Cheney's mysterious CIA program

There's a lot of conflicting reports and analyses on CIA program that Cheney ordered to kept secret -- from everyone. The mainstream narrative being pushed is that it was a simple covert assassination program, targeting only leading AQ operatives overseas. I find that hard to buy myself. I'm lining up behind TPM who thinks something is not adding up to the total picture just yet.

So regardless of how you might feel about targeted assassinations, it's not at all clear why this particular program would be so radioactive -- compared to what the U.S. was, and still is, doing more or less openly -- that (1) Cheney would demand the CIA not brief Congress about it for eight years; (2) Panetta would cancel it immediately upon learning of it; and (3) Democrats would howl quite so loudly when finally informed.

Of course, as Steve points out, a secret assassination squad was outed by Sy Hersch back in March. But that doesn't really explain why it's a story now. No one was overly concerned then. I think it's far more likely that they had potential targets in the US. For all we know, they might have eliminated a few designated enemy combatants.

Of course, that's pure speculation on my part. Still, it seems highly unlikely we have the whole story yet.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]