Wanna hear the sound of a deflating balloon?

“WASHINGTON — Since 2001, the Central Intelligence Agency has developed plans to dispatch small teams overseas to kill senior Qaeda terrorists, according to current and former government officials.

The plans remained vague and were never carried out, the officials said, and Leon E. Panetta, the C.I.A. director, canceled the program last month.

Officials at the spy agency over the years ran into myriad logistical, legal and diplomatic obstacles. How could the role of the United States be masked? Should allies be informed and might they block the access of the C.I.A. teams to their targets? What if American officers or their foreign surrogates were caught in the midst of an operation? Would such activities violate international law or American restrictions on assassinations overseas?

Yet year after year, according to officials briefed on the program, the plans were never completely shelved because the Bush administration sought an alternative to killing terror suspects with missiles fired from drone aircraft or seizing them overseas and imprisoning them in secret C.I.A. jails.

First, I’m amazed that the NY Times didn’t leak this before – Well, Risen sort of did when he released “State of War”. Still it’s all much to do about nothing. But let’s recap.

1. There was a thought of a program.

2. It was never carried out.

3. Bush and Cheney were not for it, instead desiring to use Obama’s method of killing by drones. (Note Clinton also had that option but as we know via the Path to 9/11 he didn’t use it).

4. Even IF it had been carried out Americans would have supported it overwhelmingly.

5. Cheney didn’t break any rules about keeping the leaky congress in the dark as there was nothing to brief about because no actual program existed.

Stay strong Josh Marshall.

Technorati Tags: CIA, Bush, Cheney, Barack Obama, Terrorism