Bush CIA Hired Blackwater For Secret Assassination Program

Under Bush43’s CIA, private security firm Blackwater was hired to find and kill al Qaeda leaders without the knowledge or consent of Congress.  Current CIA head Leon Panetta pulled the plug.

Executives from Blackwater, which has generated controversy because of its aggressive tactics in Iraq, helped the spy agency with planning, training and surveillance. The C.I.A. spent several million dollars on the program, which did not successfully capture or kill any terrorist suspects. The fact that the C.I.A. used an outside company for the program was a major reason that Leon E. Panetta, the C.I.A.’s director, became alarmed and called an emergency meeting in June to tell Congress that the agency had withheld details of the program for seven years, the officials said.

Blackwater is now known as XE Services, and was considered by BushCo to be integral to the war in Iraq.  Arrangements were made in such a way as to avoid scrutiny.

Officials said the C.I.A. did not have a formal contract with Blackwater for this program but instead had individual agreements with top company officials, including the founder, Erik D. Prince (r), a politically connected former member of the Navy Seals and the heir to a family fortune.

Blackwater’s controversial involvement in US operations may account for the covert nature of this deal as well as its name change.

Blackwater employees hired to guard American diplomats in Iraq were accused of using excessive force on several occasions, including shootings in Baghdad in 2007 in which 17 civilians were killed. Iraqi officials have since refused to give the company an operating license.

Panetta’s predecessors say they did not need to inform Congress because the progam involved was not far enough along.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.