Hagel as Sec.Def., Brennan to head CIA

[LMNO]

Re-arranging deck chairs?  Maybe.  But I'd like to hear people's opinons on these guys.

The mainstream media stories give the impression that Hagel is a cautious Realist regarding wars in Asia, while Brennan is somewhat complicit in the whole Gitmo/rendition clusterfuck.

[Cain]

 

Hagel is a cautious realist only by the GOP definition of the term.  And if you listen to them, he drinks the blood of Israeli children while reading the Koran while dressed in swastikas.

If Republicans had nervy firebrands like the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, someone would rise up to declare, "Chuck Hagel's America is a land in which gays would be forced back in the closet and Jews would be accused of dual loyalty. Chuck Hagel's world is one in which devastating defense cuts become a goal, not a problem; we enter direct talks with the terrorist organization Hamas; and sanctions on Iran wither."

Brennan is heavily complicit in the drone program. He also used to run a private intelligence firm which gave bloated watchlists to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence's National Counterterrorist Center.  I also personally suspect he had some advance warning concerning Abdulmutallab, the underwear bomber.

Kerry for State is a little more interesting, though.  Kerry's very, very good on Russian issues, and considerably smoother than Hillary Clinton.  Is America trying to build bridges with Russia to bring them into their anti-Chinese "return to Asia" alliance? That would be almost smart.

[LMNO]

I am a bit concerned regarding the MA special election to take place.  Scott Brown (the outgoing senator) is most likely going to run for the open seat.  He's just off the last campaign, which means he already has name recognition and (somewhat) momentum.  I don't think there's anyone who can match him in terms of popularity.

But getting back to it, how do you think Hagel will act/behave/affect the IR scene?

[Cain]

Not much.

Hagel's a Republican internationalist - think Bush senior, or his idol, Eisenhower.  He's not very enthusiastic about using force, and (possibly as a consequence of his own military service) never minimizes the cost in lives that war represents.

Then again, looking at his record in the Senate, he has not exactly used his position to oppose new or ongoing conflicts.

Which says to my mind "he's weak.  He's a yes-man.  He doesn't like confrontation.  Obama's going to use him as cover to ram through programs and reforms he wants at the Pentagon."  That's my feeling, anyway.

[LMNO]

I wonder how big a circus the confirmation hearings will be...

[Cain]

Huge.  When Jennifer Rubin (the above quote) is praising Ted Kennedy to attack Hagel, you know things are desperate.

Watch for McCain as well.  He's bitter as hell that Hagel didn't support him in 2008.

[Cain]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-brennan-profile-20130108,0,2466355.story

"He is a horrendously political animal, and there will be a tendency to politicize information to put the best spin for the administration on it."

Brennan is also big on torture.  He was heavily involved in the illegal wiretap program under Dick Cheney and was "initimately involved" in the CIA-NYPD intelligence unit - the one which spied on entirely innocent Muslims all over the North-East USA.  Of course, that's past form for Brennan, who, as I mentioned above, gave the NCTC access to federal databases of citizens totally innocent of any crime. 

And for those wondering about my Underwear Bomber comment...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/18/us-usa-security-plot-spin-idUSBRE84H0OZ20120518

At about 5:45 p.m. EDT on Monday, May 7, just before the evening newscasts, John Brennan, President Barack Obama's top White House adviser on counter-terrorism, held a small, private teleconference to brief former counter-terrorism advisers who have become frequent commentators on TV news shows.

According to five people familiar with the call, Brennan stressed that the plot was never a threat to the U.S. public or air safety because Washington had "inside control" over it.

Brennan's comment appears unintentionally to have helped lead to disclosure of the secret at the heart of a joint U.S.-British-Saudi undercover counter-terrorism operation.

A few minutes after Brennan's teleconference, on ABC's World News Tonight, Richard Clarke, former chief of counter-terrorism in the ClintonWhite House and a participant on the Brennan call, said the underwear bomb plot "never came close because they had insider information, insider control."

A few hours later, Clarke, who is a regular consultant to the network, concluded on ABC's Nightline that there was a Western spy or double-agent in on the plot: "The U.S. government is saying it never came close because they had insider information, insider control, which implies that they had somebody on the inside who wasn't going to let it happen."

[LMNO]

Considering how it all went down, didn't they just admit it was a false-flag operation?

[Cain]

Pretty much, or something similar.

[LMNO]

So, on the balance, it seems Brennan is more of a danger than Hagel.

[Cain]

Especially if you fly international flights, are Muslim or are believed to know anything about ticking timebombs, most certainly.

[Cain]

Republicans have delayed the vote confirming Hagel as SecDef, out of spite.

Not spite at anything in particular, you understand.  Just generalized spite.

[LMNO]

yeah, I saw something that said McCain was opposing him because he wasn't right for the job... But when McCain was running for president, he said that Hagel would have been his pick.

Nice.  GO CONGRESS!

[Cain]

That'll teach Hagel not to mess with preferred Israeli policy by reference to so-called "American national self-interest"!

[tyrannosaurus vex]

UNNG.

Every time I hear news from DC, I'm like "That sucks, but this time for sure people will finally kick the GOP out of office." And every time, I am proven wrong.