Ray McGovern: Blackwater's Unwritten Death Contract

consortiumnews.com

Blackwater's Unwritten Death Contract

By Ray McGovern
August 20, 2009

Hats off to Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times for reporting that it was after CIA Director Leon Panetta’s holdover lieutenants finally told him that, under President Bush, they had farmed out assassinations to their Blackwater subsidiary, that he abruptly stopped the project and told Congress.

I use “they” advisedly, since the CIA officials who had kept Panetta in the dark continue to function as Panetta’s top managers at the agency.

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What Mazzetti does not mention — and what he, like the vast majority of Americans, may not know — is that there is a one-sentence umbrella “contract” available for use as authorization for such activities. It is a legal loophole of sorts, through which Bush and Cheney drove a Mack truck.

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The Act (as slightly amended) stipulates that the CIA Director shall:

“Perform such functions and duties related to intelligence affecting the national security as the President or the National Security Council may from time to time direct.”

There’s the “umbrella contract.” While more than one past President (I served under seven during my tenure at CIA) has taken advantage of that open language, the Bush administration translated the dodging into a new art form.


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http://www.consortiumnews.com/2009/082009c.html

:yourock:

And the fee scale.

Resist. It's wrong.

Or don't tell anybody who doesn't need to know anyway.

:hi:

Exactly who in the CIA gave the kill order? Anyone? Who was in charge of the project? Who selected the dead men?

Need Rec +5 folks.

Ray is correct :patriot:

...but when I say Blackwater is pure evil, I really do mean it.