Off [Thread] Topic:
http://www.aei.org/article/100793
“Obama Has the CIA’s Back—in His Sights”
By John R. Bolton | Washington Times
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Photo Courtesy of U.S. Army/
Petty Officer 1st Class Michael Larson
SNIPPET: “The Obama administration and its congressional supporters committed major blunders last week by canceling, leaking and then deciding to investigate a highly classified program to eliminate al Qaeda leaders.”
SNIPPET: “Although the leaking of the clandestine program within days after CIA Director Leon Panetta briefed the congressional leadership will not have broad political effect, it demonstrates, yet again, that Congress seems institutionally incapable of overseeing sensitive intelligence or military matters.”
SNIPPET: “Today, many in Congress are again saying they are outraged at the possibility of “targeted killings” of al Qaeda leaders by U.S. intelligence operatives. Why this should be so is puzzling. America’s military forces have properly and legitimately been hard at work killing terrorists and destroying their capabilities since the murderous attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.”
SNIPPET: “Surely the terrorists care little whether they are being killed by CIA agents disguised as peasants or by grunts in camouflage uniforms and dirty combat boots.”
SNIPPET: “John R. Bolton is a senior fellow at AEI.”
Note: The following post is a quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2300582/posts
Behind The CIA’s Assassination Program
IBD Editorials ^ | July 24, 2009 | DAVID IGNATIUS
Posted on July 24, 2009 6:42:29 PM PDT by Kaslin
When the CIA’s alleged assassination program surfaced this month, the first reports focused on what hadn’t been done: Congress hadn’t been briefed, supposedly on orders from Vice President Dick Cheney, and the program hadn’t actually resulted in any “hit team” attacks on al-Qaeda operatives.
The first failing upset House Democrats, and they demanded an investigation. But the second issue is in some ways more interesting for what it reveals about the bureaucratic and legal culture in which the CIA operates.
The program began soon after Sept. 11, 2001, as part of a broader anti-terrorism effort that had the vivid code name “Cannonball.” The initial idea at the agency’s Counter-Terrorism Center, according to one former top-level official, was to go after al-Qaeda operatives around the world and “compromise them, disrupt them, snatch them” and, if necessary, kill them.
The goal was that “every al-Qaeda man on the planet should worry that someone is screwing with them, full time,” recalls a second former agency official. The CIA wanted to send the message: “If you work for Osama bin Laden, we will find you and come after you.”
(Excerpt) Read more at ibdeditorials.com ...