The CIA agent says that "We were planning stuff that was totally illegal." This is reminiscent of the infamous Operation Gladio when the CIA organized and carried out clandestine paramilitary operations in postwar Europe until the end of the Cold War which contained hidden stockpiles of weapons and explosives which terrorized and massacred people and especially in Italy where former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Mora was murdered in 1978. The USA, under the leadership of the CIA, and Britain then became state sponsors of terrorism which was then blamed on the left. The Red Brigades in Italy, Baader Meinhof in Germany and Action Direct in Belgium were organizations which were targeted by the murderous actions of the CIA.

Unfortunately, the major problem is that when the CIA was set up in 1947 its mission was so vaguely worded that many liberties were taken as to what activities they should be allowed to carry out while Congress has meekly stood by all these years and done nothing. The CIA has become the organization that every president, from Harry Truman to Barack Obama, has secretly used in order to carry out their nefarious plans. All, supposedly, as an excuse to implement freedom and democracy.

FIRST THE GOOD NEWS:
"We said 'no' because we were of the opinion that you just couldn't do a thing like that..."

THEN THE BAD NEWS:
" in a friendly country where there were so many US soldiers based,"

These 2 codicils neutralize the ethical content of that statement:

----> In a friendly country

----> Where so many US Soldier based

--------------------------------------------------------------

Gnosticism becomes despotism when it goes beyond the skin.

From Tom Engelhardt on CIA in Afghanistan:

This, in turn, implies other surges. There will be a surge in base-building to house those agents, and a surge in “native” guards -- at least until another suicide bomber hits a base thanks to Taliban supporters among them or one of them turns a weapon on the occupants of a base -- and undoubtedly a surge in Blackwater-style mercenaries as well. Keep in mind that the latest figure on private contractors suggests that 56,000 more of them will surge into Afghanistan in the next 18 months, far more than surging US troops, State Department employees, and CIA operatives combined. And don’t forget the thousands of non-CIA “uniformed and civilian intelligence personnel serving with the Defense Department and joint interagency operations in the country,” who will undoubtedly surge as well.

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=36591

As the Obama-nator's DoJ defends Blackwater rather than prosecuting them.

http://www.chris-floyd.com/component/content/article/1-latest-news/1897-blackwater-fever-high-crimes-and-hired-guns.html

It almost looks like the Justice Department prosecutors here wanted to sabotage their own case. It was so outrageous.

AMY GOODMAN: Do you think that’s possible?

SCOTT HORTON: I think it is possible.

This is pure Cheney.

Bush and Cheney should be indicted immediately.

Though not nearly enmeshed as long in the intelligence game as the Russians (Okhrana, KGB, FSB), the British (MI5 & MI6), & the French (DGSE), the CIA has managed to pull off the dubious feat of being more despised & inept (though the DGSE's Rainbow Warrior fiasco has all the hallmarks of a blown Company operation) than the aforementioned spy services.
While modern statecraft obviates the need for an objective and professional intelligence service, Dubya, Cheney, & Co. irreversibly damaged an already flawed institution to the point where starting over may well be the best solution. Of course, the first thing that would have to go would be the name, CIA. In advertising parlance, it is a damaged brand.

What needs to be done is for the Congress to hold hearings, and then amend and revise the National Security Act of 1947 to outlaw targeted assassinations, renditions, and the covert destabilization of governments by the CIA's black ops boys. While at it, the issues of creating and accessing classified information, and maintaining audit trail accountability over the black budget process, should be squarely addressed.

This is a paramount legislative issue. It should not remain a question of the personality, ideology, or the partisan style of whoever happens to hold the keys to the Oval Office, or carry the job title of Director of the CIA, at any given point in time.

Where did those who drafted and ratified the United States Constitution ever delegate to the executive branch of the federal government a general power to commit murder, kidnapping, or engage in acts of war through an agency not under control of the military so long as it was okayed by the President? According to my reading of American history, no such power was ever given by the people, or by the states, to those in charge in Washington DC.

Since it is now clear that a single, vague, open ended phrase in the National Security Act has provided the sole ostensible justification for the James Bond/license-to-kill derring do carried out by America's spooks for the last half century, it is the responsibility of the Congress to rein in the Langley cowboys - and the third party contractors they sometimes now clandestinely task to do their dirty deeds. These are crimes against international law which keep causing so much understandable and inevitable blowback.

Time to take the toys away from the boys.

Bill from Saginaw

As long as you're mentioning Gladio, consider also that the CIA and the Mossad have worked together largely as one since the end of WWll.

And this is news to whom, exactly? If this is news to some people, they sure as hell are not reading this website. Or, probably, anything else. They only watch ....

""We said 'no' because we were of the opinion that you just couldn't do a thing like that in a friendly country where there were so many US soldiers based," the source is cited as saying."

Why does it escape these people to say "no" because the thing was patently immoral and illegal?

absolutely amazing that we here are worried about airport security and freedom of the skies when bush pardoned a cuban airline hijacker (was his name orlando bosch?). but, orlando's saving grace was that he attacked communist cuban civilian passengers. so, he'll never be extradicted to cuba to face murder charges, but will live comfortably among the cuban mafia down in miami. hard for the usa to appear consistent about airline security when its capitol airport is named for a terrorist, one ronald wilson reagan, who like his namesake targeted latin american countries for terrorism when their people failed to elect good men. of course,israel named tel aviv's after david ben gurion, their terrorist in chief, so i guess we're in good company.

in black and white, the CIA logo sure looks Nazi-ish...

I agree the CIA has used the same tactics as one used in the 30's. It was called nazism, for the past 8 years it was Bushism, and now,- contrary to what the GOP tea party say,- it's not Obamaism, but CIA-ISM
Xe-ism. Prescott Bush set the stage for a facist country, IN 1933, and his brother,- I read, was the first to head the CIA, followed by Bush Sr. and Robert Gates. The CIA are the terrorist now, invading and killiny people in their land just like hitler did, and Israel did as well. Obama may, or may not be playing along, but will be another Bush scrapgoat regardless. We stand a good chance of having another Bush as president, and the tea party types are looking for another crazy to lead their pack, like Palin, Beck, or Hume. Our future looks bleak.

This is an abuse of MY civil rights while yer bullshittin'.

Where in the Constitution does it require citizens in this country to fork over their earnings for this Satanic, anti-Constitutional garbage?

Instead of DRIP or DERM, I prefer the New Broom approach. A new broom sweeps clean, with the exception of Rep. Dennis Kucinich and Senator Bernie Sanders. Remember what it says in the Declaration of Independence, "it is the inherent right of the people to alter or abolish their government." And Thomas Jefferson saw the necessity for the government and the country to be purged with the blood of the tyrants and Patriots.

I thought the rendition program was actually started under the Clinton Administration?

CIA = Certain Insanity Agency
CIA = Certainly Inmoral Agency
CIA = Clearly Inhumane Agency