Was there an executive assassination ring that reported directly to Cheney?

So the Bush administration looked at ways to kill or capture the enemy.

Will Mr Obama's "change" mean he offers them massages for their sore backs after they finish their hard days work of blowing stuff up?

maybe if the Bush administration had done their job 9/11 would not have happened or been as bad as it was...all they did was illegal or actions based on their lies

From the Muslim point of view, the US along with it's client state, Israel and 'The West' has been responsible for bombing almost every Islamic State in existence over the past 80 years. Add to that the over throwing of democratic governments and replacing them with fascist dictatorship's in the mistaken belief that they would keep the oil flowing led to the even worse religious fascists we see in control today. The only surprising thing about 9/11 was how long it took to arrive.....

Define 'executive assassination ring' please.

please somebody help me!

I'm in serious doubt, I can't decide which of these two is more condemnable
(1) Lawlessly attacking a symbol of an hated society, taking the death of countless civilians in account
(2) Lawlessly attacking the leader of an hated society, taking the death of countless civilians in account

I just can't figure out

notable? Erik? fingers? dieseldog? someone?

please explain ... please

*into account

since Cheney is considered an executive by many..perhaps he is also considered the head of the assassination ring

or an assassination ring on a higher level (executive)

this is explained and referred to in the article under background.

Seymour Hersh is awesome. I can't wait for this book to come out.

Great Q cool. So glad to see this part of our history refuses to be buried like a turd in a cat box.

Great Q! I agree - let's rub this story in their faces... don't let it die!

Congress Authorized CIA to Develop Secret Al Qaeda Plan, Former Official Says
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/07/13/cia-secret-al-qaeda-plan/

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.
[More at the link...]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/13/AR2009071302589.html?hpid=topnews

further

@kruijs:

I would venture a guess that a symbol never organized and plotted terrorism, never encouraged or participated in senseless violence, and the removal of the symbol would not change level of threat that the other side felt. In other words, it is senseless to attack a symbol, and the fact that many innocent lives were taken makes it impossible to justify in my mind.

And, where were you having issues figuring out the difference? It seems plain to me

About this question:

1) No "innocent lives" were lost. Your hypothetical does not follow reality here.
2) You do not specify if there was similar care taken to avoid loss of innocent life in your hypothetical
3) You do not specify what definition of "innocent life" you are using - are relatives, supporters, instructors, guides, and informers "innocent" in your hypothetical?
4) Was this "symbol" equally symbolic to both sides? Would it be considered a military target? Would it's loss cripple or weaken the defenses of the other side? Or would it's destruction be more on the level of a "hate crime"?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/14/us/14intel.html?_r=1&hp

..."Because the program never carried out any missions and because Congress had already signed off on the agency’s broad authorities after Sept. 11, the officials and some Republican legislators said the C.I.A. was not required to brief lawmakers on specifics of the program."'

There are 3 practical reasons not to seek to assassinate the leaders of an enemy (regardless of the enemy)...

1) The leaders you know enough about to target are by definition leaders about whom you have some information
2) In success, failure or stalemate you ultimately may need to talk to someone, someone with a degree of established authority.
3) Try to kil them, they may try to kill you!

Cheney disavows any knowledge of Operation Treadstone. Anyway, Treadstone was a training exerice that never really got off the ground.

wasn't Treadstone part of the Bourne identity?

Funny...I thought Treadstone was going to be the next name Blackwater/Greystone picked to flee from their tarnished image....

10 points for coolkraft. Treadstone was the project that trained Jason Bourne.

CIA was dead right in secretly plotting to assassinate Osama Bin Laden
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2009/07/15/2009-07-15_killer_app_cia_was_dead_right_in_secretly_plotting_to_assassinate_osama_bin_lade.html
The CIA program that's the subject of congressional histrionics over who should have been told what when turns out to have been a plan to send assassins to kill Al Qaeda leaders. How nice would that have been?

That the agency hatched such an effort post- 9/11 came to light after spy chief Leon Panetta said the CIA had failed to tell congressional leaders about it. He may or may not have been right that the agency had a duty to report the formulation of what proved, unfortunately, to be a drive that never came close to fruition.

What's certain is that the CIA was dead-on right to consider the feasibility of whacking Osama Bin Laden and his henchmen, whether with smart bombs or upclose and personal with a bullet to the brain.

Makes no difference to us.

For this congressional Democrats want scalps on the wall?

The proper response would be: Thank you very much. We wish you had told us so we could have helped you load the guns. And are you sure you want to rule the assassination thing out entirely?
...

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.

http://www.timeswatch.org/articles/2009/20090714135038.aspx
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?

[More at the link...]

Dems to Probe Secret CIA Plan to Spy on Enemies

(2009-07-15) — With Democrats in Congress already alarmed at revelations that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had a covert scheme to kill terrorist leaders like Usama Bin Laden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is reportedly set to announce a probe into allegations that the CIA may have also “conspired to conduct espionage operations against America’s enemies.”

Although the “vague” plans to dispatch small CIA teams to hit senior al Qaeda leaders never materialized due to legal, logistical and diplomatic obstacles, current CIA Director Leon E. Panetta cancelled the program in June, and sold several planning documents to the producers of Fox Network’s ‘24?.

According to a Pelosi staffer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the top-secret nature of the information he revealed, the CIA has “surreptitiously conducted what amounts to international spy operations without proper notification of its espionage targets, or of the United Nations.”

The source, who is not authorized to release any information about the probe, said Rep. Pelosi will conduct hearings in August aimed at unmasking what she “has come to believe is a vast global network of covert operatives who make observations, then report findings back to CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.”

The Speaker, who has previously accused the CIA of lying to Congress, is said to be “distraught at the notion that her country has violated the trust of governments that might someday be friendly toward the U.S.,” according the source who has regular access to confidential documents and notes from private briefings.

If the Congressional inquiry reveals evidence that the CIA discriminated against foreign nationals, eavesdropping on them simply because they hate America or plan to attack U.S. targets, the anonymous source said, “Heads will roll, I’m not at liberty to disclose who…you know, until I get the actual secret list.”

http://www.scrappleface.com/?p=3948

Cheney's "Secret Counterterrorism Program" Not So Secret After All

On Sunday the N. Y. 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.

http://www.timeswatch.org/articles/2009/20090714135038.aspx

woops - sorry NN

I see that you already posted that.

@Erik:

The truth bears repeating!!

Talk about a misleading headline - http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/politics/2009/07/16/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-dick-cheney.html - knew at least 1/2 of them.

Might as well link to the Times editorial exploring why it is an issue whether Cheney committed any crimes in his pursuit of untrammelled executive authority - http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/opinion/17fri1.html

The irony is that any actual operations were considered unworkable - dressed to kill, but unable to wound!

For you Truth Bears I quote Republican Senator Coburn at the Sotomayor hearings - "You'll have a lot of 'splainin' to do". Please try to avoid repetition, hesitation, and deviation!