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U.S. President Directs CIA to Kill bin Laden
U.S. President George W. Bush last month signed an intelligence order directing the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to undertake sweeping and deadly covert action against Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network, The Washington Post reported Sunday.
Quoting unidentified senior government officials, the report said that Bush also ordered to add more than 1 billion dollars to the agency's war on terrorism, most of it for the new covert action.
Bush's order, called an intelligence "finding," instructed CIA to attack the communications, security apparatus and infrastructure of bin laden, the prime suspect in the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.
"The gloves are off. The president has given the agency the green light to do whatever is necessary. Lethal operations that were unthinkable pre-September 11 are now underway," a senior official was quoted as saying.
The operations were to include "unprecedented" coordination between the CIA and commando and other military units, the report said, adding that Bush pledged to rapidly dispatch troops based on the newest and best information from the agency.
Though all U.S. presidents since Gerald Ford have signed an executive order prohibiting the CIA or other agencies from getting involved in political assassinations, there is agreement among some CIA and White House lawyers that the ban does not apply in time of war, the report said.
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