from SLATE: >The New York Times leads with word that the CIA hired contractors from >Blackwater USA to take part in an assassination program that targeted top >al-Qaida operatives. Blackwater is a private security contractor, now known as >Xe Services LLC, that has come under scrutiny for using excessive force >against Iraqi civilians. The Washington Post also leads the news in its late >edition, and while it gives credit to the NYT for first reporting the story, >it takes it a step further by saying that the whole of the assassination >program was outsourced to Blackwater in 2004 and the private contractor was >given "operational responsibility for targeting terrorist commanders." For its >part, the NYT isn't clear as to whether the contractors were going to be used >to kill or capture al-Qaida suspects or just for training and surveillance in >the larger program. Regardless, the program was canceled before any missions >were actually carried out....
> The NYT says that one of the main reasons why Leon Panetta, CIA's director, > informed Congress of the agency's assassination program was that he found out > about the involvement of the private contractor. The Post explains that the > program itself was launched in 2001, but it was revived under a different > code name in 2004 using the outside contractor. The NYT states that while the > CIA has used private contractors for a variety of controversial efforts, > including interrogation, many were uncomfortable about using a private > company for assassination-related work. Au contraire, says the Post, it was > precisely because they were using a private contractor that the CIA allowed > itself to restart the once-moribund program. "Outsourcing gave the agency > more protection in case something went wrong," a source tells the paper. > The NYT says that Blackwater's involvement in the assassination program ended > years before Panetta informed Congress because senior CIA officials were > concerned about using private contractors for such a purpose. But > interestingly enough, the paper says there was no actual contract with > Blackwater for the program, but rather, the CIA had "individual agreements" > with top officials from the company, which makes the whole thing even > stranger. The WP's sources say the effort, known as a "targeted killing" > program, was meant to be expanded to other countries beyond Iraq and > Afghanistan. There were apparently three versions of the program over eight > years, each with a separate code name. In total, the agency spent "well under > $20 million" throughout the eight years, says the Post. But, as has been > reported before, the program never really got past the training stage. "We > never actually did anything," said a former official. < so he (or she) says. On a theoretical note, this all refers to an obvious conspiracy. If the news story is accurate, that indicates how conspiracies can fail. -- Jim Devine / "All science would be superfluous if the form of appearance of things directly coincided with their essence." -- KM _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
