Cheney's "Secret Counterterrorism Program" Not So Secret After All [NYT reported on it in Dec 2002]

Times Watch ^

[Sub-Driver]

Cheney's "Secret Counterterrorism Program" Not So Secret After All On Sunday the Times hinted darkly about a "secret counterterrorism program" Dick Cheney concealed from Congress. Now the details are out -- and it turns out the Times reported the program (killing Al Qaeda's leaders) on its front page back in December 2002.

Posted by: Clay Waters 7/14/2009 2:04:26 PM

The Times' lead story Sunday was on a C.I.A. program allegedly hidden by Dick Cheney, and abruptly ended by new C.I.A. director Leon Panetta when he learned of it. The headline to intelligence reporter Scott Shane's story huffed: "Cheney Is Linked To Concealment Of C.I.A. Project." Democrats are of course calling for an investigation.

The Central Intelligence Agency withheld information about a secret counterterrorism program from Congress for eight years on direct orders from former Vice President Dick Cheney, the agency’s director, Leon E. Panetta, has told the Senate and House intelligence committees, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said Saturday.

Sounds serious, yes? But the program that the conniving Cheney concealed from Congress turns out to have been not much of a secret after all, as demonstrated but not acknowledged in Tuesday's follow-up story by Shane and Mark Mazzetti: "After 9-11, C.I.A. Had Plan To Kill Al Qaeda's Leaders." (Well, one would hope so.)

Here's the front-page headline from the December 15, 2002 Times (hat tip Andrew Breitbart): "Bush Has Widened Authority of C.I.A. to Kill Terrorists." Sound familiar?

The Bush administration has prepared a list of terrorist leaders the Central Intelligence Agency is authorized to kill, if capture is impractical and civilian casualties can be minimized, senior military and intelligence officials said.

The previously undisclosed C.I.A. list includes key Qaeda leaders like Osama bin Laden and his chief deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, as well as other principal figures from Al Qaeda and affiliated terrorist groups, the officials said. The names of about two dozen terrorist leaders have recently been on the lethal-force list, officials said. ''It's the worst of the worst,'' an official said.

In this instance, the Times reverses its previous intelligence-related gaffe, committed in the summer of 2006 after it revealed compromising details of SWIFT, a successful terrorist surveillance program that monitored international banking transactions. When the paper came under fire, it tried to claim that SWIFT wasn't actually a secret, even though the headline selling the paper's big scoop read : "Bank Data Sifted In Secret By U.S. To Block Terror."

[Sub-Driver]

I guess no one on the hill reads the paper?

[blueyon]

“I guess no one on the hill reads the paper? “

Now if they won’t read the bills they are voting on, why would they read the papers?

[VeniVidiVici]

Passed on Sept.18, 2001 Congress authorized President Bush to target “persons” and not just nations. Looks to me like it was no secret at all.

THEY AUTHORIZED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

---

PUBLIC LAW 107–40—SEPT. 18, 2001
Public Law 107–40
107th Congress
Joint Resolution

SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES. (a) IN GENERAL.—That the President is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations,or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons.

[LottieDah]

“I guess no one on the hill reads the paper?”

They are too busy trying to come with ways to pick our pockets and cater to terrorists.

[Tatze]

The NY Times doesn’t even read the NY Times apparently.

[SlowBoat407]

I guess no one on the hill reads the paper?

If they read the paper, they'd run the risk of learning too much about the bills they pass.

Can't have that.

[exist]

I'm glad to see Michael Steele is on top of this.

[Oldexpat]

That story was supposed to have gone down the “memory hole”, somebody slipped up.

[rvoitier]

WoW

Nice catch, S-D.

[rvoitier]

The first “Breaking News” story they’ve had and it’s 6 1/2 years old! LoL

[HighlyOpinionated]

So, Pelosi knew after all? And Panetta? And everyone else who knows how to read?

[4Speed]

Ping

[IrishCatholic]

thanks for the facts bookmark.

[VeniVidiVici]

So my big question now is why is Leon Panetta so ‘troubled’ by a program put in place by congress?

[lonster]

BWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

try to cover pelosi’s arse again morons!!!

[angkor]

1. CIA TRYING TO TAKE OUT HUSSEIN ALLIES - NEWSPAPER.Europe Intelligence Wire (March 29, 2003)(234 words)

2. Report: CIA considers assassinations.United Press International (Oct 29, 2001): p1008301u2706. (766 words)

3. Report: CIA preparing to kill certain terrorists.(NATIONAL).The St. Petersburg Times (St. Petersburg, FL) (Oct 28, 2001): p5A. (509 words)

4. Attack on Afghanistan: Covert action: CIA given licence to kill: ‘Gloves are off’ as agency gets extra $1bn.(Guardian Home Pages).The Guardian (London, England) (Oct 22, 2001): p2. (482 words)

5. Report: CIA told to kill bin Laden.United Press International (Oct 20, 2001): p1008294u5038. (61 words)

6. US `failed in 2 plots to snare bin Laden’.South China Morning Post (Oct 4, 2001): pSCMP19133755. (510 words)
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within these results

3. CIA Paid Afghans To Track Bin Laden; Team of 15 Recruits Operated Since 1998.(A Section).Bob Woodward. The Washington Post (Dec 23, 2001): pA01. (1330 words)

4. CIA Told to Do ‘Whatever Necessary’ to Kill Bin Laden; Agency and Military Collaborating at ‘Unprecedented’ Level; Cheney Says War Against Terror ‘May Never End’.(A Section)(Central Intelligence Agency, Osama bin Laden, Dick Cheney).Bob Woodward. The Washington Post (Oct 21, 2001): pA01. (2719 words)