CNN

I think every government has groups like this.. I wouldn't be surprised, nor upset that we do to. Some things just shouldn't be made public, and are required for the security of the country.

Glad we have Jason Borne on our side

There isn't anything that could be said about the Bush/Cheney administration that would shock me. I expect the worst of them and I am sure years from now it will be known. It is sad that they will both be long dead before all the truth comes out.

How come there is alot of Bush news today....
I think we have already moved on!!

The media is trying to shove Obama news today!!

Why do liberals want to protect terrorists?

This needs verification first. It all sounds too surreal.. even for the likes of Dick Chaney. It really does sound more like a movie or book plot than real life.

I like Bush even more now. He had the guts to protect this country.

Just a part of this to point out –

No one is surprised by this news.

That's sad when the vast majority of the population has learned so much about an administration that the announcement of further criminal activity doesn't even cause anyone to blink an eye.

None of this is a bit surprising.... Why is it Congress doesnt investigate things like this? What are they afraid of?
Bush and Cheney should be investigated but seems nobody is willing to look into the shenanigans they pulled... Cheney and his Illegal company in Iraq WHILE WE WERE FIGHTING A WAR THERE God doesnt anybody have any guts?????
Whats wrong with the old fashioned American? Where did he disappear to? Seems nobody can stand up for what they believe in any more...

March 30th, 2009 5:24 pm ET

THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION IS NOT ABOVE THE LAW

They should be in Jail!!!!!!!!!!
______________________________________________________

No, there is an attempt from the media to keep them relevant. They are not gonna go to jail and for that you know what, we rather move forward!!

Let's have a real investigation, get any accurate information, and then make judgments. If this is true, then prosecution should be considered. If not, lets focus on the economy.

Say changing alot of news from Obama administration today to the past.

I say NO, we are moving forward and moving fast!!

He George and Dick................the Hague is calling.........I would not put anything past the Bush and Cheney show..............history will prove that they are the most evil, despicable administration in our nations history.

Republicans: Indifferent to the Constitution and accountability until a Democratic adminstration took office.

I don't put anything past the deceitful Bush administration. Wait and see more is coming out about Bush and his corrupt administration and henchmen.

They better try him before he becomes 'too ill to stand trial'...

To proud army navy mom: Yes, someone is doing something about the "war criminal" issue. Google: Judges, Spain Gonzalez. At least in Spain the judges there want to prosecute Gonzalez and others who tortured their citizens held in Gitmo by Cheney and his henchmen. And hopefully something will come from this article also. Cross your fingers folks.

Well, the reporters on this one again have incorrect information. The Joint Special Operations Command was and has been in existance since the 1990's. It was created so a unified command was in charge of all the various branch's special operation units. Traditional commanders do not know their fully capabilities nor how to use them correctly (read Panama here). The unit may have worked under JSOC but it was NOT JSOC. Let's actually research our facts please, for once...

This sounds a bit far fetched... but with all I've read about Cheney it wouldn't surprised me if it turned out to be true. It WOULD surprise me if it was true and Bush knew about it. I think Cheney was an unleashed operator who had no limits and let as few people as possible know exactly what he was up to. He was so secretive his right foot didn't know what color sock was on the left foot.

We are not at war with 12 nations. How come these guys have authority to kill people in 12 nations? And what do the leaders of these 12 nations say to that? Do they even know? Or are they on the list themselfes, maybe because we don't "like" them (Hugo Chavez, the Castro brothers)? Scary stuff...

Typo...not sheeps but sheep lol.

Come on, you guys in the media are not surprised by this, are you? This is no surprise to me. I have always thought this was the case. But you are considerd to be conspiracy theorists if the issue was brought up.

Silly Sheeps, Trix are for Kids! I thought everyone already knew we had a wing like that for years even before Bush. Sorry friends, mainstream doesn't give you the entire story lol.

Of course Cheney would deny the claim. You wouldn't actually expect him to tell the truth would you??

If this is true, and there are plenty of indications it isn't, would the Bush/Cheney administration be acting similarly to the Kennedy/Johnson administration and the Carter/Mondale administration and in the best interest of their country per their constitutional oath? Or because it was Bush/Cheney, should we apologize for it similar to HRC apologizing to the Mexican government for causing the violence in their country. Grow up folks. The "america is the blame" bunch is now in charge of the country.

