RE: Cheney's assassination program, what if they were private contractors?

[arcadian]

Just going to throw this out there. What if these hit teams were private military contractors like, Blackwater, Armorgroup, Dyncorp, Titan or some unknown group. Would get around the red tape when Congress came a knocking wondering what the hell was going on. As we have seen with Bush and the Iraq fiasco the contractors could have been quasi-governmental but outside the law. Part CIA, part military, part corporate.

[The Magistrate]

1. That, Sir, is An Interesting Line Of Speculation

It would certainly account for some of the developments in the case, both the extreme secrecy over something which, on its face at the time, would not have been a political liability, and the continued concealment of it even from a new director of the agency.

[Old and In the Way]

5. Sir, glad to see you on-board!

I rarely see your presence here, but always happy to run across your musings...

[rucky]

6. I think Panetta's chipping away at this.

Lots of CIA stories coming out lately.

[aquart]

9. Sure would account for all the shredding.

[wroberts189]

11. I cannot respond any better then that. nt

[Old and In the Way]

2. Probably a Haliburton contract.

Pay them 3x more than anyone else, and probably end up killing innocent Americans. It's the Cheney way.

[Solly Mack]

3. I K&R'ed this

[rocktivity]

4. Also, what if it weren't domestic as well as foreign?

What if ALL of the GOP/Bush regime enemies were eligible for being spied on or hit?

:scared:
rocktivity

[dflprincess]

13. All were eligible

a couple other threads on this said there were "no geographic restrictions" on the program.

[Gman]

7. I think you may well have nailed it

Contractors would explain a lot, especially the well maintained secrecy. Maybe Panetta saw a bill and said, "What's this for?"

[Canuckistanian]

8. Interesting point

No directly accountable chain of command. Confidentiality agreements up the wazoo. And LOTS of cold, hard cash.

It's feasible.

[Octafish]

10. Blackwater means deep, deep wet work.

Now, they're Xe, the Scamway of the private spy world.

Bush Authoritarianism: Blackwater+Amway=GOP

Conservatives will do the damndest things for money. It goes back generations.

[leveymg]

20. Cofer Black ran the original progam, Blackwater Vice Chair,heads a Blackwater affiliate, Total Intel

Yes, privatization would provide continuity in program management.

[Octafish]

27. Exactly right.

From father to son Continuity Of Treason.

No need for oversight, when the program is running just as planned.

It sounds oh... so...so efficiently German.

[lexanman]

12. They were most likely

thats why he could have concealed it quite effectively, and very sadly, legally. They wouldn't have to answer to congressional committees. A very real-life Bourne movie.

[bleever]

14. Who else?

Why not?

Isn't there, somewhere: corporate liability issues?

[global1]

15. Brilliant - They Outsourced The CIA..........nt

[Hannah Bell]

19. good portion of us military, intelligence & policing = privatized already, e.g.:

http://www.thespywhobilledme.com/the_spy_who_billed_me/2007/06/has_the_cia_out.html

http://panglossiannotes.blogs.com/panglossian_notes/2009/05/torture-new-age-style---cia-outsourced-development-of-torture-plan.html


so why not assassinations too?

[arcadian]

22. A majority of the analytical work is outsourced.

To companies like SAIC and Booz, Allen, Hamilton.

[troubledamerican]

16. How dare you

How dare you question honorable, decent, hard-working businessmen trying to provide American jobs.

How dare you suggest the need for "Checks & Balances" -- we aren't some Third World Banana Republic. We are honorable. We are Americans.

How's my Neocon boilerplate? Still not Colbert-level, I know.

[Marr]

17. Something tells me we're eventually going to find out that it was

private contractors, and they sometimes operated domestically. Pure speculation, of course- but Cheney always seems to find the bottom and then dig a few feet lower.

I want to know when this thing started. Remember how the illegal spying started about a month after Bush was sworn in? It's framed as if it was a frantic response to 9-11, but it predated the attacks by almost a year.

[leveymg]

21. Exactly. NSA privatization was Projects Groundbreaker and Trailblazer - big defense contractors,

telcos, and specialized surveillance and analysis software development companies essentially took over operation of the the IT backbone of the NSA in the late 1990s. Everything was in place by the time the Bushies came in.

"Build it, and they will come."

[jcarterhero]

18. Regardless

The man is a greedy war criminal.

[Catshrink]

23. +1

And welcome to DU.

:hi:

[formercia]

24. If they are contractors,they should grow eyes

In the back of their heads.

During Viet Nam, contractors were employed for that kind of work. By the early eighties, they were all dead. Very high accident rate.

