Obama taps Leon Panetta for CIA Director
By SilentPatriot Monday Jan 05, 2009 2:00pm
Today President-elect Obama threw the political world a curveball and chose former California Congressman Leon Panetta to head the Central Intelligence Agency. Although Mr. Panetta brings with him little experience in intelligence affairs, the pick signals that Obama recognizes the dangers of politicizing the CIA like Bush has. Expect Panetta to play the role of "public face" while he allows the real intelligence experts to do their jobs. We should all welcome that after eight years of crap like this.
Two Democratic officials say President-elect Barack Obama has chosen former Clinton White House chief of staff Leon Panetta to run the CIA.
Panetta was a surprise pick for the post, with no experience in the intelligence world. An Obama transition official and another Democrat disclosed his nomination on a condition of anonymity since it was not yet public.
Panetta was director of the Office of Management and Budget and a longtime congressman from California.
He served on the Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan panel that released a report at the end of 2006 with dozens of recommendations for the reversing course in the Iraq war.
We should probably also expect some unhappiness among the Village set.
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in that dung heap is probably a good thing.
And hopefully he will not goose step around in a !@#$ing military uniform.
Sieg Heil, so on and so forth.
Better yet, disband it altogether.
Yet another member of the Clinton Overclass Neoliberal Corporate
Enclave comes to power under the "Change we can believe in"
administration of Obama.
Panetta couldn't cover up a blow job, how can he manage the most EVIL
organization on the planet?
You guys are just cartoon character "progressives" aren't you?
"The most EVIL organization on the planet?" Read many good conspiracy books lately?
Intelligence gathering is essential and every nation does it. Had the CIA been allowed to do its job properly, we would not have invaded Iraq.
...Dick and Dubya and Rummy were gonna' invade Iraq no matter what - after all they went to all that trouble to arrange 9/11 so they could make their PNAC wet dream come true: steal ME oil and set-up humongous forward military bases from which to spread "democracy & peace" oh, and US hegemony, with cluster bombs and hummers.
Fire everyone but the spooks. This cesspool must be cleaned up.
Dismantle it. It's no better than the Gestapo. The fact that the one competent employee at the organization got outed proves it.
to support your claim that the CIA is "no better than the Gestapo".
Richard Clarke.
But I still think it should be disbanded.
Obama just keeps on keepin' on.
So I decided to read some of his writings. All I can say is that the Neocons are absolutely going to HATE this guy; which makes me like him. Neocons always talk in strange abstractions that only make sense to a drunk discussing global politics in bar. This guy seems to be really rooted in the REAL World.
http://www.panettainstitute.org/commentatires...
Everything old is new again. What do they have a sign up in Washington that says: "Former Clinton people log in here"?? Ah yes, back to a simpler time, when the world was all humming along so nicely, what with the fake paper economy booming. How many more "former" Clintons can be hired before every position is full?
President-Elect Obama will hire just about all of the available "former Clinton people". That's much better than hiring the inexperienced or incompetent just because you want to pander to the tiny portion of the US electorate that thinks its "progressive".
Yeah...its kind of interesting that the pro-eavesdropping and torture Feinstein is opposing an experienced and respected operator to run the CIA. As a California resident, I really think its time for a new Senator. She is clearly out of touch with what is going on in this country and especially this state. If she is opposing Panetta on these grounds, I would suggest she be Blue America's next major target. Surely there is a serious, progressive, and viable candidate to replace her.
Feinstein is a Neocon, Zionist dressed as a Democrat with very heavy ties to the Military Industrial Complex. I also agree, Hillary and Feinstein both want all the wiretapping powers left in place as well as many other useful dirty tricks that Bush and Dick created. Watch out Leon.
Panetta's from my county, and I have always considered him to be above political games. He has integrity, humor and intelligence and will do Obama proud. This gentleman is a true value to our country.
...of former Clinton hacks before all the positions are filled. Otherwise, he'll have to CHANGE the way he's filling out his administration.
Panetta as head of CIA? Why, exactly?
I think it is a good pick. OK he doesn't have the experience but I bet fresh eyes will be good for the position. The good thing when he left Washington, he left with honor intacted. You can't ask more than that.
following the Bay of Pigs disaster.
He fired CIA chief Allen Dulles.
Dulles had the last laugh, however, as a member of the Warren Commission.
Bet that's a piece of history Obama knows well.
I believe a couple of bullets stopped the CIA from being broken up, the central banksters monopoly and the mobs influence in elections... i mean unions.. I mean crime.
Gotta love that secret government of ours.
