Report: CIA preparing to kill certain terrorists

© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 28, 2001

WASHINGTON -- According to a report in today's Washington Post, the Central Intelligence Agency is contemplating clandestine missions expressly aimed at killing specified individuals connected to Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida network.

Drawing on two classified legal memorandums, one written for President Bill Clinton in 1998 and one since Sept. 11, the Bush administration has concluded that executive orders banning assassination do not prevent the president from lawfully singling out a terrorist for death by covert action. According to the Post, the CIA is reluctant to accept a broad grant of authority to hunt and kill U.S. enemies at its discretion, but the agency believes itself able to take the lives of terrorists designated by the president.

Clinton authorized covert lethal force against al-Qaida beginning in 1998, and the Washington Post reported Oct. 21 that Bush has signed a more encompassing intelligence "finding" that calls for attacks on newly identified weaknesses in Osama bin Laden's communications, security apparatus and infrastructure.

Bush's directive broadens the class of potential targets beyond bin Laden and his immediate circle of operational planners, and also beyond the present boundaries of the fight in Afghanistan, according to the Post, which cited unnamed officials.

Work halts at ruins to prepare for memorial

NEW YORK -- City officials put the finishing touches Saturday on plans for a memorial service today at the ruins of the World Trade Center.

The afternoon service, limited to families who lost a loved one in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack, was expected to draw about 2,000 people. More than 4,000 remain missing in the rubble.

Work at the site halted Saturday night to prepare for the service. It was only the second stoppage; the first came on Oct. 11, to mark the passage of a month since the attack.

More bodies identified from United Flight 93

SHANKSVILLE, Pa. -- Officials have identified the remains of 14 more people from United Flight 93, bringing the total of confirmed dead to 34 from the hijacked plane that crashed in rural western Pennsylvania.

All 44 people aboard were killed Sept. 11 when the plane crashed into a field about 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, shortly after two planes crashed into the World Trade Center and a third struck the Pentagon.

Heroism, inspiration sought for speeches

Nobody's booking Bush-bashers. And there's not much demand for techno-wonks. It's heroes -- the old-fashioned kind like soldiers, police officers and firefighters -- who are now in demand on the lecture circuit.

The agencies that book speakers are starting to recover from the one-two punch brought on by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks: canceled airline flights and canceled meetings.

Now, as groups start booking again, they want speakers who can talk about patriotism, terrorism, bioterrorism and cyberterrorism, personal and corporate security and other topics rarely mentioned before the attacks. Listeners want to be motivated, inspired and comforted.

"Right now, all audiences want to hear about is, "Is the country safe?' and "Is my money safe?' " says Jim Keppler, president of the booking agency Keppler Associates in Arlington, Va.

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