intelligence committees, "fully and currently informed of all intelligence activities..." (7) Current law also prevents the executive branch from withholding intelligence information from the committees on the grounds that providing the information to the congressional intelligence committees would constitute the unauthorized disclosure of classified information or information relating to intelligence sources and methods. (8)
There goes Liz Cheney's statement up in smoke.
Who is Liz Ch eney ... was she given classified intel and if so, under what authority ?
Are yuu actually saying that it is a deep dark evil secret tht the CIA was working to eliminate Al Queda leaders. Oh the shock of it--who knew????
It's also against the law the divulge classified information from intelligence briefings to members of Congress. You could measure the time it took the Dums to run to the press with this with an egg timer. Anything to protect Princess Nancy.
That's not true -- it's against the law for congress to divulge that information outside of congress, but the committees are required to be informed. You are dead wrong.
You're making things up!
"Current law also prevents the executive branch from withholding intelligence information from the committees on the grounds that providing the information to the congressional intelligence committees would constitute the unauthorized disclosure of classified information or information relating to intelligence sources and methods."
************
Sorry, but no where does it say that information can be withheld because of speculation that it may be leaked to the press.
Your agrument holds no water.
Come on now, don't be so naive. "Legitimate" information is and has been passed on to Congress for many years without the public being the wiser. According to reports everyone present was shocked that they were not privy to this information. IMO, those who are supporting this undertaking are the ones throwing Rep. Pelosi into the mix as a smoke screen and distractions from the underlying facts of actions taken by former VP Cheney. As the saying goes "ignorance of the law is no excuse". The program's merit is different from laws being broken and does not give a "green light" to those involved to circumvent the rules of our land at will. Personally, I don't care who any of you try to throw into the mix or how you try to legitimize what the former VP did. I believe in and support our constitution and no one can erase or justify any action(s) taken by Cheney.
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First Posted: 07-13-09 11:25 PM | Updated: 07-14-09 07:25 AM