Panetta's Appointment
I love the fact that apparently Senators Feinstein and Rockefeller are upset with President elect Obama's choice of Leon Panetta as CIA chief. You can read the various news headlines and see that they are trying to trash him with reporters who again are too naive to catch the drift here.
Feinstein and Rockefeller obviously wanted someone friendly over at CIA ["an experienced hand", the "agency is just getting back on its feet", "no time for a rookie"] for one simple reason and one reason only: they are terrified of being exposed for the torture enablers they truly are.
I hope and pray that all the Democrats that clicked their heels and shouted "Heil Bush" every time they were "consulted" on the latest intelligence gleaned from "enhanced interrogation techniques" are exposed for the war criminals they truly are.
Their dismay at Leon Panetta's appointment means they fear he will not play ball with them in the coverup of their dastardly acts.
I can see the point being made -- not having an intelligence person keep all the nasty stuff under the rug. I just have to ask: Will a political appointee do any better? They have a way of hiding stuff as well. Under the guise of national security, of course.
January 6, 2009 12:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Feinstein and Rockefeller are so old school, so yesterday. It's almost funny to see them trying to throw the old books at Obama. Ain't gonna work. I love it. I really do. Panetta is a class act, always has been. And it's clear that Obama wants someone with integrity who will tell him the truth. That's what Panetta is known for. Intelligence of a different kind. The CIA has been corrupt for so long. Why perpetuate that by bringing in one of the old boy spooks?
January 6, 2009 8:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Penetta is in before one question is asked. Several senators have already chimed in and Feinstein is backing off. Do you really think that Feingold is going to be ignored?
I just love the idea of a civilian with such clear views as Penetta running our foreign spy network.
And others who will assist him or work with him also give me much hope. See TheraP's blog yesterday.
The conspiracy was by the rightwing not the Dems.
January 6, 2009 8:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hi Dick, Panetta is a decent person. Decent. Not a word we've used much in the past 8 years. Feinstein is going to look stupid over this. Maybe she will lose her seat. That would be a good thing. Time for her and some of the other dinosaurs to head for the hills. I agree that we need a "citizen" in charge of our spying ops. I like the way you put that.
January 6, 2009 9:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
A second reason that they might well fear more is exposure of the full extent of the domestic spying programs and their involvement in blessing it. Rockefeller especially smells bad on that. There still has not been a full description of what exactly Comey and Ashcroft refused to sign off on, except that it was somehow worse than the program that continued and has had some exposure, that it had been running for some time before the infamous hospital incident, and that it was egregious enough that a large set of DoJ career staff and even political appointees were ready to resign en masse to stop it. We also know that Rockefeller can't keep his story straight on what he knew when and how he responded to what he was told.
Torture is arguably more evil than domestic spying, but its practice seems to have been kept more internal to the executive branch and Congress (including Feinstein) has taken advantage of the opportunity to act shocked and wag their fingers at the Bush Mob for it. The domestic spying programs seem to have been run past congressional leaders for the purpose of co-opting them and getting additional political cover (and cover-up cooperation) contemporaneously with the crimes. The Senatorial freakout at the prospect of Panetta at CIA and the clumsy suggestion that an insider is needed instead hints at there being dirty laundry at CIA that has not really been aired yet, and I'd bet on it being related to domestic spying (where it is clear that Rockefeller, at least, was a collaborator) . The torture story is already out there and Senators have done their CYA: the line is that they didn't really know about it until afterwards and they were appalled by it. On domestic spying the whole story is still obscure and it looks like our legislators were active participants.
January 7, 2009 1:37 AM | Reply | Permalink