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> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2001 03:27:16 +0100 > From: Mario Profaca <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "[Spy News]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [Spy News] Bush gives green light to CIA for assassination of named > terrorists > > Bush gives green light to CIA for assassination of named terrorists > http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,582507,00.html > > 'Covert killings to take in less important al-Qaida figures' > > David Gow in New York > Monday October 29, 2001 > The Guardian > > President Bush has given the CIA an explicit go-ahead to > carry out covert > missions to assassinate Osama bin Laden and his supporters > around the world, > effectively lifting a 25-year ban on such activities. > The US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, confirmed reports > of such a move > yesterday by telling CNN that the US would be acting in > self-defence in > carrying out such missions. > > The Washington Post reported yesterday that Mr Bush has decided that > executive orders banning assassinations since a series of > botched attempts > in the 1960s and 1970s allow him to single out a named terrorist or > terrorists for death by covert action. > > Mr Rumsfeld said: "It is not possible to defend yourself > against terrorists > at every single location in the world and at every single moment. > > "The only way to deal with terrorists is to take the battle > to them and find > them and root them out and that's self-defence. We're going > after these > people and their organisations and capabilities and to stop > them killing > Americans." > > The US president, according to senior government officials > quoted by the > Post, signed an order last month known as an intelligence > "finding", which > broadens the list of potential targets beyond Bin Laden and > his immediate > circle of some 15 operational planners - and beyond Afghanistan. > > The CIA, pilloried in some quarters along with the FBI last > month for its > fatal failure to detect the movements and plans of the > al-Qaida terrorist > network, is said to be willing and able to "take the lives of > terrorists > designated by the president". > > Mr Bush has apparently circumvented the legal constraints on > clandestine > killing missions imposed since the Church committee found in > 1975 that plots > against five foreign leaders under presidents Eisenhower, > Kennedy and Nixon > had been organised in terms "so ambiguous that it is > difficult to be certain > at what levels assassination activity was known and authorised". > > The new presidential order, drawing on one signed by President Clinton > against al-Qaida three years ago, apparently overcomes such > problems by > making plain that responsibility and accountability rest with > the president > and his senior colleagues. > > "I would want the president's guidance to be as clear as it could be, > including the names of individuals. You have got to have the political > levels behind you so the intelligence officers are not left > hanging," the > recently retired CIA deputy director, John Gannon, told the Post. > > But history suggests that covert assassinations remain > fraught with danger > and carry a high risk of failure. > > Jeffrey Richelson, an intelligence historian and author of a > new book on the > CIA, said of pre-1975 efforts: "They never succeeded in > killing anyone. They > were the gang that couldn't shoot straight." > > Agents carried out numerous inept missions to kill Fidel > Castro, using among > other botched devices bacteria in his favourite type of > cigar, an exploding > seashell, and a poisoned wet suit. Other botched missions > were undertaken in > central America, the Congo and Iraq, though Mr Richelson has > said the CIA > did significantly aid the assassins of Che Guevara, and, > indirectly, the > overthrow of Chile's Salvador Allende in 1973. > > Yesterday's report suggested that President Bush's order > could extend well > beyond the al-Qaida network concentrated around Bin Laden and > the FBI's 22 > "most-wanted" terrorists, with the CIA debating how many of > the 35 or more > countries identified as places where the terrorist network is > active could > figure on the list. > > Andrew Card, White House chief of staff, said yesterday on > NBC's Meet the > Press: "It could take years but we are going to do everything > we can to rout > the terrorists in Afghanistan and then get them all around the world." > > Financiers of the al-Qaida - "the Gucci guys, the guys who write the > cheques", according to one unnamed CIA official - could also > be targets but > the report said it was unclear whether Mr Bush had "signed > orders that would > amount to individual death warrants". > > ---
