by Micah Zenko
June 6, 2012 4:53 pm (EST)
🚈 More About This Source Here!!
It named a handful of close lieutenants — sources said fewer than 10 — to be captured or killed if found separately from bin Laden….
Berger and Tenet brought Clinton a third Memorandum of Notification. Clinton signed off on direct authority to shoot down private aircraft in which bin Laden traveled. Because such a flight would probably be deemed civil aviation in international law, and people unconnected to bin Laden might die, this was regarded in the White House as a significant step.
Additional information about these three memos appear in the 2004 9/11 Commission Report (pp. 131-133); Steve Coll’s 2004 masterpiece, Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 (pp. 423-428); President Clinton’s My Life (p. 804); Richard Clarke’s 2004, Against All Enemies: Inside America’s War on Terror (pp. 203-204); and Phillip Shennon’s 2008, The Commission: The Uncensored History of the 9/11 Investigation (pp. 357-360). Elsewhere, I’ve written about where four other kill lists were first openly reported.
If the Senate is serious about getting to the bottom of this most recent “leak,” it would do well to hire some historians and interview former Clinton administration officials. More broadly, the recent uproar calls into question U.S. government officials who seemingly cherry-pick among information to publicly disclose, blurring the lines between what is deemed classified and unclassified. It is impossible for the Obama administration to continue to sidestep disclosure, transparency, and oversight by claiming that U.S. drone operations in Pakistan and Yemen are “covert.” At the end of the day, however, it is long past time for Congress to exercise their constitutional authority and investigate America’s surgical, lethal approach to fighting suspected terrorists.
–
Gateway Beast The Most Banned Blog In The Universe!! 