Lulua
17-12-2002, 09:35
CIA authorised to target and kill al-Qaida members
David Teather in New York
Monday December 16, 2002
The Guardian
President Bush has authorised the CIA to kill around two dozen alleged terrorists on a secret hit list and any others it considers to be "enemy combatants", including many senior figures from the al-Qaida network.
The authorisation gives the CIA the legal authority to hunt down and kill the individuals named on the list and others without seeking further approval from the White House.
An unnamed official, cited in US reports, described those named on the list as "the worst of the worst".
The US has used the "enemy combatants" designation for al-Qaida members over the past year to exclude them from prisoner-of-war status, and consequently from protection under the Geneva convention.
Despite the fact that the CIA is authorised to add the names of other "enemy combatants" to the list without consulting the president, White House insiders have denied that the mandate is a reversal of a 1976 law against assassinations.
That law was introduced by Gerald Ford in response to growing public concern about covert operations by the CIA against foreign nationals.It compelled the organisation to get specific approval from the president before carrying out an assassination.
The names currently on the list include Osama bin Laden. His deputy Ayman al-Zawahri has also been singled out.
The White House yesterday declined to comment.
The report in the New York Times quoted unnamed officials as saying that the capture of al-Qaida members was still the preferred option for the intelligence services, so that they could obtain more information about the network.
But senior military and intelligence officials were quoted as saying that killing was now an option where capture was impractical and civilian casualties could be minimised.
The existence of the list has emerged a month after the CIA killed six al-Qaida suspects in a missile attack from a pilotless aircraft on a car in Yemen.
One of the men killed, Qaed Senyan al-Harthi, was a chief suspect in the attack on the American warship USS Cole in a Yemeni port two years ago that left 17 sailors dead.
Another of the men in the car was believed to hold US citizenship as well as being a suspected member of al-Qaida.
The head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Robert Mueller, claimed in an interview yesterday that nearly 100 terrorist plots around the world, many targeting US interests, had been thwarted in the past year.
Mr Mueller told the Associated Press that many of the attacks had been prevented by better intelligence gathering and information from al-Qaida detainees.
Mr Mueller's comments followed criticism of intelligence agencies in a congressional report into the September 11attacks. The report concluded that the attacks could have been prevented if the clues held by various agencies had been put together.
George Tenet, the director of the CIA, said last week that more than a third of the leadership of al-Qaida identified before the war in Afghanistan had been either killed or were in detention.
David Teather in New York
Monday December 16, 2002
The Guardian
President Bush has authorised the CIA to kill around two dozen alleged terrorists on a secret hit list and any others it considers to be "enemy combatants", including many senior figures from the al-Qaida network.
The authorisation gives the CIA the legal authority to hunt down and kill the individuals named on the list and others without seeking further approval from the White House.
An unnamed official, cited in US reports, described those named on the list as "the worst of the worst".
The US has used the "enemy combatants" designation for al-Qaida members over the past year to exclude them from prisoner-of-war status, and consequently from protection under the Geneva convention.
Despite the fact that the CIA is authorised to add the names of other "enemy combatants" to the list without consulting the president, White House insiders have denied that the mandate is a reversal of a 1976 law against assassinations.
That law was introduced by Gerald Ford in response to growing public concern about covert operations by the CIA against foreign nationals.It compelled the organisation to get specific approval from the president before carrying out an assassination.
The names currently on the list include Osama bin Laden. His deputy Ayman al-Zawahri has also been singled out.
The White House yesterday declined to comment.
The report in the New York Times quoted unnamed officials as saying that the capture of al-Qaida members was still the preferred option for the intelligence services, so that they could obtain more information about the network.
But senior military and intelligence officials were quoted as saying that killing was now an option where capture was impractical and civilian casualties could be minimised.
The existence of the list has emerged a month after the CIA killed six al-Qaida suspects in a missile attack from a pilotless aircraft on a car in Yemen.
One of the men killed, Qaed Senyan al-Harthi, was a chief suspect in the attack on the American warship USS Cole in a Yemeni port two years ago that left 17 sailors dead.
Another of the men in the car was believed to hold US citizenship as well as being a suspected member of al-Qaida.
The head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Robert Mueller, claimed in an interview yesterday that nearly 100 terrorist plots around the world, many targeting US interests, had been thwarted in the past year.
Mr Mueller told the Associated Press that many of the attacks had been prevented by better intelligence gathering and information from al-Qaida detainees.
Mr Mueller's comments followed criticism of intelligence agencies in a congressional report into the September 11attacks. The report concluded that the attacks could have been prevented if the clues held by various agencies had been put together.
George Tenet, the director of the CIA, said last week that more than a third of the leadership of al-Qaida identified before the war in Afghanistan had been either killed or were in detention.