Since the declaration of War on Terror by the United States, its premier intelligence agency CIA or the Central Intelligence Agency had been planning various assassination pots to take out the Al Qaeda leadership. In a recent report released by the current an former intelligence officials, it has been confirmed that, CIA planned to send small teams into Afghanistan and other regions to assassinate Osama Bin Laden and other senior member of the most feared and the most powerful terrorist organization in the world.

However, these plans were carried out due to various factors and in a recent move the current Director of Intelligence (DCI), Leon E Panetta put a stop to these ambitious yet dangerous plans. In the course of time since the plans were laid out, CIA was marred by various logistical, legal and diplomatic obstacles that kept it at bay from carrying out its cover assassination attempts. One of the main concerns was that, the operations in Afghanistan were led by a coalition force that was comprised of various countries. Carrying out such activities would have required the CIA to inform its counterparts in the participating countries and that could lead to controversies and even a leak, that the agency could not afford.

Furthermore, the Bush administration had decided to strike at the terrorists with missiles and drones, instead of sending American teams into the region. This decision on part of the administration was somehow contradictory, because of the fact that, in the first few weeks of the 9/11 attacks, Pres. George W Bush himself authorized the CIA to carry such operations and kill or capture Al Qaeda personnel all across the globe.

In a congressional hearing, Mr. Panetta informed the senate that, initially, the CIA plans were kept hidden from the Congress and the lawmakers, on direct orders from the then U.S Vice President Dick Cheney.

According to a former intelligence official,

“It sounds great in the movies, but when you try to do it, it’s not that easy. Where do you base them? What do they look like? Are they going to be sitting around at headquarters on 24-hour alert waiting to be called?”

Via New York Times.