I'm willing to give Panetta a chance but I'm getting *real* tired of Clinton, Inc. sycophants getting top slots...anywhere.
On the upside, at least the CIA slime trail to Poppy Bush (Obama>>Panetta>>H. Clinton>>B. Clinton>>Poppy) just got two extra intercept points more than the DoD slime trail (Obama>>Gates>>>Poppy).
That's something I guess...
Obama got this one right.
"Although Mr. Panetta brings with him little experience in intelligence affairs"
Look at what a bang-up job those with experience in intelligence affairs brought us under the Bush administration.
I am not talking about the real intelligence officers actually working in intelligence. I am talking about the hacks working for George and Dick.
"Expect Panetta to play the role of "public face" while he allows the real intelligence experts to do their jobs."
Yea. Like overthrowing governments and secretly killing and torturing people all over the world. Itll be fun. Kinda like Bush, but not really.
Shocking statement from Leon Panetta!!
very unexpected!
watch Leon Panetta statement
Wonder what that means?
Leon Panetta is a smart man. He served the 17th district well.(Monterey) I think the people in the 16th district approved of him as well Santa Clara/San Jose).
He won't put up with any bullshit. If he walks, something is up.
"Mr. Panetta brings with him little experience in intelligence affairs"
Except during the 1960s when Panetta actually WAS a military intelligence officer - which would distinguish him from many other CIA directors.
Not to mention that as White House Chief of Staff he received the same intelligence briefings as the President and thus knows exactly how the President uses intelligence and what he needs.
Was he an MI officer? His resume doesn't say, but he graduated from law school the year prior to deploying, so he was almost certainly JAG, not MI. You don't get a direct commission to 1LT in other branches, and ROTC program recruits law school grads for other branches.
"Although Mr. Panetta brings with him little experience in intelligence affairs, the pick signals that Obama recognizes the dangers of politicizing the CIA like Bush has....
Expect Panetta to play the role of "public face" while he allows the real intelligence experts to do their jobs."
Panetta has no intelligence experience and is basically expected to be the "public face" of the organization and not participate in actually "Directing", yet his pick is not political?! That's ridiculous.
Is that what we have to expect now from liberal blogs? "Obama knows of the danger of politization of the CIA, so he makes an entirely political pick"??? If that had been written in 2001 by some republican mouth piece we would have laughed or cried. Yet I see way too much of this crap on lefty blogs.
This is not what I wanted us to do after a win: just become the mouth pieces of o u r President.
I tend to assume "political" appointees as being those that are selected by their ideological alignment not by their qualifications.
Mr. Panetta seem like a nice guy, however... his experience regarding intelligence gathering and analysis seems to be nonexistent. So this is a purely political pick, IMHO.
I am starting to get troubled by the double speak: If a conservative is selected to a position, Obama apologists claim that the selection was based upon the individual's qualifications (which is another way of saying that a liberal would not have been qualified), and when a position is filled by someone without experience... then the selection is not "political." And when all the members of the cabinet seem to follow the same moderate to conservative views, we are told they are a "team of rivals" even though the reality to me seems more like a "team of colleagues."
Are we running the Dem version of pravda with these articles or what?
I find these developments very troubling. And the fact that all I am being told is either "don't believe your lying eyes" or "wait and see and sh*t the f*ck up" does not help in making me feel any easier about Obama's picks.
Glad to see I'm not the only one who feels the same way. It is becoming clear that Obama is neither a liberal nor a progressive. This is turing out to be a straight up corporatist/conservative administration.
Of course, this is the same Diane Feinstein who vigorously championed Mukasey for AG.
Schumer pulled the same stunt. I am now convinced that Feinstein is a Zionist Shrew and Schumer is a Zionist Stooge. Just check out Feinstein`s hubby and see what he does for a living. This has been going on for a long time. What a mix, Hillary as Sect. of State now Diane is pissed off with the Panetta appointment. I hoping he will keep an eye on both of these power hungry vipers.
Being an outsider could be good, if he can tell the difference between a bullshit story and the truth. The CIA is rotten to the core and staffed with far too many utterly amoral thugs. Panetta could end up being the proverbial babe in the woods, which would mean...business as usual. I'm more interested at this point in seeing how many of the bad guys are going to be put out of a job.
Can’t they pick a non political that has done something other than move the pins on the political maps. So far everyone that is coming on board is some kind of a political retread. Is the pool of candidates for positions so limited?
Why do people believe that having managerial skills will protect our country? Panetta is way too soft and meek to keep us safe in my opinon. If managerial skills is all ts about than why doesnt George Steinbrenner hire a regional taco bell manager to manage the New York yankees ?
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