You think this is bad, try looking up "Clinton's Body Count".

Welcome to the party. Keith Olbermann shed some light on this a few weeks ago!

I think this past administration should be investigated, STARTING with Chaney........where are all you republicans now, why aren't you hollowing FOWL now, especially you McCain, well you know McCain supported Bush 90% of the time, he probably knew all about this......and the GOP wonders why no one wants to vote for them anymore, this country doesn't want another Republican in the highest office in this country, thinking they are above the LAW

"Cheney aide John Hannah denied the claim. "It's not true," he told Blitzer Monday. "

What else would you expect them to say? I wouldn't trust Cheney if he told me the sky was blue.

I wouldn't be surprised if Mr. Herschs claims proved to be true, not surprised one bit.

Are you people naive enough to believe that Bush is the first or only President to do such a thing. I bet most of you would wet your pants if you knew what every Presidents dirty little secrets were.

This is despicable, and unfortunately, the countries who know we did this don't differentiate between moderates and far-right conservative wingnuts.

Cheney is a notorious criminal and a liar. We all know that. He should be indicted and tried. Soon.

Now, I truly believe that Cheney was running the country in the place of the puppet Bush. Bush, not pardoning Scooter, only realized too late that Cheney had been manipulating him all these years. Pretty bad historical reflection on Bush to say the least.

That our country actually had a "death squad" that reported directly to Cheney and nobody else is a little disturbing to say the least! He is the last person that should have the power to decide who lives and who dies.

Didn't you guys see? Everybody from Cheney to Bush denied anything to do with this story, so that has to mean it's not true right? Right....

jim Scheinle, Santa Fe, NM: My answer is a resounding YES'

Anyone who in the name of freedom restricts the rights of the individual deserves neither rights nor freedom

-Benjamin Franklin

Wow. People will jump to all sorts of conclusions about the Bush administration, yet remain completely oblivious to negative information about their own messiah, Mr. Nobama. I wonder if they know that the March Madness Pool Expert has already spent more of taxpayer dollars in his first 2 months in office than Dubya did in 8 YEARS. Try to spin THAT one. That is not the way to erase the national debt like he said in his campaign "promises".

Well lt's see–Saddam was tried convicted and hung within 30 days of conviction according to Iraq law. Chemical Ali and Saddams brothers
were tried convicted and within 30 days of convictions are still alive and going to other trials and convictions -against Iraqi law. Just sayin'........

THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION IS NOT ABOVE THE LAW

They should be in Jail!!!!!!!!!!

Original poster leo s. : March 30th, 2009 5:00 pm ET

well its about time the find the real truth about the group that has been in charge of our goverment the past eight years,yes they had had a list ,andcheney was in charged with the bush approval.they ought to be turned over to the united nations for prosecution,NOW.

–You can't handle the truth and neither can the American people. What you need to find is a good English teacher. Why don't you do that and leave the war fighting to people that can understand that it isn't pretty, just like seeing thousands die on Sept. 11, 2001 wasn't pretty.

Understand that anytime you "expose" a "secret" unit to the public–IT IS NO LONGER SECRET! How do you expect to fight a war the takes infiltrating into a foreign populous undetected, when the enemy knows our secrets. Get a head on your shoulders then try again.

The wing is called the Federal Reserve. The target- the American Economy.

I would think that before we all get so hot under the collar we should wait to see where this REPORTER got his info??? I mean really this sounds like some REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, BAD Hollywood B flick! I'm waiting for the usual annoucement that comes within a day or so after this type of story breaks which states (Hersh) got his info from an anonymous source which will give him ZERO credibility!!

If this came from a former ADMINISTRATION offical I'd have more faith in the reliability of the story. Reporters are always lookin for "THE" scoop which will make their careers and unfortunately they always fall into the same trap! They forget to check the pool to see if it's filled before jumping in with both feet!

A secretive unit called the Joint Special Operations Command? You mean the one that's located Ft Bragg, NC, and advertises for jobs on USAjobs.com plus hires contractors from places like L3 and BAH which also advertise jobs openly? Wow, sounds super-secretive to me! Perhaps Congress should get on the jobs sites and see what JSOC is doing, rather than having some bonehead never-served-in-the-military reporter try to drum up some falsehoods about what military professionals are doing on a daily basis to defend this country.

