AP sources: Tenet canceled secret CIA hit teams

[sabra]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former intelligence officials say ex-CIA Director George Tenet terminated a secret program to develop special hit teams to take out al-Qaida leaders in 2004 but the plan was later resurrected by Tenet's successor, Porter Goss.

Several officials say Tenet ended the program in 2004 because the agency could not work out the practical details to put it into use during its first three-year incarnation. All spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Current CIA chief Leon Panetta told the congressional intelligence committee members in June that he had canceled the program after learning of its existence. Panetta also told lawmakers that former Vice President Dick Cheney initially directed the CIA not to inform Congress about the effort.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jUYIQzuMD55oCy3UG7v6wITLOBewD99F44DO0

[Fridays Child]

1. Good old Porter Goss

I wonder how many assassination plots he's been directly involved in.

[Dennis Donovan]

8. Like a few domestic ones in the 60's?

Hmmm - too bad the old spook won't talk...

[UpInArms]

11. Operation 40

This photograph was taken in a nightclub in Mexico City on 22nd January, 1963. It is believed that the men in the photograph are all members of Operation 40. Closest to the camera on the left is Felix Rodriguez. Next to him is Porter Goss and Barry Seal. Tosh Plumlee is attempting to hide his face with his coat. Others in the picture are Alberto 'Loco' Blanco (3rd right) and Jorgo Robreno (4th right).

Operation 40

On 11th December, 1959, Colonel J. C. King, chief of CIA's Western Hemisphere Division, sent a confidential memorandum to Allen W. Dulles, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency. King argued that in Cuba there existed a "far-left dictatorship, which if allowed to remain will encourage similar actions against U.S. holdings in other Latin American countries." (1)

As a result of this memorandum Dulles established Operation 40. It obtained this name because originally there were 40 agents involved in the operation. Later this was expanded to 70 agents. The group was presided over by Richard Nixon. Tracy Barnes became operating officer of what was also called the Cuban Task Force. The first meeting chaired by Barnes took place in his office on 18th January, 1960, and was attended by David Atlee Phillips, E. Howard Hunt, Jack Esterline, and Frank Bender.

According to Fabian Escalante, a senior officer of the Cuban Department of State Security (G-2), in 1960 Richard Nixon recruited an "important group of businessmen headed by George Bush (Snr.) and Jack Crichton, both Texas oilmen, to gather the necessary funds for the operation". (2) This suggests that Operation 40 agents were involved in freelance work.

It is known that at this time that George Bush and Jack Crichton were involved in covert right-wing activities. In 1990 The Common Cause magazine argued that: "The CIA put millionaire and agent George Bush in charge of recruiting exiled Cubans for the CIA’s invading army; Bush was working with another Texan oil magnate, Jack Crichton, who helped him in terms of the invasion." (3) This story was linked to the release of "a memorandum in that context addressed to FBI chief J. Edward Hoover and signed November 1963, which reads: Mr. George Bush of the CIA" (4)

Reinaldo Taladrid and Lazaro Baredo claim that in 1959 George Bush was asked “to cooperate in funding the nascent anti-Castro groups that the CIA decided to create”. The man “assigned to him for his new mission” was Féliz Rodríguez. (5)

Daniel Hopsicker also takes the view that Operation 40 involved private funding. In the book, Barry and the Boys: The CIA, the Mob and America’s Secret History, he claims that Richard Nixon had established Operation 40 as a result of pressure from American corporations which had suffered at the hands of Fidel Castro. (6)

Webster Griffin Tarpley and Anton Chaitkin have argued that George Bush was very close to members of Operation 40 in the early 1960s. In September, 1963, Bush launched his Senate campaign. At that time, right-wing Republicans were calling on John F. Kennedy to take a more aggressive approach towards Castro. For example, in one speech Barry Goldwater said: “I advocate the recognition of a Cuban government in exile and would encourage this government every way to reclaim its country. This means financial and military assistance.” Bush took a more extreme position than Goldwater and called for a “new government-in-exile invasion of Cuba”. As Tarpley and Chaitkin point out, beneficiaries of this policy would have been “Theodore Shackley, who was by now the station chief of CIA Miami Station, Felix Rodriguez, Chi Chi Quintero, and the rest of the boys” from Operation 40. (7)

