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Glenn Greenwald, Andrew Sullivan Celebrate "Exceptional News": John Brennan Won't Be CIA Director
MoJo Blog Posts: mojo —
... to Obama, Brennan writes that he "was not involved in the decision-making process for any of these controversial policies," but Greenwald emphasizes that being involved with the decision-making process was never the issue. It was the fact that Brennan supported those decisions that was the problem, whether or not he actually had the decision-making power himself. And the evidence is pretty clear that Brennan did not draw a bright line on torture. Brennan was onetime CIA director George Tenet's chief of staff (which is a bad sign on its own), and the ...
Score One for Sullivan/Greenwald
The Anonymous Liberal —
... In reading Brennan's letter, you'd think that the prospect of his appointment had ignited some sort of media firestorm. The reality, though, is that the most prominent opponents of his appointment were bloggers, in particular Glenn Greenwald, ...
Brennan withdraws from consideration
Political Animal —
... White House believed he was too critical of their policies. In his letter to Obama, Brennan argued, "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 pre-emptive war in Iraq and coercive interrogation tactics, to include waterboarding. The fact that I was not involved in the decisionmaking process for any of these controversial policies and actions has been ignored." In response, Glenn Greenwald highlighted Brennan's "lengthy, empathic statements" that made clear he "defended 'enhanced ...
Brennan's Straw Men
The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan —
Greenwald rejoices and dissects the withdrawal letter, which you can read here.
Obama Asks Gates to Stay at Pentagon
Taylor Marsh —
... runs down the problems with Brennan, whose stance on enhanced interrogations,
what you and I would call torture, don’t exactly pass the Geneva Conventions
test. Also see Greenwald
on Brennan. ...
Hullabaloo — ... Oh my goodness, the mean liberal blogs spiked John Brennens' possible nomination to CIA or DNI. Greenwald has the details at his place. ...
Brennan and Gates: a Big Win, a Continued Loss
Firedoglake —
... Sunday before last, Glenn Greenwald provided substantial pushback on the possibility of one-time George Tenet deputy John Brennan heading the CIA for the Obama Administration. Ten days later, ...
Hilarious Irony Day!
Shadow of the Hegemon —
... they were selling, or greedy cynics who did know and turned a blind eye." No, you're wrong. He's actually referring to bankers. Why you might have thought otherwise about the man is totally beyond me. (Though, if other issues end up being reflected in this banking debacle, said dopes and cynics will end up in plush think-tank positions, New York Times sinecures, and nestled in the banker's equivalent of Obama's national security apparatus .) (Albeit perhaps not CIA director.)
Gates
The Reaction —
... Battles must be chosen when it comes to Obama's picks. Putting a torture-and-rendition enabler in a top spot, a fight worth having. Robert Gates ...
Any sign that demilitarization is coming?
The Reaction —
... In related matters, 1) This comes from Glenn Greenwald at Salon.com (11/26/08): "Exceptional news: John Brennan won't be CIA Director or DNI." And 2) This was by Jeff Stein from CQ Politics (12/5/08): " ...
Cause For Optimism On Torture Accountability?
Balloon Juice —
Via Glenn Greenwald, it appears that we have a case of dueling anonymous sources. The elves talking to Scott Horton think that Eric Holder will focus on administration officials behind the torture regime.
One could interpret conflicting reports like this several different ways. Either Horton or Carrie Johnson at the Washington Post could simply be wrong. Alternatively the difference could, as Zandar argues here, come from the writers’ own contrasting perspectives. Zandar argues persuasively that Johnson’s story reflects the strong Village tilt against accountability (warnings about destroying ...
A Tale of Two Nominees: Why Civil Liberties “Extremists” are Disappointed in Obama
Firedoglake —
She was the best of nominees. He was the worst of nominees. The fates of Dawn Johnsen and John Brennan after the first attempts to put them into high levels of the Obama Administration tells us everything we need to know about Obama's commitment to the rule of law.
The ...
