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Wikileaks Releases CIA Report on High Value Detainees and Targeted Killings

Wikileaks has released a secret 2009 CIA report evaluating the High Value Detainee kill or capture program. The full report is here.

In its key findings, the report warns of the negative consequences of assassinating so-called High Level Targets (HLT), a prediction that has been proven right. “The potential negative effect of HLT operations include increasing the level of insurgent support […], strengthening an armed group's bonds with the population, radicalizing an insurgent group's remaining leaders, creating a vacuum into which more radical groups can enter, and escalating or de-escalating a conflict in ways that favor the insurgents.”

There's even a "best practices" section on targeted killings.

Al-Akhbar analyzes the report. and notes that it finds that the least successful HVT operations are those involving countries that the US and Israel have occupied or are currently at war with.

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