C.I.A. Had Plan to Assassinate Qaeda Leaders

The program was designed in the frantic weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks when President George W. Bush signed a secret order authorizing the C.I.A. to capture or kill operatives of Al Qaeda around the world. To be able to kill Osama bin Laden or his top deputies wherever they might be — even in cities or countries far from a war zone — struck top agency officials as an urgent goal, according to people involved in the discussions.

Oh the Horror ! Does this mean that the CIA has been running covert operations right under our noses ? They actually had the balls to even think about killing Al Qaida operatives without consulting the senate , Congress , local police ,mayors of small towns , Me , You ?
I have been gone a few days but the one thing that I have been laughing my ass off at has been this , for someone in the big business of Washington politics to even think that the CIA should consult with them first (Nancy Pelosi) before killing Osama Bin Laden is the biggest joke ever ! Of course the CIA does things behind peoples backs ( Including politicians and everyday Americans ) it is what they do !
I guess what they want is to have everyone involved notified before a high value target is gone after ?
"Hey Osama , we now know where you are at ! we are dispatching some spooky CIA people to come kill you ! it will be a couple of days before we get the ball rolling so sit tight , just wait for us big guy ! " ( Sarc off )

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.