Jul 13 2009
Obama Administration Stops Effort To Capture Top al Qaeda Leaders
Well, it does seem the Obama administration has unilaterally surrendered to al Qaeda on the war on terror:
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.
…
Neither Mr. Panetta nor the lawmakers provided details. Mr. Panetta quashed the CIA effort after learning about it June 23.
This echoes the Clinton administration’s bungling the capture or killing of Bin Laden prior to 9-11. If we are attacked, (or when as many predict), it will be another black mark on the Dems if one the CIA’s targets ends up successfully killing Americans. This is a dumb and dangerous game the DC Political Industrial Complex is playing.
Now we find out that this was that program to hunt down individual members of al Qaeda that Bush never fully operational.
Wasn’t there an endless drone of Democrats asking why we hadn’t gotten UBL yet ?
I guess they were for killing or capturing members of al Qaeda before it became politically expedient to be against it.
Frank Rich wrote in The New York Times about 3 weeks ago, that he learned of an assassination team that Cheney put together, not much more information, which started congressional investigation I think.
But what is the truth? Did Cheney order the CIA to put together a team, or did the CIA write a memo to the Executive suggestion that it would be possible to get Bin Laden and company with an assassination team as opposed to repeating the Russian debacle of sending in the Armed Forces in mass? Personally I believe it was the latter. Bush was always hesitant to send large numbers of armed forces into Afghanistan, because of the Russian experience (remember Bush and Putin were on speaking terms then and I’m sure traded advice), Afghanistan has inhospitable terrain, lack of educated population, and as Rummy said it is one big sand pile.
Surely anybody with a brain would send in a team to assassinate the guy rather then to invade the whole country (unless it was a campaign promise). Just have a look at how it has worked to date with Obama’s push. Our guys are being killed all over the place, so are Great Britain’s. Is this really what we want? Do we want our guys killed to find a half dozen bad guys, and no prospect of building a better Afghanistan? I don’t think so!
I saw a headline that stated the CIA working with the Bush administration had a secret program designed to destroy AlQaida.
Needless to say Democrats are outraged and are talking about prosecution and Cheney operating outside his scope.
The horror of it all…a plan to destroy AlQaida.
These people are hopeless. It is like a walk down memory lane and I don’t mean good memories either.
Sorry got it wrong. It was S. Hersh, not Rich, I don’t know why, they are both despicable in reporting secrets.
Seymour Hersh’s Claim of Cheney Covert Assassination …
So, Bush started this program up almost 8 years ago.
How many Al Qaeda operatives were captured or killed, that we know of?
Zero? Really.
Wow. He sucks.
Not zero. Many Al Qaeda operatives were killed through other means.
However, this program was just an idea so it never had a chance to bear fruit.
Wow, he did a great job in that area.
So, shutting down “an idea” of a program that had no actual results is proof that Democrats don’t take national security seriously enough? Pathetic.
Number of Al Qaeda operatives killed or captured under this program while Bush is President = 0.
Number of Al Qaeda operatives killed or captured under this program while Obama is President = 0.
Wow, you suck.
Congress Authorized CIA to Develop Secret Al Qaeda Plan, Former Official Says
Congress originally authorized the CIA to develop the secret counterterrorism program that is now drawing fierce criticism from House Democrats who say they were kept in the dark all along, a former senior intelligence official told FOX News on Monday.
The program, which sources told FOX News was a plan to capture or kill Al Qaeda operatives, also never came close to being operational, the intelligence official said.
“This was not a program. It never began,” the former official said. “The authority was given by Congress to develop this idea. … There was no need to brief it. It wasn’t a reality.”
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/07/13/cia-secret-al-qaeda-plan/?test=latestnews
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I don’t have a problem with the program being shut down since it was evidentally not worth implementing for some reason. We have, afterall, been targeting al Qaeda with drones, and other methods, etc which have been effective. However, I do have a problem with this being leaked within two short weaks. We need to investigate who is leaking national security matters and hold them accountable.
No, Guy, you suck. Obviously, you don’t listen to the news.
President = FAR more than zero, one, two, ten, fifty, but several hundreds and thousands Al Qaeda killed.
Frogg, I agree.
This is interesting. I found at another blog.
Washington Post | October 28, 2001
Armed with new authority from President Bush for a global campaign against al Qaeda, the Central Intelligence Agency is contemplating clandestine missions expressly aimed at killing specified individuals for the first time since the assassination scandals and consequent legal restraints of the 1970s.
Drawing on two classified legal memoranda, one written for President Bill Clinton in 1998 and one since the attacks of Sept. 11, the Bush administration has concluded that executive orders banning assassination do not prevent the president from lawfully singling out a terrorist for death by covert action. The CIA is reluctant to accept a broad grant of authority to hunt and kill U.S. enemies at its discretion, knowledgeable sources said. But the agency is willing and believes itself able to take the lives of terrorists designated by the president.
Oh dear, seems to have been reported again in 2002 as well.
Cheney’s “Secret Counterterrorism Program” Not So Secret After All [NYT reported on it in Dec 2002]
Now really, who didn’t know.
CIA Told to Do ‘Whatever Necessary’ to Kill Bin Laden (2001)
07/14/2009 2:44:21 PM PDT · by Shermy · 5 replies · 54+ views
Post ^ | Octomer 21, 2001 | Bob Woodward