Anyone else think it was Cheney's Death Squads that the CIA did not brief Congress on?

[Motown_Johnny]

I remember reading about the rumors of his little band of murders, but I don't think there was any evidence presented.

I honestly don't know WTF else the program could be, and even if I am wrong I still think it may be beneficial to float this theory just to make them say that they can't talk about it.

[DJ13]

1. I think it goes farther than were hearing

Remember the rumors of Cheney forming a "shadow government" from a few years back?

If theres any truth to that, would anyone in either the Obama administration or Congress dare admit it for fear that it would show how corrupt our political structure has become?

[Motown_Johnny]

2. Possibly, but I am restricting my speculation to the CIA program that is in the news ATM

[DJ13]

4. My gut tells me to look behind the news of the moment for the real stories

When the MSM fixates on a story its usually because the reality tends to be far worse than they want to talk about.

[Motown_Johnny]

9. I just want every Puke on TV asked "was the CIA program Cheney's private hit men?"

because they can't answer the question, even to deny it, without breaking the law.

I see political advantage in floating this theory, even if it is wrong.

[ControlledDemolition]

3. The so called School of the Americas has been churning out terror... I mean freedom fighters...

... for a long time. Therefore, it is not as earth shattering a revelation as if Cheney was orchestrating domestic hits.

[JackRiddler]

12. Those weren't rumors.

The "shadow government" refers to long-running contingency planning for "continuity of government" (by an unelected group of officials) in an emergency, a process in which Cheney and Rumsfeld have been involved since the 1970s, with continued rehearsals by them during Clinton time. It was activated or pushed to some new level on September 11th, which was covered I think that November by the Washington Post. There was never a subsequent statement that it was deactivated.

[nomaco-10]

5. I thought of that too...

but I think there's no way that's it. Nobody would breathe a word of it outside the bowels of the CIA or a dimly lit parking lot in a seedy part of town at 4:00am. Nobody wants this out, not even the current admin because of the repercussions domestically and internationally.

It's got to be something related to torture, secret foreign sites used for torture, something in that vein. Who knows, it could even be something to do with wiretapping. Whatever it is, if cheney is attached to it, it will be something deplorable that goes against everything this country and the constitution ever stood for.

[Motown_Johnny]

6. They didn't even tell the head of the CIA about it until late June, and he shut it down the next day

I think that water boarding etc. had already been dealt with by executive order.



http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2009/01/obama-signs-exe.html

Snip

President Obama signs a series of executive orders closing Guantanamo Bay detention center, reviewing military trials of terror suspects and banning the harshest interrogation methods.






There should not have been any need to shut down a program if it was about torture.

[enigmatic]

7. yes n/t

[humanahumana]

8. I think so and that they probably killed Dr. Kelly in the UK to boot

http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/news/article-1199109/13-doctors-demand-inquest-Dr-David-Kellys-death.html

[grytpype]

10. No, it was an intelligence gathering program and it was not torture.

[humanahumana]

11. thats what they say about EVERYTHING

[notadmblnd]

14. we're not talking about torture, we're taking about a cell of assassins

directed by Cheney. I'm sure they just thought about it for eight years:sarcasm:

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124736381913627661.html


snip

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 Ford administration had banned assassinations in the response to investigations into intelligence abuses in the 1970s. Some officials who advocated the approach were seeking to build teams of CIA and military Special Forces commandos to emulate what the Israelis did after the Munich Olympics terrorist attacks, said another former intelligence official.

"It was straight out of the movies," one of the former intelligence officials said. "It was like: Let's kill them all."

[Motown_Johnny]

15. What makes you think that? I have not heard anything describing the program

[JackRiddler]

13. Sounds probable...

NYT, today:

Cheney Is Linked to Concealment of C.I.A. Project

By SCOTT SHANE
Published: July 11, 2009

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.

A report that former Vice President Dick Cheney was behind the decision to conceal a C.I.A. program from Congress deepened the mystery surrounding it.

The report that Mr. Cheney was behind the decision to conceal the still-unidentified program from Congress deepened the mystery surrounding it, suggesting that the Bush administration had put a high priority on the program and its secrecy.

Mr. Panetta, who ended the program when he first learned of its existence from subordinates on June 23, briefed the two intelligence committees about it in separate closed sessions the next day.

Efforts to reach Mr. Cheney through relatives and associates were unsuccessful.

SNIP

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/12/us/politics/12intel.html?em

Whatever this part of it is, it's only a small part of the whole.

[mzmolly]

16. I'm certain you're on to something. I also want to know who they assassinated.

Who was on their list? Journalists? Wellstone? Bhutto?

[guruoo]

17. Bigger. n/t

[Motown_Johnny]

18. Can't edit my OP.... so just wanted to add

Told ya so.....