http://portal.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/10/22/wcia22.xml
CIA gets £700m licence to kill
By Toby Harnden in Washington
(Filed: 22/10/2001)

PRESIDENT BUSH has stepped up the war on
terrorism by authorising the assassination of Osama
bin Laden and giving the CIA £700 million to destroy
his al-Qa'eda network.

The White House said yesterday that Mr Bush had
explicitly directed that bin Laden should be killed and
the al-Qa'eda network dismantled.

His order effectively revoked executive order 12333,
the 25-year-old ban on CIA assassinations, and
marked the start of the dismantling of the controls
imposed on America's secret services after the
Watergate scandal.

Vice President Dick Cheney underlined the
seriousness of the situation in America. "I don't think
there has been such a risk to the country since the
Cuban missile crisis," he told the Washington Post.

"It's different than the Gulf War was, in the sense
that it may never end. At least, not in our lifetime."
Mr Cheney indicated that he believed there would
be more casualties, following the death of two
American servicemen in Pakistan on Friday.

He said: "If you are going to push the envelope,
some things will go wrong and he [President Bush]
sees that and understands risk-taking." The decision
to divert large sums of cash to the CIA was part of a
wider attempt to restructure America's covert forces
in the war on terrorism.

The White House hopes that improved intelligence
from the CIA will allow US troops rapidly to target
terrorists. The new presidential order tells the CIA to
attack bin Laden's personnel, communication
systems and infrastructure.

Gen Richard Myers, chairman of the joint chiefs of
staff, said American forces would take bin Laden
alive if possible but "bullets will fly" if necessary.

Privately, White House officials have said that
capturing bin Laden would be highly undesirable and
he would be shot on sight rather than captured.

Supporting Mr Bush's lifting of the ban on
assassinations, Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana, a
Democrat, said: "I see no particular purpose in
capturing Osama bin Laden.

"There's no point in having him in jail simply serving
as the inspiration for further attacks." Gen Colin
Powell, the US secretary of state, said the Northern
Alliance opposition was likely to soon "start moving
on Kabul more aggressively".

When asked if Kabul or Kandahar had to fall by the
onset of winter, he said: "It would be in our interest
and the interest of the coalition to see this matter
resolved before winter strikes and it makes our
operations that much more difficult."

Gen Myers emphasised that dealing with bin Laden
and al-Qa'eda was simply a first step. "This is a
global war on terrorism and weapons of mass
destruction. Afghanistan is only one small piece. So
of course we're thinking very broadly.

"I would say that, since the Second World War, we
haven't thought this broadly about a campaign."