NY Times: Bush OK'd Global Secret Raids

Rumsfeld Penned Order Allowing Ground Forces To Invade Any Country To Go After Al Qaeda

(CBS/AP)  The U.S. military has conducted nearly a dozen secret operations against al Qaeda and other terrorist groups in Syria, Pakistan and other countries since 2004, The New York Times reported Sunday night.

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.

[txgrouch2007]

Because the lies have a recognizable style, I didn''''t believe that WMD BS when Bush Sr, or Kerry, or Clinton, or the junior *** said it.
Posted by brianbwb at 10:57 PM : Nov 10, 2008

So it should be "Bush/Clinton/Kerry/Clinton/Bush lied, our soldiers died."

[mydiatribe]

Welcome to Obamaworld! US Ambassadors will be backing up to the diplomatic negotiating table with their hands up! Or they will be getting down on their knees pleading for mercy.
Mass media where is the reporting?
No one is asking the HARD questions:

HOW DID THE NY TIMES LEARN OF ALL THIS?
Never mind if it''s true.

Answer: Obama staff leaks! Screendoor security! Tell your enemies what you''re doing all the time. This is to insure further defeats!!! What does Obama care? He believes our own Military is the REAL enewmy! He wants a NATIONAL CIVILIAN POLICE FORCE funded equally to our military!
GESTAPO! KGB?? Why?
In the end Obama will prove he is correct by permitting our enemies to kick our A$$ all over the world! OY VEY!

[karl2m]

This is more or less the same thing then the foreign assassination campaign that the Israeli mossad conducted on PLO leaders during the 70ies.
Did it ever stop the PLO? No, it only backfired on Israel when the mossad mistook a young Norwegian waiter for a PLO-man, murdered him, and got caught red-handed.
What disturbs me most is that these assassination campaigns are conducted by countries that call themselves democracies, and -especially in the case of America- constantly lecture others on democracy and freedom.
Fine, just don''t be surprised if people around the world perceive this as hypocrisy, bigotry and moral failure of the highest leadership of America. And don''t come complaining if people around the world turn away from democracy, because they see it as the system that justifies aggression.

[guadalcanal3]

PCreversed...No doubt.

[guadalcanal3]

brianbwb...PAY ATTENTION...Who said anything about WMD''s????...we''re talking about going after Al Qaeda here...Al Qaeda didn''t use WMD''s on 9/11.

[brianbwb-2009]

Posted by brianbwb

My apologies for the asterisks, actually what I said was in no way scatological, or erotic, but I leave it to you to put your own word for Bush in.

[brianbwb-2009]

"Sorry people...But the President was right on this one." Posted by guadalcanal3

Then where are the WMDs?

No, Bush lied, and knew he was lying. You might agree with his unspoken geopolitical agenda, but I, along with US law, International law, don''t.

The specific reasons he gave for sending US sons and daughters into harm''s way were all lies, and have cost the economic stability of our country, and left us depleted in the event that we really do need to defend our shores.

[brianbwb-2009]

"...And yet, we are supposed to believe that when Bill said it, it was TRUE. Then, his airstrike 100% DESTROYED all WMD in 1998..." Posted by txgrouch2007

Ya know tx, one of the benefits of being "Black" in the 60s was that we learned the style of lies the government used to stir up fear of us in the "White" community. Dr. King was a threat to national security, the Black Panthers were a subversive communist terror organization, Muhammad Ali was a "Black" militant, we heard them all.

Because the lies have a recognizable style, I didn''t believe that WMD BS when Bush Sr, or Kerry, or Clinton, or the junior *** said it.

[guadalcanal3]

Sorry people...But the President was right on this one.

[ajmarine111]

Posted by txgrouch2007 at 09:58 PM : Nov 10, 2008



That old Bush is a good liar isn''t he, he had everyone believing him.



"Without question, we need to disarm Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal, murderous dictator, leading an oppressive regime ... He presents a particularly grievous threat because he is so consistently prone to miscalculation ... And now he is miscalculating America''s response to his continued deceit and his consistent grasp for weapons of mass destruction ... So the threat of Saddam Hussein with weapons of mass destruction is real..."

- Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Jan. 23. 2003