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Cheney Ran Secret Hit Squad: Hersh

By Harry Kimball,  Newser Staff

Posted Mar 30, 2009 5:30 PM CDT

(Newser) – The Bush administration ran a secret team authorized to assassinate foreign targets without being accountable to Congress, says New Yorker reporter Seymour Hersh.
On CNN's Situation Room, he said the hit squad could go "into a country without telling the CIA station chief or the ambassador and whack someone. I am sorry, Wolf, yes I have a problem with that." Hersh claimed the unit reported directly to Dick Cheney.

“It's not true,” said Cheney aide John Hannah, who added that in a "theater of war" like Iraq or Afghanistan, "our troops have the authority to go out after and capture and kill the enemy, including the leadership of the enemy." Hannah also criticized Hersh for calling the group an "assassination wing." Hersh conceded that "it's a loaded phrase, [but] it comes down to the same thing."

U.S. and Iraqi army soldiers secure area in the Sunni dominated neighborhood of Fadhil, in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, March 30, 2009.
U.S. and Iraqi army soldiers secure area in the Sunni dominated neighborhood of Fadhil, in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, March 30, 2009.   (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
U.S. Army soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment in Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, March 15, 2009.
U.S. Army soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment in Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, March 15, 2009.   (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
Former Vice President Dick Cheney appears on CNN's State of the Union Sunday, March 15, 2009, in Washington.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney appears on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday, March 15, 2009, in Washington.   (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)
Vice President Dick Cheney listens to a question during an interview with the Associated Press at the White House in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009.
Vice President Dick Cheney listens to a question during an interview with the Associated Press at the White House in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009.   (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)
In this Sept. 15, 2008 file photo, Vice President Dick Cheney, left, looks over to President Bush.
In this Sept. 15, 2008 file photo, Vice President Dick Cheney, left, looks over to President Bush.   (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)
Former Vice President Dick Cheney.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney.   (AP Photo)
Seymour Hersh.
Seymour Hersh.   (Getty Images)
The Special Forces Basic Combat Course in Nevada.
The Special Forces Basic Combat Course in Nevada.   (AP Photo)
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It's hard for me to believe that those committee chairmen and the leadership on the Hill, if they want to know about these operations, cannot get that information through the Defense Department. - John Hannah, former Cheney aide

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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 27 comments
Doctor-Zaius
Apr 1, 2009 11:09 AM CDT
Do you think that anything run by the Bush Administration would have been competent?
Caps
Apr 1, 2009 2:30 AM CDT
paull123, have you been in your cave for the past 8 years?
paul123
Apr 1, 2009 1:56 AM CDT
Good for Cheney. They did the right thing.

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