WASHINGTON (Islamweb & News Agencies) - President Bush last month gave the CIA it broadest authority yet to conduct lethal covert action against Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network, The Washington Post reported in its Sunday edition.
The newspaper, quoting unidentified senior government officials, said Bush signed an order, known as an intelligence finding, that directed the CIA to undertake to sweeping and deadly covert action against bin Laden and his network.
The finding specifically called for the destruction of bin Laden and al Qaeda, who are the prime suspects in the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington, the Post said. The Agency is also authorized to plot an effort to fight the anthrax threat. (Read photo caption)
``The gloves are off. The president has given the agency the green light to do whatever is necessary. Lethal operations that were unthinkable pre-Sept. 11 are now underway,'' the newspaper quoted a senior official as saying.
The finding also gave the CIA an additional 1 billion to apply toward its anti-terror campaign, most of which will fund covert action aimed at taking out bin Laden's communications, security apparatus and infrastructure, the Post said.
The operations were to include a high degree of coordination between the CIA and military units, to give Bush the power to rapidly dispatch troops based on the newest and best information from the intelligence agency.
Soon after the attacks, in which hijackers crashed commercial airliners into the twin towers of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Bush said bin Laden was ``wanted dead or alive.''
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 newspaper said.
PHOTO CAPTION:
The cast of "The Agency" is seen from left to right, Gil Bellows, Ronnie Cox, Gloria Reuben and David Clennon in this undated handout photo. CBS has yanked Thursday's episode of "The Agency" because of its too-timely plot: a CIA effort to fight an anthrax threat to the United States. "We certainly don't want to do anything to add to the country's fears about anthrax," network spokesman Chris Ender said Tuesday. (AP Photo/CBS, Tony Esparza)