Center for a New American Security

Dick Cheney, the name that always pops up whenever there is talk about a serious crime someplace in the world. Well, Cheney had his own death squad CIA unit which he ran from the white house. By Cheney's orders, the assassinations unit killed former Lebanese minister and Lebanese Forces chief Elie Hobeika on the 24th of January 2002 and former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on the 14th of March 2005, prominent investigative journalist Wayne Madsen said. Madsen who is known for his close ties with active circles in the CIA, was speaking to the Russia Today television when he revealed that the same squad that had assassinated Hobeika in coordination with former Israeli PM Ariel Sharon's office, had also assassinated Hariri. "This is something that I have heard about five years ago from CIA sources," Madsen said. "I reported in 2004-2005 that the CIA unit linked to the White House was responsible for coordinating the assassinations in Lebanon of former Christian leader Elie Hobeika and also the former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, and that this was done in close coordination with a similar unit operated by then Israeli PM Ariel Sharon's office in Jerusalem," Madsen said. In 2002, Hobeika was to travel to The Hague to testify against Sharon on the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacres in Beirut. However in 2005, the assassination of Hariri was meant to trigger an exceptionally favorable circumstance to destabilize Lebanon, swoop up Syria, build a US base in North Lebanon and get rid of resistance movements in the region, namely Hezbollah that was haunting Sharon. What Madsen had revealed has drawn storms of reactions that demand Cheney be prosecuted. Madsen founded his revelations on the information uncovered by American investigative journalist Seymour Hersh and released them after establishing them. On the 3rd of last March in Minnesota, Hersh revealed that a secret Delta Force Commandos unit known as the 'Assassinations Wing" and Frogmen units have been assigned to carry out assassinations around the world even without passing by the Secretary of Defense and apart from the Pentagon; only through Cheney's office. "It's a special wing of our special operations' community that is set independently. They do not report to anybody, except in the Clinton and Bush days. They reported directly to the Cheney office...It's an executive assassination ring essentially and it's been going on and on," Hersh said. "From what Hersh revealed, it was definitely Dick Cheney at the very top of that structure. What I had reported back in 2004-2005 was that Karl Rove, President George W. Bush's top political adviser, he was involved along with deputy National Security Adviser in the Bush administration, people may recall, Elliot Abrams and he was involved in the Iran Contra scandal and was indicted in that scandal, but he was pardoned by the former president George H.W. Bush" In 2005, Madsen cited one "key source' in his report and said that "a number of intelligence sources have reported that assassinations of foreign leaders like Hariri and Hobeika are ultimately authorized by two key White House officials, Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove and Deputy National Security Adviser Elliot Abrams. In addition, Abrams is the key liaison between the White House and Sharon's office for such covert operations, including political assassinations and Abrams is the guy the Israelis go to for a wink and a nod for such ops." The new revelations opened new doors on the assassination cases that have plagued Lebanon for over four decades and highlight hypotheses - mainly with regards to the Hariri assassination - that some Lebanese had concealed for the benefit of canned political accusations.