Who Was on the Assassination List?

I have now learned not to question Sy Hersh. When I heard he was working on a story on an "executive assassination ring" run by Dick Cheney, I told our audience to be skeptical. Come on, bounds of reason. Assassination teams, really?

Well, it turns out, really! No, really!

But I still don't get it. If these teams are meant to kill or capture senior Al Qaeda operatives, what's the big deal? Aren't we trying to do that already?

Is that really out of the ordinary? And what difference does it make if you kill people by missiles fired out of drones or you kill them at close range?

So, there are two possibilities here. One is that the CIA has gotten too risk averse. I think they should obviously have highly-trained paramilitary teams ready to take out our enemies. Is this something they should use often or without going through all of the proper channels? Of course, not. Look at how many times we were wrong in our extraordinary rendition program. We only kidnapped and tortured those guys. At least, we didn't terminate them with our hit squads.

But given the right circumstances, we should have hit squads. For example, if we went to war with North Korea (let's hope to God that never happens), I sure hope we got a team that's going to parachute into Pyongyang and try to find Kim Jong-il. If we don't, then I think we are being too cautious and not utilizing our entire arsenal. Of course, this doesn't mean you send that team if there is no war.

And there's the rub with assassination teams - once you start playing with them, it's hard to put them down. But we are at war with Al Qaeda and if someone isn't trained to take out Osama bin Laden at close range at a moment's notice, then we're doing something wrong.

Now, there is a second possibility. It's not that controversial to have a team ready to kill or capture Bin Laden or other senior Al Qaeda operatives. It is controversial to have a team ready to kill ... other targets.

Remember, the Bush administration told us that their warrantless wiretapping program was aimed only at Al Qaeda affiliates and we found out that was nowhere near the case. There were guys listening in on phone sex calls of innocent Americans by the time we found out about that program.

So, I have to ask what I previously thought unimaginable. Who exactly were the assassination squads supposed to assassinate?

I really don't want to get into crazy speculation. I certainly don't think this program would be turned inward as well. And it is eminently possible that it was just aimed at senior Al Qaeda guys, as I explained above. But given the history of the Bush administration and what has been less than honest explanations in the past, one has to ask - who were the targets under consideration?

If as a journalist, you don't ask this question, then you're not doing your job. It would be hard to argue this isn't relevant.

Dick Cheney hid this program from Congress (under what authority could he order a program like this in the first place?) and ordered the CIA to lie about it to the rest of the government (including large portions of the FBI and CIA). Is it not conceivable that as Cheney worked the "dark side," he gave other unimaginable orders? Did Bush even know what orders Cheney was giving? Did Bush know who was on the assassination list? If they had a program, they had a list, right? Who's on the list?

If they bothered to have assassination squads, it seems inconceivable that they didn't make a list. Does anyone have that list? Where is it now? And who's on it?

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Comments

[Alpha Blogger]

06:43 PM on 07/16/2009

Pelosi simply keeps lying to get out of this CIA mess she is in. She might not be lying about CIA assassination plots but this would means she is ignorant. It seems the Washington Post ran this very story on Oct 28, 2001 and in 2006 a New York Times reporter wrote this up in a book he published. So why is Pelosi the only person in DC, or the country for that matter, who does not know this? She is an embarrassment to the country and needs to resign.

[demigod]

12:57 PM on 07/16/2009

What good does it do to assassinate some leader - even bin Laden - does anyone believe his followers will just go away ? If Britain had assassinated George Washington, what would our early patriots have done - faded away into the woods, become good British subjects ? These guys lead movements, religious, nationalistic, you name it. They fight for causes, which don't die with individuals. If we want them to go away, we should consider what they want, and how we might give it to them. Usually right behind these guys are large numbers of suffering people looking to them for help. We paint them into monsters for our own reasons. Just as the British painted George Washington. There are two sides to every story. Killing our enemies just creates more replacements trying to kill us.

[kimleehan]

09:36 AM on 07/16/2009

One shot one kill, Snipers are just assassinators, they go out and kill someone in order to effect the outcome of a battle. Anyone remember the assassination attempt on Momar Kadafi and accidently killed his infant daughter.

[den1953]

02:12 PM on 07/15/2009

I don't know who was on Cheney's assination list but i bet that lawyer friend of his he shot in the face was right up there in the top ten!

[MJCole]

01:38 PM on 07/15/2009

Is anyone, or agency in the US government constitutionally empowered to order a hit?

I mean I read: [quote]Dick Cheney hid this program from Congress (under what authority could he order a program like this in the first place?) ... Did Bush even know what orders Cheney was giving? Did Bush know who was on the assassination list?[close quote]

I would like to think it is impossible for the president or anyone in the US government to order someone be killed, unless the United States had already declared war (act of congress) or the person were found guilty of a capital crime (judical).

Anyway violations of constitutional law from the Bush 2 admin, who'd have thought?!

[Artos]

12:14 PM on 07/15/2009

People should start to think about how so much of our Science and Technology has and is being misused for Warfare and now quite possibly for the use of the Intelligence Agencies of which the CIA is only one. While we are so busy concentrating on them we are forgetting the NSA and God only knows who else. All of these entities are using technology to create methods for killing or spying on "enemies", but as some have pointed out who are those enemies. We no have reason to suspect that it isn't just Foreigners who are getting the treatment. We should start to do some rethinking about the deaths of people like Sen. Wellstone who died in an unfortunate airliner crash. Did he really just die accidentally? He may be just one of many who we never suspect were murdered because of the methods used. Methods that Science and Technology misused has made possible. What we should also ask is just what would go on in the mind of Americans who could be convinced that this is a legitimate thing to do. To murder fellow Americans at the command of some Right Wing Ideologue. Would they really be convinced that it is their Patriotic Duty or are they doing it for reasons that have nothing to do with Patriotism, merely taking orders or is it working for Greed, and right wing ideology.

