Death squads and US democracy

[IndianaGreen]

Death squads and US democracy

14 July 2009

Burying the crimes of the Bush administration in the past, however, has proven impossible, not only because of their grave character, but also because much of what was done has yet to be fully exposed and many of the same methods are continuing under Obama.

The way in which this latest revelation has emerged is highly revealing. It has come to the surface as a result of Obama’s CIA director, Leon Panetta, briefing congressional intelligence committees on the matter. The CIA director went to Congress to give the briefings on June 23—the day after he himself became aware of the secret program and ordered it terminated.

The Obama appointee supposedly in charge of America’s spy agency became aware of this operation only four months after assuming his post.

The implications are clear. The CIA maintained the secrecy ordered by Cheney even after the latter had left office, and continued to conceal the existence and nature of the covert operation not only from Congress, but from the Obama administration itself.

The exact nature of the secret program has yet to be made public either by the CIA or those members of Congress briefed by Panetta.

A report published in the Wall Street Journal Monday, citing three unnamed “former intelligence officials,” suggests that it was aimed at organizing the “targeted assassinations” of individuals deemed enemies of the United States in the so-called “global war on terrorism.” In other words, the CIA appears to have been organizing death squads.

“Amid the high alert following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, a small CIA unit examined the potential for targeted assassinations of Al Qaeda operatives, according to the three former officials,” the Journal reports.

The Journal quotes one of the officials as saying, “It was straight out of the movies. It was like: Let’s kill them all.”

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=post&forum=103

If you think that these death squads were going to be used exclusively against Al-Qaeda, and overseas, you better think again. This sounds like the "off-the-shelf" outfit that Oliver North discussed with then CIA Director Bill Casey.

[kenny blankenship]

1. Well, Reagan proved a few things, e.g. deficits don't matter; also, if you want to make an omelette

You gotta kill a few nuns, and maybe an Archbishop or so...

Death squads and US democracy just go together like high fructose corn syrup in infant formula.

[Peace Patriot]

2. I find this whole thing rather puzzling, and I don't think we have--or can have--

sufficient information about our secret government to figure out what's going on.

Leon Panetta--described by our corpo/fascist press as a "civilian" and "inexperienced" in intelligence--is brought in to HEAD the CIA, probably to heal the wounds from the war between the CIA and the Bushwhacks, and then outs a secret CIA assassination project--one that was not implemented (so we are told)--and then Congress gets its panties all in a twist because they weren't informed about it. ???

I think we're looking at some kind of shadow play, and it's just impossible to get a clear picture. One, I don't think Panetta is a "civilian." Two, I think the war between the CIA and the Bushwhacks was extremely serious, and may have been connected to a Bushwhack plan to nuke Iran and declare martial law here (circa late 2006, when Rumsfeld resigned). Three, I think we were spared Armageddon and outright fascist rule by the "old CIA" and its most secret top managers--people like Panetta and Bush Sr.--and their allies in the military and in the national political establishment.

IF my guesses are true (the above), then how does this outing of the CIA assassination project-that-wasn't fit into this scenario? Could be a method of routing the Bushwhack (Cheney/Rumsfeld) moles in the CIA, without revealing any serious secrets (like, what horrors did they actually commit at Bushwhack orders? And, what imperial, anti-democratic, corpo/fascist bullshit are they up to, short of assassinations*?) Panetta throws "red meat" out to Congress, but holds back a thousand secrets that would appall the American people and the world?

Don't get me wrong. IF certain parties spared us Armageddon in that way, I don't think their motives were benevolent, but merely practical (in most cases). For instance, Bush Sr was trying to save Bush Jr. Panetta was trying to save the "old CIA." And all were trying to keep things as they were, pre-Bushwhack, with the secret government in tact, in service to US global corporate predators worldwide, humongous, crippling military expenditures in tact, and US democracy foiled. It was a secret deal among secret forces. Cheney/Rumsfeld had not only gone too far, their open contempt for democracy and the rule of law threatened to expose it all. And nuking Iran would not only truly threaten the planet with a quick death from "nuclear winter," and certainly with utter chaos in the Middle East, it could have sparked a revolution here, if the world survived it. How much war and looting and nazi repression will the American people take? We were right at the edge of that, I think. (That's why Obama was permitted to be elected--but he had to agree to "the deal" that got Cheney/Rumsfeld out: no prosecution of the Bushwhack principles.)

Again, I think that what's really going on in our government is extremely hard to discern. All we can do is speculate and "read the entrails." My speculations could be wrong. It's just an effort to see through the fog. That's all we can do--that, and try our best to remove Corporate Ruler controls such as the 'TRADE SECRET,' PROPRIETARY programming code in all of our voting machines, with virtually no audit/recount controls. Restoring democracy in the US is a long term project and a very difficult one. Meanwhile, we can only guess at the realities behind the shadows.

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*(The rightwing military coup in US-run Honduras comes to mind.)