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Did Brennan Withdraw His Name from Consideration for CIA Post Before Obama Could Withdraw it For Him?
November 26, 2008 8:36 AM
John Brennan, a former CIA official and adviser to President-elect Barack Obama, withdrew his name from consideration from "a position within the Intelligence Community" in the Obama administration Tuesday.
Sources say Brennan was under consideration for director of the Central Intelligence Agency, where he’d worked for 25 years, though it doesn't seem that the process was particularly far along.
Brennan had been a top aide to former CIA Director George Tenet during what critics of the Bush administration refer to as that agency’s descent into darkness post 9/11, and he had spoken in favor of various controversial counterterrorism strategies, including enhanced interrogation techniques and rendition – sending terror suspects to allies where torture is legal. He had become a lightning rod for criticism among commentators such as human rights attorney Scott Horton, and bloggers like Andrew Sullivan and Glenn Greenwald.
"This is a decision and an action that he made," a source on the Obama Transition Team tells ABC News.
The criticism from liberal groups and blogs was growing "and he felt it was becoming insurmountable."
In a letter released to the media, apparently by Brennan or someone operating on Brennan’s behalf, the former CIA official wrote, "It has been immaterial to the critics that I have been a strong opponent of many of the policies of the Bush Administration such as the preemptive war in Iraq and coercive interrogation tactics, too include waterboarding. The fact that I was not involved in the decision making process for any of these controversial policies and actions has been ignored. Indeed, my criticism of these policies within government circles why I was twice considered for more senior-level positions in the current Administration only to be rebuffed by the White House."
Brennan wrote that the challenges for the U.S. are "too daunting" and the role of the CIA "too critical for there to be any distraction from the vital work that lays ahead."
Stephanie Cutter, a spokeswoman for the Obama transition team, said on Tuesday: "The president-elect accepts his decision to withdraw from consideration for a position in the intelligence community but he is grateful for John’s continuing assistance as a valuable member of our transition team."
Critics included human rights attorney Scott Horton, who wrote this week that nominating Brennan "would draw heavy fire from some of Obama’s most loyal supporters. Indeed, there might well be enough concentrated firepower there defeat the nomination in the Senate."
Horton wrote that Brennan’s "critical shortcoming" is "his completely ambiguous and inconsistent views about the CIA’s use of torture and torture by proxy as techniques. As a company man, Brennan was quick to justify and support what was done. As an ‘independent’ analyst for broadcast journalists, he also provided support and cover for practices from waterboarding to the use of psychotropic drugs. … If Obama wants to convince the world of his commitment to end this national nightmare, then he must appoint a Director of Central Intelligence who can believed when he says ‘we do not torture.’ Both of the last two directors made this statement and lied through their teeth."
In addition, this week, a group of psychoanalysts wrote to President-elect Obama saying that as people who have "long opposed the abuses of detainees under the Bush administration" they were heartened by Obama’s declaration on 60 Minutes that "America doesn’t torture, and I’m gonna make sure that we don’t torture."
That said, added the shrinks, "We are concerned, however, by reports that you may appoint John Brennan as Director of the CIA. Mr. Brennan served as a high official in George Tenet’s CIA and supported Tenet’s policies, including ‘enhanced interrogations’ as well as ‘rendition’" to torturing countries. According to his own statements, Mr. Brennan was a supporter of the ‘dark side’ policies, wishing only to have some legal justification supplied in order to protect CIA operatives."
"In order to restore American credibility and the rule of law," the docs said, "our country needs a clear and decisive repudiation of the ‘dark side’ at this crucial turning point in our history. We need officials to clearly and without ambivalence assert the rule of law. Mr. Brennan is not an appropriate choice to lead us in this direction. The country cannot afford to have him as director of our most important intelligence agencies. As psychologists and other concerned Americans, we ask you to reject Mr. Brennan as Director of the CIA. His appointment would dishearten and alienate those who opposed torture under the Bush administration."
Critics cited Brennan interviews to make their points. There was, for instance, a March 8, 2006 Frontline interview in which Brennan, trying to explain Tenet’s views, said, "I think George [Tenet] had two concerns. One is to make sure that there was that legal justification, as well as protection for CIA officers who are going to be engaged in some of these things, so that they would not be then prosecuted or held liable for actions that were being directed by the administration. So we want to make sure the findings and other things were done probably with the appropriate Department of Justice review."
