WASHINGTON: US former Vice President Dick Cheney’s actions are only one area where pressure is growing for probes of Bush-era security activities.
In the latest twist in a story that rocked Washington over the weekend, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) program recently shut down by current Director Leon Panetta was an attempt to kill or capture Al-Qaeda leaders, and that a 2001 presidential finding authorized such an endeavor. (The Ford administration banned assassination of foreign leaders in the 1970s.)
What really blew the story out of the water was the revelation that it had been Cheney who instructed the CIA to keep the program hidden from Congress.
According to Senate Intelligence Committee head Dianne Feinstein, D-Ca., Panetta told members of the Congress that Cheney ordered the agency not to share details of the program with any of them. (It also revived interest in an earlier report by The New Yorker’s Seymour Hersh, who had previously reported allegations that Cheney ran an assassination ring during his time in office). The problem is that the Obama administration is loath to handle this hot potato.
Although they now concede that they cannot leave this fight against terrorism charges untouched, he and his administration wants to focus on the current national priorities, such as the severe economic situation, health-care reform, and addressing the long-term problems of energy and climate.
They also want to avoid the chance that opening up the investigations at this time could make Obama open to attacks by Republicans that he is undercutting national security. Lawmakers vowed Sunday to hold hearings on the counter-terrorism program. Lawmakers, that is, from Obama’s Democratic Party.
Opposition Republicans are engaged in a bitter dispute with them on whether the CIA adequately informed Congress, as required by law, about sensitive programs during George W. Bush’s presidency. News reports are coming in on varying degrees of this story. An unnamed intelligence official told The Washington Post that the secretive program was in the planning stages and never crossed the agency’s threshold for reporting to congressional overseers.
The Wall Street Journal said the CIA had a secret plan to capture or kill Al-Qaeda operatives that was terminated by Panetta.
The New York Times — which first broke the story about Cheney’s alleged role — also reported that Panetta ended the program when he first learned of it on June 23.
As for Obama, since taking office he has been careful not to put himself at odds with the military and intelligence agencies. This recent flood of investigations could undercut the good will he has earned.
“This is high risk stuff,” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, was quick to point out. “Because if we chill the ability or the willingness of our intelligence operatives and others to get information that’s necessary to protect America, there could be disastrous consequences.”