Paul Kangas is another investigator who has claimed that George Bush was involved with members of Operation 40. In an article published in The Realist in 1990, Kangas claims: "Among other members of the CIA recruited by George Bush for (the attacks on Cuba) were Frank Sturgis, Howard Hunt, Bernard Baker and Rafael Quintero.” In an article published in Granma in January, 2006, the journalists Reinaldo Taladrid and Lazaro Baredo argued that “Another of Bush’s recruits for the Bay of Pigs invasion, Rafael Quintero, who was also part of this underworld of organizations and conspiracies against Cuba, stated: If I was to tell what I know about Dallas and the Bay of Pigs, it would be the greatest scandal that has ever rocked the nation." (8)

Fabian Escalante names William Pawley as being one of those who was lobbying for the CIA to assassinate Fidel Castro. (9) Escalante points out that Pawley had played a similar role in the CIA overthrow of Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán in Guatemala. Interestingly, the CIA assembled virtually the same team that was involved in the removal of Arbenz: Tracey Barnes, Richard Bissell, David Morales, David Atlee Phillips, E. Howard Hunt, Rip Robertson and Henry Hecksher. Added to this list was several agents who had been involved in undercover operations in Germany: Ted Shackley, Tom Clines and William Harvey.

According to Daniel Hopsicker, the following were also involved in Operation 40: Edwin Wilson, Barry Seal, William Seymour, Frank Sturgis and Gerry Hemming. (10) It has also been pointed out that Operation 40 was not only involved in trying to overthrow Fidel Castro. Sturgis has claimed: "this assassination group (Operation 40) would upon orders, naturally, assassinate either members of the military or the political parties of the foreign country that you were going to infiltrate, and if necessary some of your own members who were suspected of being foreign agents."

...more...

[sfwriter]

31. Oh great, now I won't be sleeping tonight... EOM

[leveymg]

33. Yup. Looks like Porter. Here's more photos from that era, and more reading on that

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0408/S00254.htm

[ThirdWorldJohn]

2. So Tenet could have informed Congress of the termination and did not. So he is also party to the lie

[PassingFair]

4. Ya THINK?

[icnorth]

9. They switched from strings to collars for puppet control? n/t

[ThirdWorldJohn]

16. But it is not known if Bush knew about it. Remember what Rumsfeld said, "...because as we know,

there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns -- the ones we don't know we don't know."

[KoKo]

15. Yeah...but his speaking out means he's distancing himself..probably got

a lawyer already on the payroll...now that this stuff is hitting the MSM.

[Solly Mack]

3. k&r

[Beam Me Up]

5. Why should I believe anything anyone in government or media says?

Especially about 'secret CIA assassination squads' but really about anything at all at this point.

What I know now is that being lied to by government and media is not the exception but the rule. It is how they rule. Full spectrum perception dominance. "Who ever controls your perception of reality controls you."

[awnobles]

6. absolutely

great summation of the situation

[wtbymark]

7. but Timothy Leary died.....

[htuttle]

27. No, no, no, no,

He's outside looking in.

[damntexdem]

10. Did he also cancel any Dick Cheney hunting trips?

Just askin'. ;-)

[EVDebs]

12. So the CIA was playing 'in and out' with Dick (Cheney) ? nt

[timeforpeace]

13. Why do you need "hit teams" when you have laser-guided hellfire missles?

[lapfog_1]

32. When the targets AREN'T in Iraq, Yemen, Pakistan, Afghanistan, etc

but rather are in Mexico City and Paris and, probably, New York.

[KoKo]

14. Tenent "Covering his Back!" How many more leaks like this until we get to the TRUTH

:shrug:

[ShamelessHussy]

17. Assinating AQ Terrorist is NOT NEWS - I bet it was assinating folks other than AQ

Now that would be news and something to set the new CIA bosses hair on fire.

See this link where it shows via open source, respected news outlets that taking out AQ terrorist is an OPEN POLICY of BOTH admins (Bush and Obama) just the names on the hit list are secret.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6065305

Also here is an MSNBC video that discusses the same point...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x337013

Something stinks with this story... I bet they were taking out folks other than AQ.

[MetaTrope]

18. Like anybody who could connect BushCo with 9/11?

It does seem rather odd that nobody in al-Quaeda ever *claimed* that the World Trade Center attack was ultimately coordinated by the White House...they would be smart enough to imagine what sort of social and political chaos would have occurred in that powder keg situation. There are plenty of people ready to believe that sort of statement.

[elleng]

19. AP Sources: Tenet Canceled Secret CIA Hit Teams.

Source: AP/NYT

As CIA director in 2004, George Tenet terminated a secret program to develop hit teams to kill al-Qaida leaders, but his successors resurrected the plan, according to former intelligence officials.

Tenet ended the program because the agency could not work out its practical details, the officials told The Associated Press. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the classified program.

