Bush-era assassination policy still in effect (they can still kill us at the drop of a dime!)

Bush-era assassination policy still in effect

If a United States citizen was determined to have joined a foreign terrorist group, that person could be legally murdered under orders given by President George W. Bush after the 9/11 attacks.

In spite of an administration change in Washington, D.C., that allowance is still in effect, according to a late-breaking report in The Washington Post on Tuesday.

The report delves into an increasing American role in Yemen, spotlighting an effort to capture or kill Anwar al Awlaki, an American citizen who exchanged e-mails with alleged Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan.

"After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Bush gave the CIA, and later the military, authority to kill U.S. citizens abroad if strong evidence existed that an American was involved in organizing or carrying out terrorist actions against the United States or U.S. interests, military and intelligence officials said," the Post reported. "The evidence has to meet a certain, defined threshold. The person, for instance, has to pose 'a continuing and imminent threat to U.S. persons and interests,' said one former intelligence official.

"The Obama administration has adopted the same stance. If a U.S. citizen joins al-Qaeda, 'it doesn't really change anything from the standpoint of whether we can target them,' said a senior administration official. 'They are then part of the enemy.'"

"Awlaki has not been charged with any crimes under U.S. law," ABC News noted.

Read the full article here and here

Using the second link here is some more info...

Report: Bush order allowing murder of US citizens abroad still in effect

U.S. involvement in Yemen is largely being directed by the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), according to the Post. The command was perhaps best known as former Vice President Dick Cheney's "executive assassination squad," first revealed by veteran investigative reporter Seymour Hersh.

"Both the CIA and the JSOC maintain lists of individuals, called the 'High Value Targets' and 'High Value Individuals,' whom they seek to kill or capture," the Post continued. "The JSOC list includes three Americans, including Aulaqi, whose name was added late last year."

This needs to stop... anyone can be a terrorist honestly, at least in the eyes of the government or these special operations teams.

"Oh damn, commander I think that guy just gave me the finger and waved some sort of flag I don't recognize!"

"Go for it son, but go slow, sneak up and slit his throat as to not cause attention."

You see what I mean? I'm not exaggerating, maybe a little, but for real this is bull#. I'm tired of gbay still being open, and this crap still going on from the bush-era (aka bush rain o' terror)... why is it still around? No idea, but it should be rid of. I'm all for killing REAL terrorists, but so many people in gbay and around the country/world that have been killed as terrorists were not terrorists! This is a known fact, so why is nothing being done?!

"After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Bush gave the CIA, and later the military, authority to kill U.S. citizens abroad if strong evidence existed that an American was involved in organizing or carrying out terrorist actions against the United States or U.S. interests, military and intelligence officials said," the Post reported. "The evidence has to meet a certain, defined threshold. The person, for instance, has to pose 'a continuing and imminent threat to U.S. persons and interests,' said one former intelligence official.

Holy crap, is this a real order? I'm going to have to do some digging on this one. If true, we can add this to the ever-growing list of criminal actions that the previous administration has pulled. But now it's almost taboo to talk about the Bush administration. Of course, liberals won't complain about this, oh no.

U.S. involvement in Yemen is largely being directed by the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), according to the Post. The command was perhaps best known as former Vice President Dick Cheney's "executive assassination squad," first revealed by veteran investigative reporter Seymour Hersh.

I remember when Seymour Hersh first mentioned JSOC:

Hersh replied,

"After 9/11, I haven’t written about this yet, but the Central Intelligence Agency was very deeply involved in domestic activities against people they thought to be enemies of the state. Without any legal authority for it. They haven’t been called on it yet."

Hersh then went on to describe a second area of extra-legal operations: the Joint Special Operations Command.

"It is a special wing of our special operations community that is set up independently,"

he explained.

"They do not report to anybody, except in the Bush-Cheney days, they reported directly to the Cheney office. ... Congress has no oversight of it."

"It’s an executive assassination ring essentially, and it’s been going on and on and on,"

Hersh stated.

"Under President Bush’s authority, they’ve been going into countries, not talking to the ambassador or the CIA station chief, and finding people on a list and executing them and leaving. That’s been going on, in the name of all of us."