RD – Lawyers up here in Canada were drawing up plans to get Bush arrested when he spoke in Calgary. Didn't happen in time, but I don't think we'll see Bush traveling abroad.

As for conservatives who toss around the word "socialism" at will, keep in mind your boy Cheney was running his own KGB. I don't think we all yet realize how close the USA was to becoming a totalitarian state.

it absolutely sickening what Cheney and Bush were doing the last eight years in the name of "protecting" us. We needed protection from these war criminals. Somebody please charge them already.

Unfortunately, this kind of stuff is nothing new. Cheney drew from all the illegal CIA activity from the last 60+ years. But maybe they'll nail him.

I'll bet that "reporter" Seymour Hersh just wrote a book and was promoting it. And of course the details are in his book if you buy it. By the way there is an Actual Joint Special Operations Command, its Based in Florida, they control the Army Special Forces, Navy Seals and USMC and Air Force Special Operations Command.

What's so sad is that a crazy story like this is completely plausible given the utter amorality of the Bushies. Wish Congress would get a backbone and open an investigation.

Another Reporter who thinks he can exploit the already receeding Bush-Cheney backlash, as well the willingness of CNN to support
such individuals.

To the hyprocritical perons, politician and judges who are "horrorized" by torture:

- If a group of selected individual are confronted with a situation as follows:

- it becomes known that terrorist will blow up a schooll with 100
children

- it is highly probable that a prisoner member of a terrorist group knows where and when this would happen, but refuses to say so

Would you not decide to submit such an individual to "torture", without
inflicting permanent damage, for the case he is inocent of this particular inteneded crime ??

Would you sacrifice 100 children only to spare discomfort to members of terrorist groups (including some mistake) ??

If the answer is yes, YOU are a not less than a murder !!

This has been going on in every presidential administration since the office was created. After the CIA was created, I'm certain that agency took it upon themselves to take out high value targets with or without the agreement of the President anyway. I cannot believe anyone would be surprised by this at all. Furthermore, don't expect this to change with current administration.

I also think that Obama should thank Hersh for coming out with this story at this particular time, when American outrage at the mishandling of the economy, more money for banks, etc. is growing.

I'll bet that "reporter" Seymour Hersh just wrote a book and was promoting it. And of course the details are in his book if you buy it.

I am not one for looking back.....but this hedges on outrageous !!! Hopefully Hersh knows ...for certain....that indeed this were correct !!! I susupect if it were true that the USA did not excercise this option. Kind of wish this sort of thing would not get so much press. We need to put this junk behind us and support our New President getting us through this difficult time.

The Bush, Cheney pair plus their henchman Rumsfield, don't forget, should be sent to world court and hanged. The killing, destruction they have done are simply astounding. Some of them may never be undone.

What is the source? This seems like another case of sleazy journalism designed to grab headlines.

Anyone really surprised by this? If a Vice President of this country, even one that is no longer in office, can go on national TV and say that anything that the President (and presumably, the Vice President) does is by definition, legal, even if it strips us of our rights and freedoms, do we really think that such a group does NOT exist? After 8 years of the Imperial Vice Presidency, I'm no longer surprised by anything.

Bush/Cheney: there is a REASON why there are checks and balances on the Executive Branch, the Judicial Branch, and the Legislative Branch...and that is to prevent any one branch of our government from becoming so powerful that they can overrule the other two. You may have stripped my rights away with the Patriot Act, which is anything BUT patriotic, but guess what? You still have to obey the laws. It's called due process, and is what sets us apart from facism.

What ever it takes to keep our country and the world safe. Keep up the good work soldiers!

Hey Republicans! Where is your anger? Where is your call for "transparency"? I'm afraid this is not the only surprise that we will find. Where is the government for the people and by the people? Probably with the Bill Of Rights, tossed out in the trash by "W" and his Secret Commandos

You see it's not as easy to live in freedom.
You people who have not been in war will never understand
War is "HELL". Literally.

It does confuse me that War has been going on since the "Beginning of Time.

What you don't know about war you don't want to know.

It changes people.

I pray everyday for the freedom we have here. I dread the day we have to fight in our own back yards.

Lets see then what the rules are.

