Key Bush Gitmo advisers burrowing in at the Pentagon.
Key Bush Gitmo advisers burrowing in at the Pentagon.
The AP reports that three senior officials “tapped by the Bush administration to oversee detainee policy at Guantanamo Bay” remain in their jobs, weeks after Bush left office and despite President Obama’s efforts to dramatically change the U.S.’s detention policies. Two of them “have been shunted into civil service jobs,” meaning Obama can’t simply fire them. On Wednesday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) wrote to Defense Secretary Robert Gates expressing concern about former Bush appointees that “have been improperly converted to career positions within the Department of Defense” and asked Gates to investigate:
I ask that you immediately review the circumstances behind the conversion of these positions and the hiring of any former Bush administration appointees as career or temporary officials within the Office of Detainee Affairs. … This is especially disconcerting within the Office of Detainee Affairs due to the nature of the policy recommendations that office provides regarding Guantanamo.
ThinkProgress has more on Bush appointees who have burrowed their way into lasting posts here, here, and here.
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Hmmm. If those positions have indeed “been improperly converted” – that ought to provide sufficient cover to fire those dangerous Bushthugs pronto.
February 6th, 2009 at 2:21 pmEven from afar, Bush&Co still have their human “tentacles” in Obama’s government, awaiting orders.
February 6th, 2009 at 2:22 pmFind them and find a way to fire their asses.
Find them and if you can’t fire them, give them the ‘Vic Mackey’ treatment.
February 6th, 2009 at 2:23 pmBut their managers can keep them under close scrutiny, and if it appears that they are not performing as expected, they can be demoted or marginalized to the point where they are just another remnant of the Bush era that is a total waste of taxpayer funds.
No, they can’t be discriminated against in terms of being more closely monitored that other employees, but if they aren’t working towards the team’s mission, they can be made to sit on the bench.
PEACE
February 6th, 2009 at 2:23 pmWill we ever eliminate the Bush/Cheney poison from our system?
Seriously, it’s been like a bad appendicitis.
¶ AIO
February 6th, 2009 at 2:33 pmIf there are any embarrassing, future “news leaks” from the Pentagon, wanna bet where they come from?
February 6th, 2009 at 2:36 pmThe only real answer to tapeworms is surgery. And anyone can get canned.
February 6th, 2009 at 2:40 pmBut, is Dumsfeld still at a desk in the Pentagon?
Even after he resigned he still had a desk & 6 staff…WTF?
February 6th, 2009 at 2:44 pmUnfortunately this seems to be a practice with precedent. The new administration will have to just keep a careful eye on these weevils and take them down if they misbehave.
February 6th, 2009 at 2:48 pmIt’s going to take a long time to get the stink out no matter what is done. Hose it down but don’t get any on you, it might be contagious.
February 6th, 2009 at 2:51 pmThese moles still work for George W Bush. They don’t work for America anymore. They are not ‘loyal’ in the common understood sense, they are believers in the Bush Doctrine (permanent war footing) and will do everything they can to undermine any idea which moves us closer to sanity. They want the country to fail – that is the only way they can attempt to regain any power – by destroying America, they win. How screwed up is that?
February 6th, 2009 at 2:52 pmJust freeze them out, give them nothing to do. They will soon tire of working for a salary if they are not being given power.
I have a friend working in the Treasury, supposed to be investigating illegal movment of funds offshore to evade taxes, but for years said friend was not allowed to do their job. Suddenly, as soon as the Bushies were on the way out, it’s a new day and they are now allowed to investigate (far too little, too late of course).
So this is one way to deal with people in a department that are not in line with the mission, whether the legal and open mission, or as in my friend’s case, the illegal and secret mission.
Let them come to work every day and stare at their pencil cup for 8 hours. I am not thrilled about payingthem for nothing, but better than letting them do harm.
February 6th, 2009 at 3:03 pmKO Tonight Still Bushed
February 6th, 2009 at 3:05 pmSeems to me they’re doing the right thing by mitigating the
harm these weasels can do by shifting them to alternate civil
service jobs. If they can identify every one of these
moles, I’m sure they can find alternate civil service
for the lot of them.
What a shame they have to waste their time dealing with booby
February 6th, 2009 at 3:20 pmtraps left by the WORST PRESIDENT EVER.
Two excellent comparisons so far–one comment compares the lingering neocons to a case of appendicitis, another to an infestation of tapeworms.
I confess I would have said tapeworms if someone hadn’t beat me to it. How about a horrible, horrible case of lice? Republicans do inspire one to icky metaphors.