In November, 2007, Brennan told CBS News' Harry Smith that "the CIA has acknowledged that it has detained about 100 terrorists since 9/11, and about a third of them have been subjected to what the CIA refers to as enhanced interrogation tactics, and only a small proportion of those have in fact been subjected to the most serious types of enhanced procedures….There have been a lot of information that has come out from these interrogation procedures that the agency has in fact used against the real hard-core terrorists. It has saved lives. And let's not forget, these are hardened terrorists who have been responsible for 9/11, who have shown no remorse at all for the deaths of 3,000 innocents."
On December 5, 2005, Brennan appeared on The News Hour with Jim Lehrer in which he said of rendition, "I think it's an absolutely vital tool. I have been intimately familiar now over the past decade with the cases of rendition that the U.S. Government has been involved in. And I can say without a doubt that it has been very successful as far as producing intelligence that has saved lives."
Brennan, it should be noted, continues to work on the Obama Transition Team and though he removed his name from consideration for an Intelligence job, there’s nothing to say he won’t land a spot in the Obama administration.
-- jpt
November 26, 2008 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (14)
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They are not terrorists; they are suspects. They are entitled to their constitutional rights -- even AFTER they are convicted. That's what we're fighting for; the real United States of America is a conception of democracy and liberty, not a geographical area or a segment of the population.
Posted by: Howard | Nov 27, 2008 1:40:51 PM
Why would anyone be against treating terrorists to just about anything? What imaginary law or rights do you think they have? You people give more rights to terrorists than they have and for what reason? They have you as allys. Thanks for being a cheerleader for terrorists.
Posted by: Shane | Nov 27, 2008 10:33:14 AM
It's a shame the liberals like Glenn Greenwald and Stephen Soldz condemn people without actually speaking to them. John Brennan's a good man, he would have been an Excellent CIA chief.
I've known him personally for over 25 years and can say for certain that the libs got it wrong ... he doesn't support or condone torture.
According to the blogs that Greenwald sites Brennan's disagreements with the Bush White House on torture cost him advancement in his chosen field. Brennan got screwed by the Bush administration for not being a puppet. He's getting screwed again because some liberal nut jobs like Greenwald and Soldz's psycopath squad of 200 blog, cry, and whine that he IS a puppet based on his relationship with George Tennant and oh, he likes to set fire to puppies and kittens! These people never even took the time of day to speak to Brennan. The website from the psychologists that contains the open letter to Obama is ... the URL alone is evidence that this man Soldz has an activist agenda. I've read the transcripts of the interviews with Frontline and the National Journal that they reference in thier blogs and quite frankly Brennan makes a lot of sense but don't take my word for it, read it yourself http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/darkside/interviews/brennan.html and http://news.nationaljournal.com/articles/080307nj1.htm.
Pull out your own selective quotes but read the whole articles before you form an opinion.
As an network news analyst he explained to the media what the questionable types of torture are, then he's labelled a 'conspirator by association' because he didn't denouce the tactics enough while reporting them objectively. The guy resigned from his CAREER at CIA for a principle, what else to they want him to do stand on his head and sing the star spangled banner with a tatoo of the constition on his chest?
The man briefed AlGore during the Clinton Administration and because he doesn't show Cheney enough support for justifying a war in Iraq he gets removed in favor of someone pushing an administion adgenda! Wake up LIBS!!! He stood on principle and left the CIA after being blocked for promotion by THE WHITE HOUSE for God sakes. How can you possibly equate that with support of Bush policies and torture? Anyone who had a career in CIA that rose through the ranks during our generation is labelled a Bush croney by you people. Brennan served on the ground as a station chief in the Middle East while the army of 200 psychologists were studying American nut cases, the craziest of which wouldn't dream of hacking someones head off in front of a video camera. He is in a unique position to explain differences in our cultures first hand.
Let's not forget the mission of the CIA is to defend the USA and YOUR sorry misinformed butts against the true evil that is out there in the world. (Less we forget 9/11, televised beheadings, suicide bombings, IEDs and deaths of innocents) I'm sure a few NEW YORKERS would like to ask Khalid Shaikh Mohammed a few questions, maybe we can use rendition to take him to New York City? When you do that you should take a poll of Americans to see how hard they want New Yorkers to question him.