Porter Goss, who replaced Tenet in 2005, restarted the program, the former officials said.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/07/15/us/politics/AP-US-CIA-Secret-Program.html

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

20. The plot thickens...

[ShamelessHussy]

21. Assinating AQ Terrorist is NOT NEWS - I bet it was assinating folks other than AQ

now that would be news and something to set the new CIA bosses hair on fire.

See this link where it shows via open source, respected news outlets that taking out AQ terrorist is an OPEN POLICY of BOTH admins (Bush and Obama) just the names on the hit list are secret.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6065305

Also here is an MSNBC video that discusses the same point...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x337013

Something stinks with this story... I bet they were taking out folks other than AQ.

[harun]

22. Agree, there is much more to this story.

[Ilsa]

23. And not many here would care if AQ leaders were taken out. The problem

is as you stated: assassinating people other than AQ was probably the mission,and contrary to our long term interests.

[Grinchie]

24. More cover.. Rachell Maddow called it best.

She points out the obvious fact that the Bush administrations entire reason for war was to Kill and destroy Al Quaeda leadership. She even shows a few clips of Cheney and shrub saying just that. No reason to hide it, it was common knowledge and a primary goal.

She also notes that this message was parrotted all over Washington by the usual suspects.

So why would this be such a secret, after all, it was the stated goal of the Global War on Terror in the first place.

Rachel Maddow nailed it with this very poorly created attempt at cover.


Logic, Facts, and Videotape are the Fascists worst enemies.

[laststeamtrain]

25. "You're either with us or against us". (If you're against us we can kill you.)

[jannyk]

26. Dupe

see here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3970598

[buckrogers1965]

30. Was this the secret team

That took out Wellstone?

It is such common knowledge that Wellstone was assasinated that we have a new word in the English language.

To be wellstoned is to be mysteriously killed in an "accident" right after you piss off a lot of high placed politicians.

[Xipe Totec]

28. Why? Did he decide we needed three branches of government after all? n/t

[defendandprotect]

29. Tenet, a Repug with an ounce of common sense . ..

[No Elephants]

34. Not when he said Slam Dunk! (WMD are in Iraq.)

Luckily, though, that particular absence of common sense had no consequences worth mentioning.

And, he did say he regretted it--but that was not until 2007.

[defendandprotect]

35. Certainly, Tenet isn't a favorite of mine . . . but this was an improvement

on the usual Repug behavior -- IMO.

And, I think the "Slam Dunk" provided -- and will continue to provide -- a good

look at the idiocy of Repugs.

[unc70]

36. What the secret operation might involve

The current disinformation campaigns revolving around the Cheney, CIA, Paneta, secret operation, etc. is following fairly predicatable patterns with "reporting" in the usual places based on anonymous sources gradually building up a web of contradictory "facts", misdirections, cover stories, co-mingling of facts involving unrelated operations. Lots of variant versions of an operation or operations at CIA or elsewhere, bungled operations (a la Peter Sellers), inconsistent timelines, and general confusion. While we will glean various bits of new information from the on-the-record statements that will help with other issues, those are mostly things of minor import.

So what does all this really mean? That what was hidden from Congress for eight years is probably not about assassinations, but it is something so explosive that Paneta stopped it immediately and revealed it to key members of Congress the next day. Terminating the operation without revealing it to Congress or delaying this notification would apparently have involved enormous political and legal risk.

What I almost know about the operation, but I could have missed something or just be wrong. Many of you are much better informed about these things, and I would appreciate your help.

1. It has been in operation for several years, possibly even before 9/11.

2. Because it was still operating this year, it is unlikely anything related directly to the run up to the war, or WMDs, or much of anything else involving the wars.

3. It was too urgent and too shocking to the Members for it to have been some typical CIA operation, thus ruling out many possiblities including wiretaps and such and sex-related operations..

4. Since the entire operation was immediately stopped, it would appear that there was no need to protect human assets in other countries nor components to be salvaged.

5. I can not imagine that this involves something that would be labeled a conspiracy theory and easily ignored: domestic assassinations, financial markets, LIHOP/MIHOP, fixed elections, drug running, money laundering, bribes to Members from foreign criminal elements.

That does not leave very much. What if the CIA were spying on Congress itself -- everything: phones, mail, computer files, bugged offices and homes. Or maybe the CIA was aware of some other group's efforts, governmental or private. We have discussed how the anthrax attacks and cleanup provided the perfect opportunity for this type operation.

What else might be going on? Have I missed something? Your thoughts?