Brennan withdraws his name from consideration for CIA.
By on Nov 25th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Brennan withdraws his name from consideration for CIA.
In a letter to President-elect Obama, John Brennan has asked that his name be withdrawn from consideration as CIA director. A number of bloggers had raised concerns that Brennan, who has supported Bush’s interrogation and detention policies in the past, was being considered for the position. Glenn Greenwald wrote that Brennan “was an ardent supporter of torture and one of the most emphatic advocates of FISA expansions and telecom immunity.” In his letter Tuesday, Brennan informed Obama that he did not want to be a distraction.
Update Greenwald reacts: "This is an important victory. It's absolutely vital that these bright lines be re-established. Brennan's being denied these positions due to his past advocacy is a big step towards achieving that."
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Good !!
AIO
November 25th, 2008 at 3:13 pm…Brennan informed Obama that he did not want to be a distraction.
Good. I’m sure other qualified people exist. We definitely don’t need torture supporters heading up the CIA.
Thank you, Mr. Brennan…next.
November 25th, 2008 at 3:13 pmThe blinking cursor moves, and, having writ, moves on; nor all your Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, …
November 25th, 2008 at 3:16 pmMy fingers and toes are crossed that Richard Clarke is tapped for this position. I simply cannot think of anyone more honest, forthright and deserving of the position than Mr. Clarke.
November 25th, 2008 at 3:16 pmAwesome! He was one of the one’s that had me worried. It’s still a little unsettling that he was the one who withdrew and that he wasn’t asked to, but I’ll take what I can get at this point.
November 25th, 2008 at 3:22 pmWell, at least this is a start.
November 25th, 2008 at 3:22 pmOne pitfall (of many more to come) avoided.
November 25th, 2008 at 3:23 pm666lattes Says:
Awesome! He was one of the one’s that had me worried. It’s still a little unsettling that he was the one who withdrew and that he wasn’t asked to, but I’ll take what I can get at this point.
November 25th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
when he found the goat’s head on the pillow in his hotel room, he took the hint….
/snark
November 25th, 2008 at 3:24 pmAnd why was this WAR CRIMINAL even being considered?
November 25th, 2008 at 3:25 pmThank you Mr. Brennan for doing the right thing. Next!
November 25th, 2008 at 3:25 pmtokin librul Says:
The blinking cursor moves, and, having writ, moves on; nor all your Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Ahhhh, the RUBAIYAT !!
AIO
November 25th, 2008 at 3:26 pmAny speculation on who the replacement might be?
November 25th, 2008 at 3:38 pmChris LeJeune Says:
Any speculation on who the replacement might be?
Hopefully not another Bushbot. Lets hope it is someone who has been critical of what has happened over the last 8 years.
Personally I think nominating Valerie Plame Wilson would shake things up pretty well.
November 25th, 2008 at 3:41 pm“Personally I think nominating Valerie Plame Wilson would shake things up pretty well.”
Holy crap!
November 25th, 2008 at 3:47 pmWayne, you ‘da man!!
Just imagine her walking back in to her old ’stomping grounds’ flashing that wonderful smile as she kicked some serious Neocon ass.
November 25th, 2008 at 3:51 pm“Any speculation on who the replacement might be?”
I’ll take a stab at this one… Someone Kay disapproves of?
Just funnying with ya there Kay…
November 25th, 2008 at 3:55 pmFrom Brennan’s letter: “The fact that I was not involved in the decisionmaking process for any of these controversial policies and actions has been ignored,” he wrote, in a letter obtained by The Associated Press.”
Mr. Brennan, it matters not one whit whether or not you were involved in the decisionmaking process — you were involved in the implementation of the torture policies. And they are more than “controversial.” They are defined as war crimes and crimes against humanity.
November 25th, 2008 at 4:10 pmOh, and Mr. Brennan – “I was just following orders” wasn’t a defense during the Nuremberg trials, and they aren’t now either.
November 25th, 2008 at 4:12 pmZimzone Says:
Wayne, you ‘da man!!