We are in 2 wars in an effort to rid the world of TERRORISM HOWEVER, WE OURSELVES ARE ACTING LIKE TERROIST. I realize that due to National Security things are kept secret but don't you think that the CIA should have known about this, don't care about congress because there's a lot of people on the Hill with LOOSE LIPS. If true this is very disturbing but not surprising with all that is coming out about TORTURE TACTICS.

What IF he's right? and No one investigates?

Wow, I sure hope we never killed a bad guy without telling congress. Be good and put America's intersest second, or third, ..... We just let this nation fail in peace with everyone lkeing us.

@ Max Zorin................. Bush took an OATH to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States... NOT BREAK ITS LAWS!

Its hard to believe the GOP setup its only little "death squad". Luck we have term limits else they would have been targeting "problem citizens" with the US next.

Actually, the government does so much stuff (under Dem and Repub control) that if most people knew it would scare them to death. Just stay on your myspace page and sleep well tonight.

I knew once President Bush left office there would be all sorts of things the American people would find out about that administration. I wonder how Republicans will spin this.

Honestly? It would not surprise me at ALL if this were true. I do, however, want to see some actual evidence.

ib> What do Dodd, Frank, or President Obama have to do w. this? You're ranting rather incoherently.
So Dodd and Frank did something something and this reporter is from NY, ergo....this story can't possibly be true! Nice logic.

Since we can't count on our Congress to hold Bush and Cheney accountable, I guess we'll have to wait until Spain's investigation is completed to get the facts. From starting an illegal war through rendition and torture, our Congress failed to find a single high crime or misdeamenor on which to impeach or prosecute. Instead, they're all sitting around waiting for the statute of limitations to run out and hoping that things get so bad in this country and world that we'll have other things on our mind. That's the quality of people we have in Washington and if Obama lets this slide then he can join that group as well.

I sincerely hope they arent in still "working" mode, if so, who is next on thier list, Chenay STILL is a dangerous man, in or out of office !

Protecting the most powerful nation in the world is a very hard task. None of you including me can even understand what goes into that task. We have to make sacrafices, in WW II we totally demolished two whole cities and there was no public outcry....just whatever it takes to win. If everything we do has to go through congress and they did nothing under the books we would have 4 911's a year. It takes tough people to protect our freedom, people who still do whatever it takes at whatever cost. Those are the real heros, but people like you you all just cant understand that.

Sy Hersh talks about this group's activities in up to a dozen countries, but Mr. Hannah mentions Iraq and Afghanistan. We aren't at war in a dozen countries, so why would we need to kill people in a dozen countries?

I don't doubt it for a minute.

And Obama has a secret police; a Watergate style spying on the GOP, and is tapping all the GOP telephones.

Give me a break. JSOC has been around since 1980, and has been involved in a number of CT and black ops over the last two decades. It's one thing to get high and mighty if they are executing targets in nations where we don't currently have on ongoing operation, but acting all indignant when SF troops do "wet work" in a theater of war is just a little bit melodramatic and silly. ALL troops in a combat zone are hunting and killing the enemy to some degree. To get to the deeply entrenched enemy leaders and VIPs behind the front lines, you send in surgical teams like these. We've always done it, and so has every other country with a developed military. Get over it. There may be lots of things to blame on Cheney, but this one is a red herring.

Thank god such a wing existed!!! To all others who are blaming bush/cheney, white house does not exist to hold tea parties, its job is to defend thankless americans like yourself.

not the least bit surprised. in fact if i didn't know any better, i'm sure cheney had this type of operation way back when he was defense secretary. Hmmmmmmmm!!!!!!! send them all to jail. better yet send them to aaabbbuu garaaaib.

I'd be interested to see if either Cheney or Bush travel abroad. I bet they would be picked up and held for war crimes... in allied countries even.

They are basically under country-arrest for fear of foreign prosecution. It's only a matter of time before their own country uncovers the full nature of their true crimes... here is another glimpse.

Where is the threshold for public outrage? for official action??

Sounds like another made up accusation by a liberal like so many other made up accusations with no proof.

And all of you Obamanites just believe it without one shred of proof. Maybe you should be jailed for being so stupid as to believe it without proof.

If the Bush Administration really had a hit-squad as Mr. Hersh accuses them of, they would have made him disappear if they found him overseas. The Armed Forces will find the enemy leadership and capture or kill it if they need too. That is their job.