[JohnHKennedy]

11:55 AM on 07/15/2009

"I have to ask what I previously thought unimaginable. Who exactly were the assassination squads supposed to assassinate?

I really don't want to get into crazy speculation. I certainly don't think this program would be turned inward as well. And it is eminently possible that it was just aimed at senior Al Qaeda guys, as I explained above. But given the history of the Bush administration and what has been less than honest explanations in the past, one has to ask - who were the targets under consideration?"

Agreed! We need to know the truth. Cheney is just crazy enough to have targeted people in friendly countries and in the United States. Not that we something beyond the pale happened, we must have serious investigations. Now!

Torture, Deceiving Congress, WMD Lies... what more does Holder need? Insist On Enforcement of Our Federal Laws.

IT Will Not Happen Unless WE
make lots of noise.

SIGN THE PETITION

Demanding both a
Commission of Inquiry
and a Special Prosecutor at ANGRYVOTERS.ORG.

http://ANGRYVOTERS.ORG

[ProfessorDuh]

10:14 AM on 07/15/2009

Another question would be, "Which Americans were on the Cheney death squad's list?" And a follow-up question would be, "Which of those are now dead?"

[GodsSon0216]

08:54 AM on 07/15/2009

I guess Kennedy is the reason nobody has challenged the corporate elite since.....they made an example out of Kennedy...and since then...no president in our history has ever spoke the full blown truth...ask JFK why that is so

[ICanHasDemocracy]

12:13 PM on 07/15/2009

JFK made a deal with the devil (Hoover) as a bargaining chip for his indescretions.

[quiddler]

08:04 AM on 07/15/2009

Russian-sponsored news suggested that Benazir Bhutto was on the list. Don't really believe it. On the other hand, I have never understood why she was standing up in that car like she was begging someone to kill her. Not that this would explain that.

[Emerald1943]

07:54 AM on 07/15/2009

This story, with all its ugly implications, may be one of the biggest stories of the decade, and one that will finally force the American people to wake up and smell the stench that comes from abuse of power and unchecked arrogance!

And the mainstream media drops the ball...again! Very few of the hard questions are being asked right now...questions that everybody wants answered. And the few questions that are being asked are the "soft ball" type. And the President continues "looking forward"! I could not disagree with him more.

I wrote back some time ago that Americans were unaware of just how close we came to becoming a police state under the Bush/Cheney administration. Now, it seems that we may have been all along, the fact covered conveniently by their trademark flag-waving. lapel-pin wearing, and the invoking of their favorite mantra, "keeping us safe", a mantra that now makes me physically ill to hear. For those naive enough to still believe in their slogans and catch-all phrases, we can only hope that there will be journalists out there who are willing to ask the hard questions and unwilling to give up until all the ugliness is uncovered and the populace sufficiently awake enough to realize how close we came to losing it all!

[ProfessorDuh]

10:15 AM on 07/15/2009

A bigger story than Michael Jackson being mortal? Surely you jest.

[-0013]

04:05 PM on 07/15/2009

Ha!

[rich misty]

03:34 AM on 07/15/2009

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://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

(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

[rich misty]

03:41 AM on 07/15/2009

I will note: When Clinton was subpoened to appear and testify before a Grand Jury... They had absolutely nothing on him except a stained blue dress. He made his own problem by making a false statement under oath... But he was being investigated without any evidence of a crime being committed.

Here we have public domained news stories, and federal laws clearly appear to have been violated. Why are the Republicans obstructing justice and refusing repeated callls for criminal investigations? What else is the GOP hiding?

[ssb752]

08:44 AM on 07/15/2009

Remember the First Rule of Rovian Politics: Say the opposite of what you do, accuse the Other Side of doing what you do.
Slogan: "Nation First" Reality: "Party First" (and I might Second, Third & Fourth)

[krechsd]

01:38 AM on 07/15/2009

Where and what are these hit squads doing now?

[lb458]

02:08 AM on 07/15/2009

I know that this may seem out there, but what about all the "suicides" the last few years of bio-weapons specialists and biological researchers and top scientists.

[Freesia2]

12:57 AM on 07/15/2009

I have this feeling that we're at that "Deep Throat" moment. Things are shifting. Little thing come out. There's something else going and you can smell it. It feels like the moment in "All The President's Men" when Bob Woodward sits on the bench with Hal Holbrook and Hal tells him that this is much bigger than he realizes and it goes all the way to the top.

Like that. I feel like we've been here before only it's going to be much worse than anything we found out with Nixon. And I don't know how it is that a man like Cheney was able to seize the power that he did. But he did and now whatever we find, he owns it.

Including that list Mr. Uygur. Someone knows. Someone will either come forward as a patriot, or they'll come forward to save their hide.

I dread it. I want Cheney held accountable. But I dread it. I think it's going to rock us to our cores.

[Poboy]

09:48 AM on 07/15/2009

You had me all the way up to Cheney's seizing power.

No he didn't.

EVERYTHING Cheney did was AUTHORIZED BY BUSH II.

[TISN]

11:28 PM on 07/14/2009

This is just the beginning of something much much bigger. The tip of the iceberg so to speak. The coming months and years are going to expose alot of evil and dark things that the Cheney administration did and yes it's not a typo Bush took orders from Cheney not the other way around. Cheney in turn took orders from people with such sick and twisted minds about how they want the World to be and look that it makes you scream hallelujah Mccain didn't win. Thank your lucky stars America and the world for that matter we now have a president, the first one since Kennedy actually doing his job. It is so obvious what the people who gave orders to Cheney where planning. A Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton succesion. They didn't even plan for an Obama win. Now sit back and watch as the true truths come out.