Posted on 08/19/2009 7:50:52 PM PDT by Steelfish
Blackwater tied to CIA assassination plot
Firm's officials were recruited in effort to kill top al-Qaida operatives
By MARK MAZZETTI
WASHINGTON - The Central Intelligence Agency in 2004 hired outside contractors from the private security contractor Blackwater USA as part of a secret program to locate and assassinate top operatives of Al Qaeda, according to current and former government officials.
Executives from Blackwater, which has generated controversy because of its aggressive tactics in Iraq, helped the spy agency with planning, training and surveillance. The C.I.A. spent several million dollars on the program, which did not capture or kill any terrorist suspects.
The fact that the C.I.A. used an outside company for the program was a major reason that Leon E. Panetta, the new C.I.A. director, became alarmed and called an emergency meeting to tell Congress that the agency had withheld details of the program for seven years, the officials said.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
I thought that I read this never happened. That it was “on paper only”.
It would have made the country far safer if they had been sent to dispatch top New York Times operatives.
Good.
So what? Panetta is a pussy and along with Holder will ruin the CIA. The enemy is right here trying to bring this country down. Pity!
The Commie left still whining about Americans killing their Islamofascist terrorist pals. This is getting old.
“as part of a secret program to locate and assassinate top operatives of Al Qaeda”
Ok, lets say it’s exactly as the times said, why should i care? Pay the girlscouts to give em arsenic cookies, im REALLY REALLY ok with it.
True- but even if it did, the use of trained third party individuals to kill and capture al-Qaeda should be applauded. Indeed, the Constitution allows Congress to provide for Letters of Marque and Reprisal. Now Congress may not have done so. But the President is also Commander in Chief.
You don’t see Britain
giving double-0 status
to clerks from Harrods...
We arent talking about clerks from Harrahs. We are talking about recently separated Seals, Delta, Rangers, etc. They love this nation. They do dangerous work that frankly, they deserve the pay they get. Blackwater is still OUR BOYS. And since when do we have to live up to what the Brits do with a fictional secret agent corps.
But this article disagrees.
Leon Panetta's CIA Disclosure Was MAJOR Screw-Up
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.
So what in the world is the truth? Btw, I doubt the NYTimes knows the definition of truth.
I agree with your post too. It's a shame it never happened.
“The C.I.A. spent several million dollars on the program, which did not capture or kill any terrorist suspects.”
So, what’s your point? I know, you want to give our intelligence agencies as many black eyes as you can.
"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."
Obama’s internal poll numbers must really be tanking...again...lol. Everytime Obama is in trouble..the NYT or another Obama media shill is ordered to drag this stupid CIA crap up again!
HORROR OF HORRORS..PRESIDENT BUSH WAS TRYING TO KILL TERRORISTS! SHAME ON HIM! /sarcasm
And Charles Lindberg flew combat missions P-38s and Corsairs in the Pacific in WWII,,,,as a CIVILIAN tech rep.
Bell tech reps flew along in Vietnam on combat missions. The USN Destroyer that shot down the satellite last year, had Raytheon tech reps (civilians) aboard.
American civilians, working hand in hand with our military effort is nothing new, and is honorable. The left is villifying these good men from blackwater who indeed are serving their country.
Nope, we did not capture or kill any terrorist subjects!
Blackwater rocks.
Thank goodness. Great idea.
Sorry, all kinds of civilians work in intelligence as contractors, operatives, etc. They have had dirct combat roles for a long time. NO such restriction exists here or in international law. IE,,the french foreign legion. Numerous examples exist of this policy at least as far back as WWII.
And last, when those Blackwater men were ambushed, killed, burned and hung from the bridge in fallujah, the enemy only saw Americans, not contractors.
Blackwater is legal, moral, and American. This is a leftist tempest in a teapot. Mostly , the only ones who oppose it are the Dems, and careerists in the Military who resent seeing former soldiers and sailors paid commensurate to their level of training.
And honestly, Blackwater types are about the last who would be used against American citizenry. Special Forces are notoriously in favor of the armed citizenry. Attitude surveys among them are massively skewed against a fictional despotic US Government.
Realistically, theres more of a chance they would use their skills against such a government, not for it.
We numberous civilian rech reps with us on patrols to implant sensors along the HCM trail in Cambodia.... which of course, we were never in.....
One, Terry, is still a good friend in DC.
And the problem is..... ?
You got that right. Leave it to the NYT to distract the nation again from Obeyme’s falling numbers.
Geez. The leaks at the CIA even continue to this day...
And reports say he got at least one Zero in a nose to nose, head to head, lead to lead shooting contest,,, and the Jap won second prize.
Your scenario, in which--if I have read it correctly--"somebody goes outside the military" and uses the CIA's special activities division to target domestic terrorists is kind of silly.
Let me get this straight....the CIA used 3rd parties to collect intelligence, provide training, and maybe a little operational support? And how is this different from the way the CIA has operated since its founding. How did the war in Afghanistan start? With a couple of guys with a suitcase full of cash doing deals with warlords willing to go shoot our enemies. Yawn
How many good guys does this liberal rag have to kill before Patriotic Americans shut it down.
The headline should have read “Boy zero’s mouth piece undermines national security again”.
The CIA is not part of the armed forces. It is a civilian agency. Its authority to conduct special activities derives from the National Security Act of 1947. It regularly hires foreign military officers, warlords, and other unsavory personnel to gather information, perform surveillance, or conduct special activities. That's practically its raison d'etre. I can see nothing remotely skeevy about hiring American professionals when they need something done right.
As for the federal government mis-using the CIA's capability to target and kill, either I am misunderstanding you or it's supremely silly. Every federal law enforcement agency already has the capability to target and kill people. They would probably be better at it than the CIA, since they're already entrenched in the US.
“One official familiar with the matter said that Mr. Panetta did NOT tell lawmakers that he believed that the C.I.A. had broken the law by withholding details about the program from Congress. Rather, the official said, Mr. Panetta said he believed that the program had moved beyond a planning stage and deserved Congressional scrutiny.”
So there was no law broken, in the opinion of “One official familiar with the matter”.
Consistent with this, Cheney “told C.I.A. officers in 2002 that the spy agency did not need to inform Congress because the agency already had legal authority to kill Qaeda leaders.”
It would have been the height of irresponsibility to put American lives at risk and blow an important operation by needlessly tipping off Leaky Leahy and company.
This looks like just another declaration of moral superiority by the NY Times.
bttt
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