CIA Assassins

Evidently, the CIA runs assassin squads. But I don't remember seeing the CIA or U.S. assassin squads in the Constitution. Maybe I missed it. But don't miss this article from antiwar.com that gives the details. How terrible.

CIA fooled

A story in the news the last couple of weeks aired on 60 Minutes tonight. The story was about Rafid Ahmed Alwan, who claimed he defected from Iraq and that he had first-hand evidence of Iraq's biological weapons program. Despite warnings from Germany, where Alwan showed up as a defector, the CIA used Alwan's claims to help build a case for the invasion of Iraq. Members of the highest levels of the CIA were duped, and they presented their findings to then Secretary of State Colin Powell. Powell announced the findings to the world at the United Nations. Three weeks later, the U.S. invaded Iraq.

We spend billions on intelligence, and we can't get it right?

Do we need the CIA?

Tim Weiner's book, Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA, is a real eye-opener. He explains how the CIA's failures have profoundly jeopardized our national security and why nearly every CIA director has left the agency in worse shape than when they took the job.

One example is letting Omar Abdel Rahman into the country. This man was tried for the assassination of Egypt's president, Anwar Sadat, and had recruited Arab fighters for their war against the Soviets in Afghanistan. The author writes how the sheik was "the spiritual leader of a conspiracy to kill Americans by the thousands."

Given a visa by a member of the CIA in Khartoum, Sudan (and CIA officers had reviewed seven applications by Rahman and said yes six times), Rahman made his way to New York and masterminded the first attack on the World Trade Towers that killed six and injured more than a thousand.

More government failure to protect us despite secrecy and billions to spend.