CIA ousts al-Qa'eda hunter 'for lack of aggression'

[ECH1969]

The man at the head of America's efforts to hunt down terrorists has been forced to resign amid concern that he was too cautious in pursuing al-Qa'eda leaders. Robert Grenier, the head of the CIA's counter-terrorism centre, is the latest in a series of senior officials to resign from the agency over the past year.

Intelligence officials told the Los Angeles Times that the head of the CIA's clandestine service had become increasingly frustrated by Mr Grenier's approach, which he thought too tentative.

However, they insisted that his resignation was not connected with the failure of last month's attempt to kill Ayman al-Zawahiri, the deputy leader of al-Qa'eda, in a missile strike against a remote Pakistani village.

He was appointed to his new post about a year ago at a time of considerable turmoil at the CIA following the appointment of a new director, Porter Goss. "The word on Bob was that he was a good officer but not the one for the job and not quite as aggressive as he might have been," a CIA official told the Washington Post.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/02/08/wcia08.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/02/08/ixworld.html

[lvx35]

1. This sounds like propaganda to me...

"gotta send the message to AQ that we're going to kick their ass, even if we have to lie to the American public in the process..." I'll bet its all about the failed attempt on the number 2.

:(

[bahrbearian]

2. "Aggression " isn't that Chimpies Mod of Operandi.

[mike_c]

3. was he not responsible for torturing enough poor brown people...?

Not AGRESSIVE?

[HuffleClaw]

4. "He was also pivotal in the countdown to the war against Iraq..

...In the summer of 2002 he was brought back to the CIA's headquarters and put in charge of a newly-created and euphemistically named Iraq Issues Group."

might it be they need to remove folks who will end up having to testify before congress about bushco.'s lies that led to the iraq war?

[Moderator]

5. Kick

[DoYouEverWonder]

6. CIA chief sacked for opposing torture

February 12, 2006

The CIA’s top counter-terrorism official was fired last week because he opposed detaining Al-Qaeda suspects in secret prisons abroad, sending them to other countries for interrogation and using forms of torture such as "water boarding", intelligence sources have claimed.

Robert Grenier, head of the CIA counter-terrorism centre, was relieved of his post after a year in the job. One intelligence official said he was "not quite as aggressive as he might have been" in pursuing Al-Qaeda leaders and networks.

Vincent Cannistraro, a former head of counter-terrorism at the agency, said: "It is not that Grenier wasn't aggressive enough, it is that he wasn't 'with the programme'. He expressed misgivings about the secret prisons in Europe and the rendition of terrorists."

Grenier also opposed "excessive" interrogation, such as strapping suspects to boards and dunking them in water, according to Cannistraro.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2036182,00.html

[saltpoint]

7. I wonder what morale is like among veteran CIA people under Porter Goss.

I bet it sucks.

[peacebird]

8. but bush says we don't torture.... and we know bush is a good christian

annointed by god to save the good heterosexual christians of the world from perverts and heathens.
bush would never lie - because to lie is a sin.

:sarcasm:

[DoYouEverWonder]

10. Well of course Bush lied

but he is protecting us from gay marriages and that's what's important.

:sarcasm:

[leftchick]

9. it is rendition of terror "suspect"

as has been shown, many of these folks are innocent.

[peacebird]

11. is it still true that at Gitmo less than ten folks are formally charged?

[Spankydem]

12. UBL is the tallest guy in a 20 square mile area.....

and they cant find him ?

WEIRD

[Akoto]

13. Not Aggressive Enough? Translation: Too Ethical.

Sounds to me like the practices going on within the CIA weighed too heavily upon his conscience, and he decided to stand up against what he knew was wrong.

Of course, it won't matter to the operations in the long run. They booted him, and now he'll be replaced with someone willing to do whatever they want, no questions asked.