Senior Obama Official Backs Cheney and C.I.A., Says Concealment of Assassin Program Legal »
Posted By tehranchik 5 months, 2 weeks ago in Political OpinionSome lawmakers, including Senate Intelligence Committee chair Dianne Feinstein and Senator Dick Durbin, have suggested the concealment was illegal. “The executive branch of government cannot create programs like these programs and keep Congress in the dark. There is a requirement for disclosure,” Durbin said. “It is inappropriate for the vice president or the president to be ordering that a program be kept secret and not disclosed at the highest levels of congressional leadership.”
As Democrats try to build momentum for the hearings, a senior Obama official has now come forward to defend the legality of Cheney and the C.I.A.s’ alleged concealment. President Obama’s Director of National Intelligence, Dennis Blair, says the C.I.A. did not violate the law. In an interview with The Washington Post, Blair said that he believes the C.I.A. should have informed Congress, but was not required to. “It was a judgment call,” said Blair. “We believe in erring on the side of working with the Hill as a partner.”
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tehranchik
Well, I'm from and live in the Pacific Northwest. I did live in the middle east during the late 70's and early 80 ...
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mmrhe5 months, 2 weeks ago
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Never active?
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They killed somebody in Central America.
I can understand the need for secrecy but when ChickenHawks like Cheney get a hold of these things who knows what a coward like him, who's never known the horrors of war, will do! -
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lfergie8125 months, 2 weeks ago
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"so how can they investigate something that never happened."
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Just a question. Since Panetta said that when he found out about it, he shut it down, how could he shut down something that never happened? Spin all you want but if something never existed there would be no record of it and since there is a record of it, it existed. And if it never existed, why did Cheney give orders to not tell congress about it. So if it existed and congress wasn't told, it was illegal.
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Candida5 months, 2 weeks ago
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FTA: "On the broader issue of U.S. government assassination, it is very unlikely that will become a central focus given that there has long been a bipartisan assassination program that continues under President Obama. Indeed, most legislators frame their opposition to this program through the lens of the concealment issue, not the assassinations.
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Yes, it is unlikely to become the focus, but how legal are assassination programs in general? Oh, I get it, they are legal when the US has them, but they are evil and illegal when the Russians (or others) do.-
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lfergie8125 months, 2 weeks ago
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Candida
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In all honesty, the assassination programs have been going on ever since the CIA was formed and by other countries too. The kicker here is the audacity of the Vice President to feel that he does not have to tell congress what he is doing when the law requires the CIA to inform congress of their activities.The spin that congress cannot be trusted does not fly either because they by law have the right to know what the CIA is doing.
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Candida5 months, 2 weeks ago
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FTA: "Moreover, it is well known that on Nov. 3, 2002, the CIA launched a Hellfire missile from a Predator drone over Yemen, killing an al-Qaeda member involved in the attack on the U.S.S. Cole."
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I remember that, and I remember wondering how come nobody said anything about it. The US and Israel simply target certain people in a car, while walking on the street, or while sleeping in a bed, they kill their whole families or anyone who happens to be nearby, the drones being judge, jury and executioner in one, and the whole world just stands by and watches without objecting. Why? -
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lfergie8125 months, 2 weeks ago
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FTA:"BUT, when compared with other information about Bush/Cheney illegal operations, the description of this one seems really small potatoes for the Intel Committees outside of the need for Pelosi to be vindicated."
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With this I agree. There are other things more damaging that need investigating than this. The authorization to use torture, if torture was really used, needs to be investigated. Find out who gave approval for the methods to be used. As far as Pelosi is concern, the accusations against her is just an attempt by the Republicans to draw the spotlight away from the real criminals. -
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CRYMTYPHON5 months, 2 weeks ago
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The corruption of the constitutional balance,
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represented in the executive branch seizing the right to
do anything not specificaly forbidden to it,
- is the kind of mistake that weakens government in the name of government.
The Obama administration must do better than this.
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