Brennan encourages public debate and discourse about what we as Americans will tolerate, that's more than any past CIA director would have said. It's just a sad day for America when we forget the mission of people like Brennan is to protect this country from all enemies foreign and domestic. Lets get the public debate started people! Brennan's the right man for the job. President-Elect Obama is wrong to accept his resignation for consideration.
The only thing that the liberals did was force the best candidate for CHANGE out of the running.
Posted by: mgbjournal | Nov 26, 2008 11:55:24 PM
Tnette- Torture is simply wrong, political parties and their descriptions aside. It's also well known for producing inaccurate information at best. The most valuable confessions of Nazis after WWII came while their interrogators were playing chess with them.
Posted by: kat | Nov 26, 2008 2:51:22 PM
P.S.
In my liberal side, and in addition to what I wrote below, I am all for human rights, including those falsely accused individuals who may be improperly detained in terrorist camps.
Yes, the world is shades of gray, and ambiguous and unclear. If it was black or white, we'd have solved it by now.
Posted by: Tnette | Nov 26, 2008 2:41:40 PM
Although Brennan may have been a lightening rod for some of Obama loyal supporters, it seems like he was a potentially great candidate for the position of director of intelligence. Even as a liberal Democrat who generally doesn't like the idea of torture, I recognize that national security is of utmost importance and sometimes...well...what needs to be done needs to be done (i.e., "tough" interrogation techniques)... provided that officials are absolutely sure that the person being questioned is directly material or involved with whatever situation. Of course, sometimes a person's direct involvement is never absolutely clear... hence the ambiguity. National security, I'm imagining, is much more an art than a science. Nothing is black in white in the real world and certainly not in the world of national security and intelligence. I think I'd much rather have someone in this position with ambiguous views than someone with rigid and inflexible views; the latter type of person, whether pro- or anti- torture is much more dangerous. So in summary, with knowing only what I've read in this article, I think it is too bad that politics got in the way of "consideration" for Brennan as CIA Director.
Signed,
A sometimes liberal and sometimes moderate Democrat who loves to watch "24" and has read some Clancy novels...
Posted by: Tnette | Nov 26, 2008 2:33:46 PM
Brennan should never have been under consideration on the basis of his ambiguity alone.
Posted by: kat | Nov 26, 2008 1:46:18 PM
Obama is a smart man, so why is he putting controversial people in key positions? Is this the prelude to a puppet government? I wished the government would list the suspects involved in this new terrorist alert? Is it because they are already here?
Posted by: LDC | Nov 26, 2008 1:45:39 PM
Al Qaeda can rest easy.
Posted by: John Kantor | Nov 26, 2008 1:29:34 PM
Terrorism vs morality. What should we do with terrorist to protect ourselves? We might declare them mentally ill! Most people who consider suicide or "promote suicide" are considered unstable. I think it is against the law, ask Jack Kevorkian. They could then be held indefinitely to prevent harm to them from harming themselves or others. Oh wait, this is an issue too! OMG PEBO can't win the "war on terrorism." We may have to change our way of thinking and hope for the better.
Posted by: ewise | Nov 26, 2008 12:18:38 PM
Tyrone,
What's so imaginary about winning an election and creating an organization that lets you put things in place before your inauguration.You think its stupid because you have not sen it before.One thing I'm pretty sure about is that you're not qualified to pass Obama off as stupid because damn well know he's not.Get real.There's no illusions or imaginaries here.This is Novemeber 2008.
Posted by: Chris Echetabu | Nov 26, 2008 11:06:23 AM
FROM THE IMAGINARY OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT ELECT: LMAO just send da money
Posted by: tyrone | Nov 26, 2008 10:36:32 AM
Brennan's letter contradicts his own statement from 2005 as quoted in the second paragraph from the bottom of the above blog entry.
Posted by: Danny | Nov 26, 2008 10:10:41 AM
Tapper writes as fact:
"he had spoken in favor of various controversial counterterrorism strategies, including enhanced interrogation techniques and rendition – sending terror suspects to allies where torture is legal."
Yet Brennan's available letter states the exact opposite to be the case. If Tapper is correct, his reportage should include why the reader is to believe Tapper's perfect contradiction of Brennan's direct, available claims.
Posted by: Frank | Nov 26, 2008 9:58:03 AM
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