Stories have been coming out about covert Pentagon assassination squads for the last several years. In 2003, Hersh himself reported on Task Force 121, which operated chiefly out of the Joint Special Operations Command. Others stories spoke of a proposed Proactive, Preemptive Operations Group.

Hersh: 'Executive assassination ring' reported directly to Cheney

Here are some interest things from SourceWatch:

"JSOC units have reportedly been involved in a number of covert military operations over the last two decades. Some of these operations include providing assistance to Italian authorities during their search for kidnapped US Army Gen. James Dozier, participating in Operation Urgent Fury; the US invasion of Grenada, planning a rescue attempt of US hostages being held in Lebanon, rescuing hostages being held aboard the cruise liner Achille Lauro, participating in Operation Just Cause; the US intervention in Panama, directing US Scud hunting efforts during Operation Desert Storm, conducting operations in support of UN mandates in Somalia, and searching for suspected war criminals in the former Republic of Yugoslavia.

"JSOC units regularly conduct training with similar units from around the world, and provide training to nations that request US support. JSOC has also provide support to domestic law enforcement agencies during high profile, or high risk events such as the Olympics, the World Cup, political party conventions; and Presidential inaugurations.

"The full text of PDD-25 is reported to exempt the Joint Special Operations Command from the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 18USC Sec.1385, PL86-70, Sec. 17[d]. which makes it illegal for military and law enforcement to exercise jointly.[2]"

Joint Special Operations Command

Task Force 121 was in the news again: first they captured Saddam Hussein, now they're going after Osama bin Laden. David E. Sanger and Eric Schmitt, in their February 29, 2004, New York Times article "New U.S. Effort Steps Up Hunt for bin Laden" reported that [1]

"President Bush has approved a plan to intensify the effort to capture or kill Osama bin Laden, senior administration and military officials say, as a combination of better intelligence, improving weather and a refocusing of resources away from Iraq has reinvigorated the hunt along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

"The plan will apply both new forces and new tactics to the task, said senior officials in Washington and Afghanistan who were interviewed in recent days. The group at the center of the effort is Task Force 121, the covert commando team of Special Operations forces and Central Intelligence Agency officers. The team was involved in Saddam Hussein's capture and is gradually shifting its forces to Afghanistan to step up the search for Mr. bin Laden and Mullah Muhammad Omar, the former Taliban leader...."

The Washington Times reported February 23, 2004, that the top-secret US commando team that helped capture Saddam Hussein is heading for Afghanistan. The Times says it's the latest sign that the hunt for bin Laden is coming to a head. The Defense Department says it is moving 'Task Force 121' to Afghanistan because its mission in Iraq is basically finished, and that intelligence on the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden is growing.

Task Force 121

Also interesting is the article on the Proactive Preemptive Operations Group

In August 2002, the first public hints of a new U.S. secret counterintelligence group -- the Proactive Preemptive Operations Group (P2OG) -- emerged from a report of the Defense Science Board (DSB), a Pentagon advisory group, and found its way into daylight.

[edit on 27-1-2010 by Someone336]

Most people aren't important enough to be assassinated. It's quite expensive to carry out.

reply to post by Someone336


Good info, thanks for sharing. It adds to my point in the OP and I appreciate your time contributing. I hope more people see this and post.

Originally posted by JJay55
Most people aren't important enough to be assassinated. It's quite expensive to carry out.

Are you serious? Assassination is not expensive what so ever. You have someone trained in weapons, and secrecy (not hard to find someone like this). Hand them a gun, preferably a M16 for ~approx. $1300-1400 civilian price, no idea what the govt. pays, and then the price of the bullets.

Oh and if you think assassins or mercenaries get paid well, it all depends. But a domestic kill would be very cheap. So think again

I'd really have to see the actual law/EO before passing judgement on the severity of this.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, Bush gave the CIA, and later the military, authority to kill U.S. citizens abroad if strong evidence existed that an American was involved in organizing or carrying out terrorist actions against the United States or U.S. interests, military and intelligence officials said. The evidence has to meet a certain, defined threshold. The person, for instance, has to pose "a continuing and imminent threat to U.S. persons and interests," said one former intelligence official.