[timeforpeace]

25. It would make it more of a labyrinthine operation that we could debate for decades without

resolution.

[Raster]

26. I believe they were private contractors, perhaps aided by rogue CIA and military loyal

... to the shadow government that we know existed.

[rhett o rick]

29. There is no question in my mind that the CIA would use private contractors to do their dirty work.

But I must point out that "rogue CIA" is an oxymoron. The CIA is by definition, rogue.

[Raster]

37. Agreed. Of course the CIA and other governmental entities would use contractors

for the black ops or "wet work." Two words: plausible deniability.

[defendandprotect]

28. K&R - back later

[bobthedrummer]

30. CHENEY/RUMSFELD did just that under the guise of "force transformation"...

[seafan]

31. 2007: 'CIA outsourced waterboarding/enhanced interrogation to private contractors'

Since Gerald Ford in 1976 issued Executive Order 11905, named "Restrictions on Intelligence Activities," which specifically outlawed political assassination by employees of the US Government, it is highly likely that Cheney might have outsourced his assassination teams as well.


He did exactly that with torture.


It all makes horrific sense, doesn't it? By using outside contractors, the CIA could claim they did not participate directly. And Cheney could circumvent any snags by a noisy Congress demanding accountability. "Bring on the contractors!", Caligula's vice president screamed.

5(g) Prohibition on Assassination. No employee of the United States Government shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, political assassination.



Since 1976, every U.S. president has upheld Ford’s prohibition on assassinations. In 1978, President Jimmy Carter issued an executive order with the chief purpose of reshaping the intelligence structure. In Section 2-305 of that order, Carter reaffirmed the U.S. prohibition on assassination:

In 1981, President Reagan, through Executive Order 12333, reiterated the assassination prohibition:

2.11 No person employed by or acting on behalf of the United States Government shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, assassination.

Reagan was the last president to address the topic of political assassination. Because no subsequent executive order or piece of legislation has repealed the prohibition, it remains in effect.

WSJ: CIA Likely Let Contractors Perform Waterboarding, February 8, 2008

Washington - The CIA's secret interrogation program has made extensive use of outside contractors, whose role likely included the waterboarding of terrorist suspects, according to testimony yesterday from the CIA director and two other people familiar with the program.

Many of the contractors involved aren't large corporate entities but rather individuals who are often former agency or military officers. However, large corporations also are involved, current and former officials said. Their identities couldn't be learned. The broader involvement of contractors, and the likelihood they partook in waterboarding, raises new legal questions about the Central Intelligence Agency's use of the practice, which is designed to simulate drowning. It also will fuel the contentious debate over the administration's use of harsh interrogation techniques.
The role of contractors in sensitive security programs has become a hot issue on Capitol Hill. It isn't clear what laws govern their work and who is accountable when activities go awry, as they did when employees of the security firm Blackwater allegedly killed 17 Iraqi civilians and wounded 24 others in September. An investigation of that is under way; Blackwater continues to provide security services to State Department employees in Iraq.

.....

CBS News: CIA contracted out "harsh interrogation" job to retired commandos - after agents refusal, December 11, 2007

Former CIA officer John Kiriakou led the raid, which captured the al Qaeda operative Abu Zubaydah, told CBS News he and at least one other CIA officer refused to use the harsh interrogation techniques.

That job, he said, was turned over to retired commandos under contract to the CIA.

.....

Blackwater and interrogation, December 9, 2007




Sensing that he is becoming "the hunted", has Richard B. Cheney already made his escape?

[Cid_B]

32. Half CIA and half military/corporate

or maybe half corporate/CIA and half military...

[bobthedrummer]

33. "Internal Rifts on Road to Torment-Interviews Offer More Nuanced Look At Roles of CIA Contractors"

(started by kpete 7-19-09)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6101849

[bobthedrummer]

34. kick

[Name removed]

35. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[OnyxCollie]

36. Kick. nt

[bobthedrummer]

38. kick it to the moon...

[skip fox]

39. And what if their targets were not just terrorists, but "hindrances"

like unfriendly Iraqi politicians???

[bobthedrummer]

40. Or something like William Colby's PHOENIX...

[lunatica]

41. Cheney was always pro-privatization of all government activity

This is not an outlandish idea, nor that controversial. The question is which private mercenary company or companies does he use, and yet somehow get the government to pay for it? 'Cause I'm sure he doesn't pay out of his pocket.

And he probably uses them through Haliburton and other companies to knock off the competition if they should get to close to a lucrative government contract.