Saturday, February 13, 2010

Conservatives Call For John Brennan's Resignation

Conservatives have found yet another target, and this time with Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security, John Brennan. From the February 10th issue of Special Report With Bret Baier, the panel on the show called for his resignation over comments made regarding the Christmas Day bomber, in which Brennan stated that the politicization of national security issues are aiding terrorists more then helping the nation. Republican congressmen Pete Hoekstra and Kit Bond have both called for his resignation, with Hoekstra stating that Brennan is "poisoning the well" while Bond stated that "policy needs to be changed" and "if they need to change people to change the policy, that's what needs to be done," implying that Brennan should be removed.

Baier quoted Brennan as writing "Politically motivated criticism from Republicans and unfounded fear-mongering only serve the goals of Al Qaeda, among other things." Panel guest Mort Kondracke took this to mean that Republicans are aiding Al Qaeda, even though he admitted to the politicization of national security issues, pointing out that Brennan was once attacked by liberals and now by conservatives. He goes on to say "everybody's at war all the time every day in Washington about something and not necessarily about merits," and looking at Brennan, I would have to say this most recent attack is without merit. Brennan seems to be very qualified for the post, with years of experience in various intelligence positions and a background in Middle Eastern studies. According to Kondracke, "nobody should say that guy is aiding Al Qaeda unless they are really committing treason. It's sort of like the Nazi analogy. It ought to be just off the table." Interesting that he would use the Nazi analogy, since this seems to be one of the most popular analogies used by the right. I believe they have also made arguments along the lines that the Obama administration has aided terrorism - Remember Dick Cheney saying America is less safe under the new administration? Kondracke had also admitted that complaints against the handling of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab are just speculation because critics are not sure of what had gone on regarding the governments interrogation, but I assume that they would rather have information obtained leaked to the press then kept classified for security issues.

According to other panel guest, Charles Krauthammer, regarding treating Abdulmutallab as an enemy combatant, the administration is "on the wrong side of public opinion. It's on the wrong side of logic and reason on this issue," and for this reason is why the White House is pushing back against criticism, with Tucker Carlson saying that Democrats had the same concerns after September 11th, but things are different now, but if you consider Krauthammer's arguments, the administration is in the wrong for acting against public opinion, against all logic and reason, but that is what the Bush administration had done for 8 years...

From what I gather from this interview, as well as the numerous other articles online, the right is just arguing in circles, contradicting themselves while remaining on the attack and attempting to validate their arguments, and while it may fool some, it definitely does not fool me.

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