February 6th, 2009 at 3:21 pmI say that the clear out a basement, move in a lot of filing cabinets and assign each and every one of the Bush stooges to the basement to do nothing but filing as long as they want to stay with the government.
February 6th, 2009 at 3:29 pm#16 – Having had a government filing job, I can testify to its mind-numbing BOREDOM! Sounds like a solution to me.
February 6th, 2009 at 3:32 pmThere are many traitors to our government – both inside and outside of Washington. Maybe Obama should ask them to sign a loyalty pledge?
February 6th, 2009 at 3:36 pmThis is The American Taliban Sleeper Cell that Cheney warned us about!
February 6th, 2009 at 3:48 pmHmmm. Maggots also come to mind.
February 6th, 2009 at 3:57 pmBeware the Bush moles! These truly will be the “enemy within”.
February 6th, 2009 at 3:59 pmDo I smell the smell of some treason afoot?
February 6th, 2009 at 4:00 pmObama needs to shaft them into some corner where they can twiddle their thumbs. They are still on Bushitco’s payroll and need to either be fired for insubordination or shafted into the darkness.
February 6th, 2009 at 4:00 pmWe all know what the Dick,Cheney is up to. He’s warning of an attack because he knows all about to commandeer the false flag attack, doesn’t he? He pulled it off on 911.
February 6th, 2009 at 4:01 pmI think it’s time for Obama to review every Pentagon employee and root out the Bushitco moles – one by one. Demote them to a clerical position if they can’t be fired and then when they balk, they can be fired for insubordination.
We surely don’t want these shills on our payroll any longer.
February 6th, 2009 at 4:03 pmBilbo Hussein Baggins Says:
I say that the clear out a basement, move in a lot of filing cabinets and assign each and every one of the Bush stooges to the basement to do nothing but filing as long as they want to stay with the government.
February 6th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
__________
“Oh, and we’ve been hacing this, sort of, roach problem down here. So if you guys could just, sort of, go ahead and take care of that too, that’d be greaaaat. Thanks!”
February 6th, 2009 at 4:15 pmFILE CLERKS for all . . . I know for a FACT the VA has a shortage of clerks filing forms I sent off MONTHS AGO . . . I really like the “basement filing clerk solution”!!!
February 6th, 2009 at 4:15 pmThey can burrow all they want because if they are charged with and found guilty of “torture”, hiding in their burrows won’t save them.
February 6th, 2009 at 4:38 pmI’d like to see Obama overturn this. This burrowing thing is purely political, cynical, and it usurps the powers of the following president.
February 6th, 2009 at 5:55 pmBush appointees, like rats and roaches, should be exterminated.
February 6th, 2009 at 7:24 pmAs long as its not Rummy sneaking in the back door!!
February 6th, 2009 at 9:26 pmYou really are a ZERO aren’t you…
February 6th, 2009 at 10:51 pmHaving spent 28 years as a federal civil service employee, I think I have some insight on this subject. Since the moles have only been on the civil service payroll for a few weeks, that should mean that they have little or no seniority to hold their positions. They could be subject to transfer or, even removal for substandard performance. I’m curious about something, though. Since they were political appointees in the beginning, before switching to civil service, don’t they have to endure a probation period? In my former job, probationaries could be canned for any, or no, reason, provided it wasn’t sexual, racial, or age related. Just some food for thought.
February 7th, 2009 at 2:33 amFire them very publicly.
When the whingetards start getting the vapors over it, ask them,
1). Is the military under the control of the Executive Branch?
2). Is the President the Commander in Chief of the military?
3). In a time of war, does the President have have the power to conduct, construct and deploy the military as he sees fit within the confines of the funds allotted by Congress?
4). They are fired. Deal.
If anybody so much as balks at that, there is a rather extensive video and audio database that can be played back to them consisting of their loud and insistent arguments supporting 1-3 above over the course of the last eight years.
February 7th, 2009 at 2:51 amZero Says:
More ignorant mutterings from a REALLY stupid troll.
February 7th, 2009 at 7:39 amI have a suggestion. Take all these civil service hirees and place them on the WWGWBD (What Would George W, Bush Do) Board.
Give them free rein to take up and write reports for the President on what to do about all problems current and upcoming. That way the Obama will have a dependable group reporting on what would be the absolute worst path to follow and the most ideological.
It would be beneficial to know what they and their party want on every issue to thwart the mistake before it can be made.
February 8th, 2009 at 1:17 am