The Obama administration has adopted the same stance. If a U.S. citizen joins al-Qaeda, "it doesn't really change anything from the standpoint of whether we can target them," a senior administration official said. "They are then part of the enemy."

Originally posted by highlyoriginal
reply to post by Someone336

 

Good info, thanks for sharing. It adds to my point in the OP and I appreciate your time contributing. I hope more people see this and post.

Originally posted by JJay55
Most people aren't important enough to be assassinated. It's quite expensive to carry out.

Are you serious? Assassination is not expensive what so ever. You have someone trained in weapons, and secrecy (not hard to find someone like this). Hand them a gun, preferably a M16 for ~approx. $1300-1400 civilian price, no idea what the govt. pays, and then the price of the bullets.

Oh and if you think assassins or mercenaries get paid well, it all depends. But a domestic kill would be very cheap. So think again

So the assassin just goes to the persons house, knocks on the door and shoots them? Yeah. That would be cheap and easy.

reply to post by JJay55


Did I say it was that easy? Although it could be depending on who the person lives with (if anyone) and where they live.

How hard would it be to kill a dude with a sniper rifle sitting back 50-100yards from someones house, on a little hill or something blocked by a tree? Keep aiming the cross hairs at a window they frequent sit by or something and BAM done...

Plus no need to run, just walk away, hop in undisclosed car and you're gone.

I dont really see how this is new. Clinton and Reno were doing it to people right here. Bush Sr. did it to people abroad and here. Reagan did it to people abroad.

Maybe the wording is new but as long as Ive been alive the fed has been killing whoever it wants wherever it wants.

Being American shouldn't protect you from death if you plan to insight terrorism.

Originally posted by highlyoriginal
reply to post by JJay55

 

Did I say it was that easy? Although it could be depending on who the person lives with (if anyone) and where they live.

How hard would it be to kill a dude with a sniper rifle sitting back 50-100yards from someones house, on a little hill or something blocked by a tree? Keep aiming the cross hairs at a window they frequent sit by or something and BAM done...

Plus no need to run, just walk away, hop in undisclosed car and you're gone.

And that's it huh? Walk away and the person is assassinated and it's over.
You haven't really thought this through, eh?

Originally posted by thisguyrighthere
I dont really see how this is new. Clinton and Reno were doing it to people right here. Bush Sr. did it to people abroad and here. Reagan did it to people abroad.

Maybe the wording is new but as long as Ive been alive the fed has been killing whoever it wants wherever it wants.

I never said it was new notice the name of the thread "Bush-era assassination policy..." so yeah I never claimed it new, I claimed how it's still going on now Obama is here and he has yet to disengage it.

And yes people die who don't deserve, terrorists do deserve to die but not people just suspected of it... that could be anyone who looks funny, and we have a lot of funny looking people in the US...

Originally posted by JJay55

Originally posted by highlyoriginal
reply to post by JJay55

 

Did I say it was that easy? Although it could be depending on who the person lives with (if anyone) and where they live.

How hard would it be to kill a dude with a sniper rifle sitting back 50-100yards from someones house, on a little hill or something blocked by a tree? Keep aiming the cross hairs at a window they frequent sit by or something and BAM done...

Plus no need to run, just walk away, hop in undisclosed car and you're gone.

And that's it huh? Walk away and the person is assassinated and it's over.
You haven't really thought this through, eh?

Is it my job to think this through? No. I'm just saying it wouldn't be hard. Have you went on a mission to kill someone, if so please enlighten us on how you went about doing it.

Okay to add onto my last post, just toss disposable object with flammable fluid in the house after you kill 'em and there ya go, easily done it. Okay yeah you could also remove the body. Or sneak inside and put a bag over there head and tape the bag around the head while locking hands up... plenty of ways we all know that. Nothing is hard, if a regular citizen can get away with it, who is to say the FED can't easily? You think that it would be hard for them to take ANYONE out? No, not at all. They could use a rouge plane and simply drop some small bomb(s) on a target that is protected and claim that the radar was messed up/blocked at the time and they never saw who did it... or maybe they will disclose ET's and say they are after people? Who cares, other than this # needs to stop.