CIA Was About To Train Anti-Terror Hit Squads When Panetta Ended The Program

Washington Post:

CIA officials were proposing to activate a plan to train anti-terrorist assassination teams overseas when agency managers brought the secret program to the attention of CIA Director Leon Panetta last month, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the matter.

Read the whole story: Washington Post

Comments

[WasteNJ]

Didn't CIA train murder squads at the School of the Americas for decades? Graduates of that "school" went on to assassinate South American leaders and destabilize nations for the benefit of US energy companies.
Where's the news here? A little bit of light has been passed over the edge of a very dark area in US policy... good luck exposing the rest.

[AnotherFineMess]

Still do.

The "School of the Americas" needs to be shut down.

[kentuck]

I think we would be naive to believe this was all there was to the "secret program". We already have assassination squads looking for Al Qaeda - they are called the US Army and the US Marines.

[felisa11]

the question is, are the lawmakers properly informed of activities!

[rich misty]

And the CIA, they were supposed to have been targeting terr0r targets for years.

It is public domain information.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/bushswar/

[JGDC]

Fanof Kentucky,
Title 10 forces (USMC and Rangers) are generally restricted by US code from operations in Pakistan.Title 50 forces, the majority of which belong to the agency, do not have such restrictions.

[Passenger57]

This is the Cover Story...

[emBARRYsing]

The Dems don't want this to be a national debate.

They want to convict Che.ney behind closed doors and announce the fact later on Keith Olbermann who will interview John Dean and Richard Wolfe for their take on the story.

[gladys46]

Naw ... dems can think for themselves ... this takes little thought, especially since it is clearly against the law ... period !

[willt7311]

You all share a collective mind.

[egapmar]

You speak for the dems now? How very interesting.

[ethancorso]

Hi, egapmar. I picked up your cousins book yesterday. It's a truly fascinating read!

[AsianAfricanAMERICAN]

He's an amazing little tro//, ain't he?

[Lemmy]

At least terrorists are safer today. Hooray! Did we issue an apology to them yet?

[bubbuh]

Go back to zombie school. You're not very good.

[TimeToPunt]

This isn't a debate, junior.

[rich misty]

Conservatives say they would not target Americans? They hate liberals. They have a long history of advocating targeting them... Statements made frequently and publically.

Now they say that suspecting them is paranoid? What gives with that?

[Jesusland]

I doubt there's a single conservative household in America that doesn't have multiple firearms already. If they wanted to kill you the job could be done overnight. So every time you see a conservative thank him that you're still breathing his air.

[rich misty]

Conservatives are cowards. They would be afraid.

That's what is cool about secret agents they can order to make their fantasies come true.

[D-V-H]

When one's world view is colored by suspicion, of course you will be suspicious.

[rich misty]

Conservatives are posting right here, right now, that violating federal oversight laws in secret covert programs is just fine with them.

Where is the line? What law will they not support breaking? Americans have already been tortured by them.

[willt7311]

This is nothing but a political hot potato that the dems can't help but play with even thought they keep getting burned.

Let it go already. Nancy lied about the C_I_A and she lied to her constituents.

[RandomSally]

Goes without saying.

[hortonhearsdawho]

so, ur yard had a fence....

[adey]

If only YOU would.

[rich misty]

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUS331&q=935+lies&aq=f&oq=&aqi=g2

Yet Republicans support every one of the 935 lies told by the Bush adminstration to trick Americans into engaging in an illegal war.

[hortonhearsdawho]

tremble much...

[egapmar]

If she did she did. Lets get to the bottom of this. Let the chips fall where they may

[willt7311]

I agree with you on that. If we are going to make issue over this then lets get it all out in the open.

Put it all on the table. If we aren't willing to do that then we need to let it go.

[jbueno989]

What is wrong with killing terrorists?

[TheBlackCat]

Not that I'm justifying it...

but I don't understand how people didn't already think this wasn't already going on. I mean, the CIA has a long reputation of assasinating or trying to assasinate people in foreign lands, especially in South America a few decades ago with all the revolutionaries and drug lords. Why would this practice suddenly stop? If anything, i have a VERY hard time believing similar things aren't still going on elsewhere just because this particular plan apparently didn't go forward.

[breakingnews3]

But their own beloved St Ronnie signed the order prohibiting ALL as.sasinations. Period.

Executive Order 12333 http://tscm.com/EO12333.html

[willt7311]

Not that it bothers me but Obama did allow the assassination of Somali pirates.

[Grunty1]

WiltedBrain, Somali pirates aren't heads of state, are they?

So, if you want to call any death caused by the military to be an @ss@ssination, let's talk about the million of them Dubya ordered.

[PATina]

Thank you. I said the same thing earlier.

[egapmar]

I think most folks knew, if not we have a very naive populous.

[felisa11]

listen slowly, blackcat, the question is not is it still going on, the question is was proper procedures followed, like informing our lawmakers. ok? ok

[hortonhearsdawho]

cover letter ?

[brandnewstuff]

Why is Bybee still have a law licence? Why does Gonzo still have a law license?

[ethancorso]

Yoo, Addington...apparently practicing law means having the authority to green light anything at all.

[adey]

Morning. Was going to mention that my cousin is an economist in Mumbai. He has a site called Deeshaa.org, if you are ever curious. He was educated here, worked here for a while. Very opinionated, as Bengalis tend to be.....