I want to see some real, hard-hitting investigative journalism about this. As it stands, the Spanish court is drawing up an indictment against the Bush Administration for war crimes. We cannot and should not turn a blind eye to this and let it slide. And yes, I would say the exact same thing if it was VP Gore or VP Biden that was accused of this.

From the sounds of things (as reported on MSNBC's Countdown weeks ago), Cheney had a hit squad that was answerable only to him that nobody else knew about. Including President Bush. Somebody HAS to get to the bottom of this, and fast.

well its about time the find the real truth about the group that has been in charge of our goverment the past eight years,yes they had had a list ,andcheney was in charged with the bush approval.they ought to be turned over to the united nations for prosecution,NOW.

Oh my, this should set off a blizzard in congress ! hope it isnt true, but, if it IS, I would not be surprised !

Considering that this is the same administration that thought torture was ok, it wouldn't surprise me. At the same time, it strikes me as unlikely. Bush isn't intelligent enough to have put two and two together. Cheney now... him I can see having created something like this. He's a complete nut.

And the right wingers are whining about a 'socialist agenda' – OK with a Stalinist one though huh?

You won't hear a peep out of them on this unless it is to try to somehow justify it as being acceptable in "the war on terror".

The stinking slime is sure oozing from under the GOP rocks these days huh?

If true, this would come as a complete and total shock – to no one.

There needs to be a full investigation and those responsible to include Cheney should be prosecuter and put in jail.

This is all true. Just refer to the gangstalking issues that is happening in the country today and you will know that it was being handled secretly by government.

This is incredible!!! God saves America!!

What do you expect from a reporter who is from NY. Everyone has forgot what Dodd & Frank did it's all Bush & Cheney's fault and will be as long as Obama is in office. If we are going to proscute someone let's do it to Obama. This country will never recover from his spending.

I would not be surprised if this was true, though I don't see how the reporter would know?

I think this unit has been available to every President. However never before were they running around and acting on their own intelligence (or lack thereof).

I also do not think they were ever deployed until they had a "mission" as opposed to searching for a mission. Now that is SCARY!

Is anyone really surprised about this?

Let's see the evidence, Seymour. If I remember correctly, you're prone to overblowing facts.

Good. Maybe they actually killed the right people.

The Bush administration thinking they were above the law....they need to be tried and prosecuted......

Line 13/14 of the article states: "....Congress knows very little..."

That part I believe.

I think it would be most appropriate if King Bush and Prince Cheney were brought up on war crimes at the Hague.

This makes me sick. Wetalk about rouge goverments doing that sort of thing. we are in the same club as any group we call terorist or regime that we deemed unacceptble. Thank you Mr President Cheny and President only by name Bush

This is old news, I hear about this on Keith Oberman on MSNBC (I never miss it!) The fact that it's on CNN political ticker validates the story, the only real question I think needs to be answered at this point is, What are we going to do about it?
How are we going to handle this?
Are we truly a nation of laws?
This is the land of the free and the home of the brave, but is there truly justice for all?
With the atrocities perpetrated by the Bush administration, One has to wonder if the answer really is yes?
They are guilty of a great many terrible things, but are we going to hold them accountable?
LET JUSTICE BE DONE...OR THE HEAVENS MAY FALL

Like Joe Biden said "Dick Cheney is the most dangerous VP in history". This man has no shame and he continues to try and defend his actions. The Bush administration should be prosecuted.

Something tells me that this guy has his eye on a book deal.

In a democracy, the government must be accountable to the people.

Is anyone surprised that Bush and Cheney had a hit squad? Is anyone really surprised by anything that pair did? When you ignore the Constitution and international laws as they did time and time again, they begin to think that since they didn't get caught for the last thing they did, they just keep on going, adding more and more violations. And so they get to the point of a hit squad and say, why not, no one is watching or questioning us, and so it happens.

This certainly won't help the Repubs reinvigorate their party. I'm sure there will be more reports like this about what really went on during the Bush years that they will have to defend.

WOW! If its true....then WOW! Hang it up republicans

It wouldn't surprise me if this is true. Bush and company were the ones who okayed torture.

The damage the Bush administration did to this country may take years to atone for, and so far, I haven't seen any of them heading off to Leavenworth for their crimes.