Washington Post Covering for Panetta?

CIA Director Leon Panetta and Democratic members of congress contend that they only recently learned of a CIA program - approved by the Bush administration - to capture and kill al Qaeda leaders.

But this begs the question: If the Washington Post and New York Times had knowledge of this program several years ago, how is it possible that Panetta and company were unaware of it till now?

The Washington Post, in October of 2001, in an article entitled, CIA Weighs 'Targeted Killing' Missions, discussed the program at length.

Ironically, I was able to retrieve the the article from the Post's website on Monday. But today when I tried to retrieve the article, I received the following message:

"We are unable to locate the page you requested. The page may have moved or may no longer be available." Hmmm....

Apparently, the Washington Post has decided to scrub the piece and remove the evidence that would prove once-and-for-all what kind of phonies Panetta and the Democrats really are.

Nevertheless, despite the Scrubbington Post's efforts to conceal the goods, I was able to locate the article elsewhere.

From the Washington Post - October 28, 2001:

Armed with new authority from President Bush for a global campaign against al Qaeda, the Central Intelligence Agency is contemplating clandestine missions expressly aimed at killing specified individuals...

Drawing on two classified legal memoranda, one written for President Bill Clinton in 1998 [authorizing the CIA to use a group of tribal fighters to kill Osama bin Laden] and one since the attacks of 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....

Some knowledgeable sources said it is also possible that the instruments of targeted killings will be foreign agents, the CIA's term for non-employees who act on its behalf...

"As a force multiplier," one source said, "we can use Jordanians and Sudanese and Egyptians that are willing to do this for us."...

Clearly, the article was discussing a CIA program that involved not only drone attacks, but close range, point blank assassinations as well. But somehow, Panetta and Democratic leaders were unaware of this....

Additionally, the New York Times on Monday noted:

In his 2006 book “State of War,” James Risen wrote that the C.I.A. set up paramilitary teams shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks to hunt down top Qaeda operatives. Mr. Risen, a reporter for The New York Times, wrote that the operation was soon disbanded before the C.I.A. carried out any operations. But the spy agency continued to develop plans to focus on Qaeda operatives, and top C.I.A. officials were briefed periodically about the progress of these efforts...

P.S. As of this moment, the link to the Washington Post article is still inactive.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A63203-2001Oct27?language=printer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A63203-2001Oct27?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A63203-2001Oct27

If the link suddenly becomes active, that means the "scrubbers" are repentant and have decided to return the goods to their rightful place.

P.S.S. Go to Yahoo, paste the following url into the search box and click:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A63203-2001Oct27?language=printer

Scrub.......