[RandomSally]

Why are you still in the day room playing on the computer isn't it time for num nummy oatmeal with the other woosters?

[adey]

You make more sense when you're trying NOT to. Sad, really.

[MataHari007]

Didn't your routine consist of nothing but ironic one liners?

[hortonhearsdawho]

bonzo is teaching poly sci to a bunch of good old boys up the panhandle...

[scoops2]

from that crazy audit article:

The Government Accounting Office does not have complete access to all aspects of the Federal Reserve System. The law excludes the following areas from GAO inspections (31 USCA §714):

forget these stooopid witch hunts because nancy got embarrassed.

HR 1207---call your congressperson.

get this thing to the floor.

[emBARRYsing]

Let's get this investigation started ASAP.

Televise it on C-span.

First one under oath: Nancy Pelosi.

[RandomSally]

AGREED!!!

I want this thing blo wn wide open but it will never happen because there is no there there and it would ruin a great B S blame game for the Dems. The end result will be a gutted intelligence community to go with our gutted military.

[AsianAfricanAMERICAN]

Ok...so you agree.

Why should Nancy Pelosi be the first person brought up on charges?

[BigFootJesus]

As usual your post makes no sense. If there is no there there, as you put it, then what gets blown wide open. You are such a good little citizen but w is not in power anymore so you can finally relax and try to think for yourself.

[AsianAfricanAMERICAN]

****crickets****

[hortonhearsdawho]

looking forward to valentines day already, ehh skippy....

[brandnewstuff]

my bloody valentine-- prison has those everyday- Texas State is the worse that's how they roll.............fyi's

[AsianAfricanAMERICAN]

I'll agree if you can make the case. Smart guy like you should have no problem doing that, so please reply to my post with your case...


Thanks

[hortonhearsdawho]

twisted puppy love ..is all.

[gladys46]

Funny how repubs want to know what goes on in the private lives of american women, ah, the choices they make ... yet they could care less about how gov. officials misuse, abuse agencies such as CIA !

[Mark Mack]

Yeah, because they are bullys. Find what They Think is weak target and pick on it.

[willt7311]

Funny how libs are always trying to leap across the grand canyon to connect two points.

[TimeToPunt]

...while the cons leap across the Atlantic Ocean to connect two points.

[gladys46]

It's also funny how d i c k ch en ey has no constitutional right to arbitrarily become president ! Speaking of funny stuff ... how funny it is that d i ck is caught AGAIN, subverting our nation's laws !

[Kassandra]

There's no way this program could have been stopped BEFORE it was started as it has been going on since the 80's. It was Negroponte's baby...and he was sure high in the Bush "admin"

You hawks, go on over there if ya like it so very much! Do ya!

[littleblackcat]

bush and cheney's lies and involvement with the "terrorists" should be quite clear to anyone who checks out the timeline on the events of September 11, 2001. Anyone who reads and evaluates the facts given will conclude that 9/11 didn't "just happen" and everyone in the world knows that the invasion of Iraq was about big oil's getting its hands on Iraq's oil reserves. Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11.

[bubbuh]

At this precise moment during Dubya's first year, he was preparing to ignore the first concrete warning specific to 911. After all, going on vacation for a month to rest up from all his prior vacationing was much more important.

[greatlardini]

Clearing that pre-cut brush from a pretend ranch was very taxing, both physically and mentally.

[hortonhearsdawho]

link showing any cedar actually cut down ?

[whatthel]

The drugstore cowboy photo ops.

[foxistoofunny]

good morning...taxing that fake ranch fiscally as well. It was nothing more than a expensive movie set.

[rich misty]

According to their own document, Rebuilding America’s Defenses ( .pdf format ) their stated goals would never be realized “absent some catastrophic catalyzing event –like a new Pearl Harbor”. (page 63). http://www.newamericancentury.org/RebuildingAmericasDefenses.pdf

http://www.newamericancentury.org/statementofprinciples.htm

The bottom of the page ^ lists the signatories.

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB116/pdb8-6-2001.pdf

The PDB memo from the National Security Archive ^

Bush got the warning, he derided the agent briefing him, and patiently ignored the memo.

[Sandmanj]

The public version of the PNAC document was scrubbed of the "Pearl Harbor" reference and the reference to Iraq being the first step in conquest of the oil-rich nations back in 1004 after those references were scattered around the internet. Thus, page 63 of your now contains no reference to a "new Pearl Harbor".

Fortunately, countless bloggers screen-captured the original pages.

[RandomSally]

Agreed, based on that vague DUH memo he should have shut down American airspace until.....

Well just until...

[bubbuh]

Governing is about taking the appropriate action. Warning all the airports and all the airlines would have been an excellent first step. Expanding the investigation would have been an excellent second step. See how it works? If you do, that puts you one up on Bush/Cheney even after eight years of their version of "governing."

[javaz]

He could have beefed up security at the airports and looked into the reports of certain people taking flight lessons in Minnesota and Arizona.

[TimeToPunt]

Typical con ignoring all of the interim steps that could have been taken like LOCKING THE COCKPIT DOORS. NO, just jump straight to the extremest argument.

[rich misty]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#31898065 - Cheney _ordered_ intelligence information withheld from Congress. Maddow has the best coverage to date from the other night.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/12/us/politics/12intel.html - There is the NY Times article.

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

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