More from Greenwald
Unqualified Offerings — By Thoreau Greenwald also reports that the most interesting people are showing up as strong contenders for top intelligence posts, with the most interesting views on torture. Yes, Brennan would probably tone it down compared to what we have right now.  After 8 years of very clumsy policy turned up to 11, there’s a natural niche for somebody who can come across as “moderate” and “serious” on the issue of torture, still willing to use it but only on “the right people” as long as the decisions are made by another group of “right people.”  The elite media will, in due course, ...

Why is it OK that Obama's transition chief for intelligence policy, John Brennan, is pro-torture?
Corrente — See Glenn here. Progressives? Speak up, please!

More On The Detainee Landmine
Balloon Juice — ... Some pundits think that we should wait and see what Obama does with the Bush-era torture regime; in my perspective that attitude is dangerously wrong. America’s credibility hangs by a rapidly fraying thread. Saving it will depend on relentless pressure from prominent pundits, preferably voices much more prominent than Glenn Greenwald, to pull up the rocks and expose the entire regime to disinfecting sunlight. ...

Obama Pledges To End Torture To Help ‘Regain America’s Moral Stature In The World’
Think Progress — In recent weeks, there has been rampant media speculation that President Barack Obama would back off his campaign pledges to end torture. The Wall Street Journal recently wrote, “President-elect Barack Obama is unlikely to radically overhaul controversial Bush administration intelligence policies.” In addition, some in the blogosphere have raised concerns about the fact that a key intelligence adviser to Obama has supported the Bush administration’s enhanced interrogation techniques. Tonight, in his interview with CBS’s 60 ...

Obama Pledges To End Torture To Help ?Regain America?s Moral Stature In The World?
The Hollywood Liberal — ... controversial Bush administration intelligence policies.” In addition, some in the blogosphere have raised concerns about the fact that a key […] In recent weeks, there has been rampant media speculation that President Barack Obama would back off his campaign pledges to end torture. The Wall Street Journal recently wrote, “President-elect Barack Obama is unlikely to radically overhaul controversial Bush administration intelligence policies.” In addition, some in the blogosphere have raised concerns about the fact that a key intelligence adviser to Obama has ...

John Brennan: Change We Cannot Believe In
The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan — ... The plain English for "coercive interrogation techniques" is torture. And any association with Tenet, who authorized war crimes, and used the Gestapo term "enhanced interrogation techniques", taints the office. It's not change. Glenn Greenwald, meanwhile, has a very helpful update on Brennan's record. While skeptical of Brennan on torture, Larison ...

Obama: No More Torture, No More Guantanamo
Open Left - Front Page — ... It's as clear a statement as we're going to get.  Obama will end torture and will shut down Guantanamo.  There are a lot of questions and concerns that Glenn Greenwald has put forward with characteristic vigor, and I suspect that there will be a massive fight over this as the Pentagon tries to challenge Obama over spending, Iraq, torture, etc. ...

Obama's Intelligence Transition Chief Undercuts Message of Change
Open Left - Front Page — ... James Gordon Meek of the Counterrorism blog, and on Sunday, Greenwald responded with supporting evidence.  Both Greenwald and Democracy Now both referred back to Brennan's December 5, 2005 appearance on The News Hour with Jim Lehrer.  Greenwald's excerpt is a little longer, and comes with helpful bolding: ...

Four Things
Swampland — ... of who is running for the remaining Obama appointments. It lists John Brennan as the only candidate for CIA director (much to Glenn Greenwald's dismay) and does not list John Kerry as a ...

Brennan at CIA
The Anonymous Liberal — ... or Director of National Intelligence who was one of George Tenet's closest aides when The Dark Side of the last eight years was conceived and implemented, and who, to this day, continues to defend and support policies such as "enhanced interrogation techniques" and rendition (to say nothing of telecom immunity and warrantless eavesdropping), is to cross multiple lines that no Obama supporter should sanction. Truly turning a page on the grotesque abuses of the last eight years requires both symbolism (closing Guantanamo) and substantive policy changes (compelling ...

On the trail of transition
The Reaction — ... is announced, there is going to be criticism or cautious praise. For example, Glenn Greenwald does not like one of the President-elect's national security advisers. On 11/16/08, he headlined, "John Brennan and Bush's interrogation/detention policies." On the other hand, ...

