NY Times: Bush OK'd Global Secret Raids
Rumsfeld Penned Order Allowing Ground Forces To Invade Any Country To Go After Al Qaeda
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Citing anonymous U.S. officials, the Times story said the operations were authorized by a broad classified order that then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld signed and President Bush approved in spring 2004. The order gave the military authority to attack al Qaeda anywhere in the world and to conduct operations in countries that were not at war with the U.S.
One such operation was an Oct. 26 raid inside Syria, the Times reported. Washington has not formally acknowledged the raid, but U.S. officials have said the target was a top al Qaeda in Iraq figure. Syria has asked for proof and said eight civilians were killed in the attack.
Sources told CBS News national security correspondent David Martin the raid targeted and killed Abu Ghadiyah, who was a senior al Qaeda in Iraq operative responsible for funneling foreign fighters and money into Iraq. A U.S. official called his death "very significant," but no proof has been offered to verify the strike's success.
The incursion prompted furious backlash in Syria, where thousands took to the streets in protest, the government demanded the closure of at least one American school, and Syria's military reportedly withdrew some of its own troops from the border with Iraq in retaliation.
In September this year a team of Navy SEALs laid siege to several buildings in a Pakistani village for at least a couple hours in the most recent, known incidence of U.S. ground forces operating inside Pakistan. At least 15 people were killed, including one militant subcommander, but many of them were civilians.
Far more common in Pakistan are the regular missile strikes by American pilotless drones, which have hit numerous suspected militant targets during the last several months, but have also angered the local population and officials who say they leave more innocent civilians dead than Taliban or al Qaeda fighters.
Pakistan's leaders have demanded a halt to the missile strike campaign, and U.S. Central Command chief Gen. David Petraeus has acknowledged the civilian death toll, but would not rule out future strikes.
The ground raids around the world have typically been conducted by U.S. Special Forces, often in conjunction with the Central Intelligence Agency, the Times said. Even though the process has been streamlined, specific missions have to be approved by the defense secretary or, in the cases of Syria and Pakistan, by the president.
A Defense Department spokesman had no comment Sunday night on the Times report.
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.



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Not surprising this mental midget would treat the world like his personal toilet. He does the same here,* why not elsewhere?
* Bush on the US Constitution: "a ****** piece of paper"
We need to conduct War Crimes trials as soon as he is out of office.
smurfcrusher,baby,this is a war. Haven''t figured that out yet? Dope. Maybe we should only use nerfguns. Ooooooh! your name is so violent. Dope.
Peace and Love
smurfcrusher,baby,this is a war. Haven''''t figured that out yet? Dope. Maybe we should only use nerfguns. Ooooooh! your name is so violent. Dope.
Peace and Love"
Posted by nwihoosier
Last I checked - we haven''t declared war on the rest of the world. Fool.
This has been the pattern of Bush''s actions. His misguided wars have been the most potent recruiting tool the terrorists could hope for. Nothing is more effective than the truth.
This is why after so many billions are spent, Al-Qaida is stronger and more decentralized than ever. This SHOULD concern you, too!
Posted by guyfrompa49 at 07:53 AM : Nov 10, 2008
Education worked very well in some parts of the South! There needs to be some effort put into keeping young Arabs from joining the Radical Religious Causes. The Religion isn''t important because all of them have done this.
Posted by mr22587 at 07:40 AM : Nov 10, 2008
Wow! A completely failed war against people who posed NO threat to us nor had any weapons to do so, creating a safe haven for those who DID attack us while driving the nation into bankruptcy! Yeah he has so much success to point too! Whatever you are snorting sparky, stop! It''s destroying what little there is of your mind!
Posted by KristianInAL at 07:48 AM : Nov 10, 2008
Hello! Have you been living in a CAVE? We lost over 4 THOUSAND of our BEST and Brightest in a war started on LIES! We invaded a nation that had NOTHING to do with any attack on us and the Enemy used that to completely rebuild, in addition to killing MORE American''s than they could have Possibly have hoped to kill any other way! I guess you poor losers do not consider all those American''s "Real American''s" or something. Strange bunch, Bushbots! Very strange indeed!
The courts will decide whether or not she can be charged as a "terrorist" although the police have already confirmed that she is definitely a suspected one.
Posted by ajayvee at 06:34 AM : Nov 10, 2008
Ya know, I think Tim McVeigh was a Republican. There`s 10s of thousands of potential Tim McVeighs in angry white people out there.
Maybe you`re right.
Better fix that keyboard, the caps lock is broke.
This time the Great Emperor Bush has approved "secret" military raids into other countries looking for "terrrrrrrrrorrists", real or mostly imaginery, and with full knowledge of that other military "genius", then Secretary of "da fence", Donald "Rummy" Rumsfeld, a now WANTED war criminal in Europe!
There can be no doubt that hidden somewhere in the "lost" papers concerning this, that there is a legal brief giving the Great Emperor Bush full authority to violate other countries borders, written by the great legal mind of the Great Emperor''s court, Alberto "The Great Gonzo" Gonzales!
