More on the secret CIA program Blunt and Bond aren't interested in learning about

More details are emerging about the secret CIA program reportedly ordered by Dick Cheney. From Taegan Goddard's Political Wire:

According to The Guardian, former Vice President Dick Cheney "ordered a highly classified CIA operation hidden from Congress because it pushed the limits of legality by planning to assassinate of al-Qaida operatives in friendly countries without the knowledge of their governments."

"The CIA apparently did not put the plan in to operation but the US military did, carrying out several assassinations including one in Kenya that proved to be a severe embarrassment and helped lead to the quashing of the programme."

As noted earlier today, Roy Blunt and Kit Bond have already rejected calls for inquiries and investigations into the program. Blunt, Roll Call reported, said the CIA didn’t do anything wrong and that an investigation is not warranted.

The Guardian article referenced above also refers to comments by Blunt and others, who have suggested the program was never implemented.

Some former intelligence officials and Republicans have attempted to portray the programme as barely getting out of the planning stages but others in the intelligence community have said it is highly unlikely that the CIA would have kept such an operation going for eight years without advancing it.

The evident anger in Congress is fuelling demands for a full blown investigation in to the CIA's failure to disclose the programme and Cheney's role in the cover up. The Senate majority whip, Dick Durbin, said the programme could have been illegal: "The executive branch of government should not create programs like these programs and keep Congress in the dark. To have a massive program that was concealed from the leaders in Congress is not only inappropriate, it could be illegal."

Anna Eshoo, a senior Democrat on the House of Representatives intelligence committee, is also calling for a probe. "We, by no means, have the full story. We don't know who gave the order. We don't know where the money came from. We don't know all the people who were involved," she told Politico. "We need a full investigation. My preference is that we hire an attorney to come in and run this, someone that is known for their prosecutorial knowledge as well as their knowledge of this particular area of the law."

Regardless of the merits of the program, the CIA has a legal obligation to keep Congress informed. Why wouldn't Blunt, Bond and others not want to know what happened, and learn if laws were broken? And doesn't the fact that Dick Cheney apparently didn't want Congress to know about the efforts suggest that it was very bad news?