Obama and the Surveillance Society
Daily Kos — ... that former National Counterrorism Center head John Brennan is the favorite for the CIA director nomination. This pick could create real conflict within the new administration: Brennan continues to defend the "enhanced interrogation" techniques and rendition that Obama himself has ...

Gates to Stay on as Defense Secretary; Brennan Out of CIA Running
Politics Daily — ... are bringing up past statement he has made, such as denouncing waterboarding while at the same time saying it gas bore some fruit in the War on Terror, and saying rendition - sending terror suspects to countries that have more lax torture laws than we do - is a "vital tool." ...

Brennan withdraws his name from consideration for CIA.
Think Progress — 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. ...

Glenn Greenwald, Andrew Sullivan Celebrate "Exceptional News": John Brennan Won't Be CIA Director
MoJo Blog Posts: mojo — John Brennan, a top adviser to Barack Obama on intelligence issues who had been widely rumored to be the President-elect's top choice for CIA director, has taken himself out of the running. Bloggers, including Salon's Glenn Greenwald and the Atlantic's Andrew Sullivan, had vociferously opposed Brennan on the grounds that he had reportedly supported the torture of terrorist detainees and the governments extraordinary rendition program. In his letter to Obama, Brennan writes that he "was not involved in the ...

Brennan Is Out
Obsidian Wings — ... President-elect Barack Obama's top adviser on intelligence, took his name out of the running Tuesday for any intelligence position in the new administration. Brennan wrote in a Nov. 25 letter to Obama that he did not want to be a distraction. His potential appointment as CIA director has raised a firestorm in liberal blogs that associate him with the Bush administration's interrogation, detention and rendition policies." This really is a victory for Glenn Greenwald, Scott Horton, Andrew Sullivan, Digby, and the other ...

Brennan withdraws his name from consideration for CIA.
The Hollywood Liberal — ... 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 […] 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 ...

Here Comes The Argument
Firedoglake — ... In an email exchange with James Gordon Meek of the Daily News, Glenn puts aside Brennan's stated opposition to waterboarding, so I think it's reasonable to do so as well. He adds: ...

Tim Shorrock and Frank Naif: Top Intelligence Picks a No-Win for Obama
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — ... This prospect has evoked dismay from corners as far flung as civil liberties advocates and former intelligence officers. Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com has cataloged Brennan's past statements of support for Bush-Cheney intelligence policies, including Brennan's unambiguous on-air defense of extraordinary rendition and torture policy, as well his support for open-ended FISA expansion and telecoms immunity. ...

Who's Going to Run C.I.A.?
Taylor Marsh — ... I was not involved in the firestorm that erupted over John Brennan (see here, here). My opposition to him revolved around his viewpoints on rendition, as well as his defense of them. ...

Frank Naif: If You Think Panetta's Wrong For CIA, You Might Be Part Of The Problem
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — ... The reporting on the Panetta pick has breathed life into another bit of half-baked conventional wisdom, which maintains that Obama's first and best pick for intelligence chief, John Brennan, ought to be having his day in the sun instead of Panetta. The legend goes that treacherous lefty moonbats derailed Brennan's nomination by unfairly playing back all that nationally broadcast video in which he defends some of the worst Bush administration torture and domestic surveillance policies. ...

ThinkFast: January 8, 2009
Think Progress — ... President-elect Obama is prepared to scrap Bush’s homeland security office and appoint longtime CIA official John Brennan head of a counter-terrorism unit to be folded into the National Security Council. Brennan would not require Senate confirmation. “ ...

How Can We Miss You When You Won’t Go Away? Obama Taps Brennan for Counterterrorism Post
Firedoglake — ... , will become White House director of counterterrorism. Brennan came under fire from Salon's Glenn Greenwald for statements that took a soft line on rendering terrorism detainees to the custody of countries that practice torture. ...

Obama to give torture advocate John Brennan DOMESTIC responsibilties
Corrente — Oh good. How nice that torture advocate John Brennan will now be able to apply his, er, expertise on the home front. Well, that's change, isn't it? Read more…

ThinkFast: January 8, 2009
The Hollywood Liberal — ... with their employers for better wages, benefits and working conditions.” President-elect Obama is prepared to scrap Bush’s homeland security office and appoint longtime CIA official John Brennan head of a counter-terrorism unit to be folded into the National Security Council. Brennan would not require Senate confirmation. “ ...