It''s no wonder that the entire world is mad at us with the Great Emperor of the USSA treating the world as if it belongs to HIM!!!
The last dictator who thought that way destroyed Europe and his country along with it, which, as it turns out, is exactly what the Great Emperor Bush II is doing today!!!
SIG HEIL, THE WORLD IS MINE!!!!, BUSH!!!
I still believe Bu$hCo had more to do with 9/11 than al Qaeda...
What better coverup than to blame a band of CIA-supported radicals for the Big Oil Grab?
Grow up, black ops have been operating the world over for decades and should continue. We have real enemies and countries that protect these enemies of our state.
I would also bet, that congressional officials on the intelligence committees have been briefed. This is probably the source of the leaks.
But as many as a dozen additional operations have been canceled in the past four years, often to the dismay of military commanders, senior military officials said. They said senior administration officials had decided in these cases that the missions were too risky, were too diplomatically explosive or relied on insufficient evidence.
Several officials said the negotiations over the 2004 order resulted in closer coordination among the Pentagon, the State Department and the C.I.A., and set a very high standard for the quality of intelligence necessary to gain approval for an attack.
What better coverup than to blame a band of CIA-supported radicals for the Big Oil Grab?
Posted by inventagod2 at 09:12 AM : Nov 10, 2008
I totally agree---how convenient Cheney was having "mock attack" runs, daddy Bush was having a breakfast meeting with Bin Ladens brother and watched the whole thing---there''s too many unanswered questions--and lots of logical answers in many areas of the internet!
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In as much as I would like to agree with you, I must point out that it has become a debatable point over the past few years. One can no longer take it foregranted as one could in previous times.
"25 Blackwater people ready?"
"Ready, Mr. Bush!"
"Two helicopters ready?"
"Ready, Mr. Bush!"
"Drone ready?"
"Ready, Mr. Bush!"
"Bomb sniffer dogs?"
"Ready, Mr. Bush!"
"Three snipers?"
"Ready , Mr. Bush!"
"GREAT!,,,,,
,,,LET''S HEAD ON OUT TO MY MAILBOX!!"
Posted by ajayvee
Maybe there''s another explanation. Did you stop to think for just a moment that the people that worked in the twin towers were in the banking industry many of whom routinely show up to work well after 9:00 in the morning? Many of these employees often work into the evening. When you think you''re on to something, we can be blinded and note see other possible explanations.
The strikes were launched from ships in the Arabian and Red Seas at dusk. It was not immediately clear whether the raids were a military success. Pentagon officials said that no Americans died but that they had no immediate estimate of other casualties or damage. Early Friday, an Islamic press agency reported 15 deaths from the bombings in Afghanistan.
The targets were identified by Pentagon officials as an extensive terrorism training complex in Afghanistan, 94 miles south of Kabul, and a factory for the building blocks of chemical weapons near Khartoum, the Sudan.
Clinton and his national security team linked both sites to Osama bin Laden, the exiled Saudi millionaire tied by U.S. intelligence to the twin bombings on Aug. 7 in Kenya and Tanzania. The bombings killed 12 Americans and nearly 300 Africans.
"Let our actions today send this message loud and clear," Clinton said in an address from the Oval Office. "There are no expendable American targets. There will be no sanctuary for terrorists."
The president made no apologies for ordering the strikes without permission from Afghanistan or the Sudan, saying, "Countries that persistently host terrorists have no right to be safe havens."
When Bush orders the same actions albeit more surgical with less impact on civilians, he is a liar and war criminal.
Their devote hatred of all things George W,makes their statements weak and without prior reference and or precedent.
One could say the attacking of Sovereign Nations with permission was the Clinton Doctrine continued more precisely under President Bush.
Clinton''s stone-faced appearance marked his emergence from two days of shelter from a howling political storm. He returned to the White House on Thursday afternoon from vacation on Martha''s Vineyard, where he was trying to repair family ties damaged by his admission Monday of an intimate relationship with a White House intern.
In Sudan, President Omar el-Bashir called on his people to protest the attack, saying on television, "Sudanese people will defend themselves." Earlier, Information Minister Ghazi Salah-Eddin said the attack on what the Sudanese call a pharmaceutical plant was "a criminal act."
The leader of the Taliban leadership in Afghanistan, Mullah Mohammad Omar, condemned the bombings, saying they showed an "enmity" for the Afghan people.
Clinton presented several reasons for the decision to act swiftly and forcefully, rather than to punish bin Laden through the means of diplomacy and law. Repeatedly he said bin Laden presented an imminent threat, quoting his pledge this week to wage a war in which Americans were "all targets."
Clinton added that "key terrorist leaders" were believed to be gathering on Thursday at the compound in Afghanistan.
Clinton said he had "convincing" intelligence that bin Laden''s terrorist network was behind the embassy bombings.
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