Secret Order Authorized by Rumsfeld Lets U.S. Raid Al Qaeda in Many Countries

[babylonsister]

Secret Order Lets U.S. Raid Al Qaeda in Many Countries

By ERIC SCHMITT and MARK MAZZETTI
Published: November 9, 2008


WASHINGTON — The United States military since 2004 has used broad, secret authority to carry out nearly a dozen previously undisclosed attacks against Al Qaeda and other militants in Syria, Pakistan and elsewhere, according to senior American officials.

Hussein Malla/Associated Press

Mourners shouted anti-American slogans on Oct. 27 in Syria at the funeral of someone killed in a cross-border United States raid.

These military raids, typically carried out by Special Operations forces, were authorized by a classified order that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld signed in the spring of 2004 with the approval of President Bush, the officials said. The secret order gave the military new authority to attack the Qaeda terrorist network anywhere in the world, and a more sweeping mandate to conduct operations in countries not at war with the United States.

In 2006, for example, a Navy Seal team raided a suspected militants’ compound in the Bajaur region of Pakistan, according to a former top official of the Central Intelligence Agency. Officials watched the entire mission — captured by the video camera of a remotely piloted Predator aircraft — in real time in the C.I.A.’s Counterterrorist Center at the agency’s headquarters in Virginia 7,000 miles away.

Some of the military missions have been conducted in close coordination with the C.I.A., according to senior American officials, who said that in others, like the Special Operations raid in Syria on Oct. 26 of this year, the military commandos acted in support of C.I.A.-directed operations.

But as many as a dozen additional operations have been canceled in the past four years, often to the dismay of military commanders, senior military officials said. They said senior administration officials had decided in these cases that the missions were too risky, were too diplomatically explosive or relied on insufficient evidence.

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/10/washington/10military.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper&oref=slogin

[ThomWV]

1. When will these pin-heads come to understand that you can not give authority that you do not have.

Only the Congress has the authority to take us to war, Donald Rumsfeld did not have that authority to give in his order and George Bush did not have that authority to authorize Rumsfeld to issue the order.

[Possumpoint]

2. I think

that if you took that premise to court you'd lose. Once Congress authorized our actions in Iraq their hands were untied. To extend your thought line out, Congress would have to authorized every military action decided on by the President. I don't want his hands tied that tightly. When needed, I want him to have the ability to respond quickly.

[babylonsister]

3. Whether he had the authority or not, missions were carried out on

Rumsfeld's authority. I hope PE Obama puts the kibosh on this asap.

[moondust]

4. Wow.

Who cares about international law? All we need is a signed note from Spanky and we can do whatever we want to anybody anywhere! Wheeeee!

[babylonsister]

5. I'm just glad this fun little fact is being exposed, so it can be reversed. nt