Obama's Aide from the "Dark Side"
David Corn — ... declaring, "We cannot and we must not use torture under any circumstances." And he included waterboarding--which the CIA has used---as torture. In fact, Obama's reported first choice for the CIA job, John Brennan, a career CIA official, had had his chances scuttled after bloggers and others griped that he had been soft, if not supportive, when it came to torture and CIA renditions. A New Yorker ...

Obama's Aide from the "Dark Side"
MoJo Blog Posts: mojo — ... In fact, Obama's reported first choice for the CIA job, John Brennan, a career CIA official, had had his chances scuttled after bloggers and others griped that he had been soft, if not supportive, when it came to torture and CIA renditions. A New Yorker ...

The Liberals' Grand Bargain
Antiwar.com Original — ... "war on terrorism" – extending not only into Afghanistan and Pakistan , but the ring of ' stans that encircle the new battlefield, – doesn't seem to bother them in the least. Amid hosannas from liberals, Obama declared an end to torture , and promised to close the Guantanamo facility within a year. This has been the signature issue of the left-blogosphere, and the estimable Glenn Greenwald led the way, with his relentless exposure of the pro-torture would-be appointees to top positions in Obama's CIA. ...

While He’s Washing, Watch Him
Firedoglake — ... . One of the president's most important counterterrorism advisers, John Brennan, has called rendition "absolutely vital." What will count as a determination that a country doesn't torture and is eligible to receive prisoners? ...

Cheetos Are Forever
Firedoglake — ... is now used by ostensible national-security professionals to insult Glenn Greenwald and other bloggers who opposed John Brennan's appointment as CIA director: ...

The Obama Officials Blocking Accountability for Bush Crimes
Commondreams.org Views — ... and as Mayer herself well knows, the case against Brennan was not that he was "at the agency for the past ten years" or even that he had anything to do with the torture program, but rather that (as she herself documents later in the piece) he explicitly advocated and defended many of the worst torture techniques and other Bush abuses .   Second , unlike the individual who is willing to spout these insults only while cowardly hiding behind Mayer's shield of anonymity, the bloggers who led the opposition to Brennan (including myself and The Atlantic 's Andrew Sullivan) all ...

Frank Naif: Torture, wiretaps, lies to Congress: old spy cronies a drag on Obama's 'look to the future'
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — ... Brennan's involvement as a driving force behind torture and warrantless wiretapping policies is well known. Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com cataloged Brennan's involvement with torture and warrantless wiretapping back in November while he was still the presumptive CIA Director-designate. He had even defended torture practices in television interviews during the Bush years, as well as legal immunity for telecommunications companies involved in warrantless wiretapping of Americans. ...

Counter-terrorism Chief Wants Fewer Guns, More Butter
Truthdig: Drilling Beneath the Headlines — ... John Brennan has known controversy for his defense of torture and rendition, but the president’s top counter-terrorism adviser has just ...

John Brennan's Dangeous National Security Advice
Commondreams.org Views — Last year, Glenn posted some statements from now-Deputy National Security Advisor John Brennan on counterterrorism. The post contributed to pressure that led Brennan to withdraw his candidacy to be CIA Director (which is how he ended up as Deputy NSA, which doesn't require congressional approval). In addition to passages on rendition and torture, Glenn linked to an ...

A Tale of Two Nominees: Why Civil Liberties “Extremists” are Disappointed in Obama
Firedoglake — ... 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. ...

Greg Craig and Obama's Worsening Civil Liberties Record
Commondreams.org Views — ... -- Dawn Johnsen to head the OLC -- has still not been confirmed despite a 60-seat Democratic Senate.  Instead, the former CIA official who defended so many of the Bush-era terrorism policies , John Brennan, remains as Obama's top counter-terrorism adviser.  And Rahm Emanuel -- he of the "build-power-by-increasing-Blue-Dogs" mentality and a driving force behind last year's Congressional enactment of telecom immunity and warrantless eavesdropping -- continues to consolidate power even in these supposedly non-political areas.  Given all of that -- and with the 2010 midterms ...