Just imagine her walking back in to her old ’stomping grounds’ flashing that wonderful smile as she kicked some serious Neocon ass.
If she was nominated, it would be a gigantic poke right in Cheney’s eye ( and Bush’s ), hehe.
November 25th, 2008 at 4:24 pmAfter Valerie Plame Wilson was outed as a covert CIA agent in 2003 by a bunch of traitors in the top-levels of the Bush administration, the CIA did two things: 1) they asked the Justice Department to investigate and bring criminal charges against those Republicans responsible and 2) they conducted an in-house damage assessment which resulted in a classified report being issued, detailing what, if any, damage to our national security had occurred due to Plame’s outing.
This “after incident” CIA damage assessment report has never seen the light of day, not even in redacted form…leading me to believe that severe damage did occur, with some overseas contacts of Valerie Plame Wilson even being executed.
So, will President Obama finally release this “after incident” CIA damage assessment report, through his CIA director and/or new Attorney General?
Or will he, through the spirit of “bipartisanship, trans-partisanship” sit on it, just like the traitors in the Bush administration have sat on it for the past five years?
Brennan, in my view, if selected as CIA chief or DNI would have, so at least there is a glimmer of hope, with Brennan’s withdrawal letter, that we might finally learn about the damage done to the CIA, our national security and Valerie Plame Wilson’s patriotic career by these criminal, treasonous Republicans back in 2003.
Now, this is change I can believe in…if President Obama keeps to his promise.
November 25th, 2008 at 4:24 pmblink blink…wow.. an administration that is actually receptive to public perception on legitimate constitutional issues? shocking! could this be the beginning of a trend?
November 25th, 2008 at 4:49 pmI’m of the understanding that at the very least Brennan supported “rendition.” President elect Obama had no reason to even give this man a thought.
November 25th, 2008 at 4:51 pmYou know, I just gained a lot of respect for this guy. The best way he could apologize is to step aside. That shows he “gets it,” even if he never “got it” before.
November 25th, 2008 at 6:44 pmI’ve said this before. Brennan’s stepping away is truly Great News. One for the good guys.
Now…SOMEBODY please explain to me WHY we can’t get the same forces together and have Reid removed as Senate Majority “leader”?
And no. Its not just the Lieberman issue all though that SHOULD be enough. Its everything people are saying here. Illegal spying. Torture. Rendition. Crimes against the Constitution. With REID its all “Off-The-Table”!
Where is the anger from the Left? Where are the “principled” Democrats? What’s it going take for these crimes to be prosecuted? I really want to know!
November 25th, 2008 at 10:46 pmYou know, this makes me wonder if the Obama transition team has learned the lessons of Clinton’s mastery of leak-fu…
See, back in the 90’s, we’d hear about these unsourced leaks that the Clinton administration was planning to do X or Y, and then when the R’s or lib’s jumped all over X, while Y was hailed as a great idea, he’d come out the next week and say they were never even considering X and were going through with Y the whole time…
This reminds me of that. Leak your picks one week early and if everybody freaks out all over one of them, give him a call and grant him the opportunity to “step aside” before having to make an announcement one way or the other. Makes him look good, makes you look freakin’ omniscient, and avoids all missteps.
If Obama has indeed mastered the art of Clintonian leak-fu, then the R’s are just flat-out screwed. It was Clinton’s mightiest tool, and one which allowed him to punk them repeatedly while they had a congressional minority, and one which Obama could potentially use to punch a hole in the universe itself.
Republicans: Run. Start running. Now. Don’t look back. GO!
November 26th, 2008 at 1:06 amElBruce Says:
You know, this makes me wonder if the Obama transition team has learned the lessons of Clinton’s mastery of leak-fu…
November 26th, 2008 at 1:06 am
_______
“Learned?”
Obama’s team is mostly old Clintonites. They aren’t learning leak-fu – they INVENTED leak-fu…
November 26th, 2008 at 5:52 am