NBC: Lehman considered top prospect to head CIA

[cal04]

Nomination of 9/11 commissioner
could come as soon as Thursday
9/11 commission member John Lehman on NBC's "Meet the Press" in Washington on June 20.
he Bush administration is seriously considering nominating John Lehman, businessman, former Navy secretary and current 9/11 commissioner, to replace George Tenet as director of the Central Intelligence Agency, NBC News has learned from multiple sources at the White House, the State Department and on Capitol Hill.

The nomination of Lehman, who is being viewed as the leading candidate, could come as soon as Thursday, in an attempt to deflect attention from a Senate Intelligence Committee report on the agency, a report expected to be highly critical. The official release of the report has been delayed because ranking Democratic member Jay Rockefeller has other commitments.

Lehman, who was known as a reformer during his Navy days but who is not popular at the CIA, would be acceptable to most Republicans on the Hill — in sharp contrast to Porter Goss, the Senate Republican chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, who was roundly rejected by leaders of the committee when his name was leaked last week.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/ID/5380703

[bobthedrummer]

1. Porter Goss is linked to Pakistan's Military Intelligence (ISI)

http://globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO407A.html

[MarkTwain]

2. Reasonably decent man...

... if memory serves.

I wonder if President Kerry will be inclined to invite him to stay after January, 2005?

[Tellurian]

3. Apparently the reason they chose him is because of his unpopularity

with the CIA...

[thebigidea]

4. he's been absolutely horrible on the 9/11 com. - he was awful with Clarke

[Peachhead22]

5. I wish...

I wish Bush would give the post to Rep, Rob Simmons (R-CT). He's a former CIA guy. It would get Simmons out of his House spot, plus President Kerry could shitcan him early next year.

[fearnobush]

6. This just more DAM proof that this commission is a Whitewash.

If that man is asked and accepts, the country has truely gone to shit people. No one will ever know the real LIHOPING truth.

[seafan]

7. Please, NOT LEHMAN! Remember how he tried to smear Clarke?

:grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr:

John Lehman: President Ronald Reagan's secretary of the Navy sharply questioned Clarke's motivations Wednesday. Lehman said he had a "genuine long-term admiration" for the former White House terrorism expert, but he suggested Clarke has a "credibility problem" because of the hoopla over his recently published book. Lehman wondered aloud whether Clarke's criticism of Bush was more a matter of spin and sales promotion than "studied judgment." Lehman was appointed to the commission by Lott.

http://216.239.39.104/search?q=cache:5w6A8GFOGQgJ:www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-03-24-911-commission_x.htm+lehman+clarke+911+commission&hl=en



Here is the exact transcript of that little tirade by Lehman. Then Clarke rips him to shreds.


http://216.239.39.104/search?q=cache:UvUMKfhZICsJ:www.post-gazette.com/pg/04085/290935.stm+lehman+clarke+911+commission&hl=en

(scroll 2/3 of the way down the page..)

KEAN: Secretary Lehman?


LEHMAN: Thank you.


Dick, since you and I first served 28 years ago in the MBFR delegation, I have genuinely been a fan of yours. I've watched you labor without fear of favor in a succession of jobs where you really made a difference. And so when you agreed to spend as much time as you did with us in, as you say, 15 hours, I was very hopeful.


And I attended one of those all-day sessions and read the other two transcripts, and I thought they were terrific. I thought here we have a guy who can be the Rosetta Stone for helping this commission do its job, to help to have the American people grasp what the dysfunctional problems in this government are.


And I thought you let the chips fall where they may. You made a few value judgments which could be debated. But by and large, you were critical of the things, institutions, and people that could have done better and some that did very badly.


And certainly the greater weight of this criticism fell during the Clinton years simply because there were eight of them and only 7 1/2 months of the Bush years. I don't think you, in the transcripts that we have of your classified interviews, pulled punches in either direction. And, frankly, a lot of my questioning this past two days has been drawn from some of the things that you articulated so well during the Clinton years, particularly, because they stretched from the first, as you pointed out, attempt by Saddam to assassinate President Bush 41 right up through the end of the administration.


But now we have the book. And I've published books. And I must say I am green with envy at the promotion department of your publisher.


(LAUGHTER)


Until I started reading those press reports, and I said this can't be the same Dick Clarke that testified before us, because all of the promotional material and all of the spin in the networks was that this is a rounding, devastating attack -- this book -- on President Bush.


That's not what I heard in the interviews. And I hope you're going to tell me, as you apologized to the families for all of us who were involved in national security, that this tremendous difference -- and not just in nuance, but in the stories you choose to tell -- is really the result of your editors and your promoters, rather than your studied judgment, because it is so different from the whole thrust of your testimony to us.


And similarly, when you add to it the inconsistency between what your promoters are putting out and what you yourself said as late as August '05, you've got a real credibility problem.


And because of my real genuine long-term admiration for you, I hope you'll resolve that credibility problem, because I'd hate to see you become totally shoved to one side during a presidential campaign as an active partisan selling a book.


CLARKE: Thank you, John.


(LAUGHTER)


Let me talk about partisanship here, since you raise it. I've been accused of being a member of John Kerry's campaign team several times this week, including by the White House. So let's just lay that one to bed. I'm not working for the Kerry campaign. Last time I had to declare my party loyalty, it was to vote in the Virginia primary for president of the United States in the year 2000. And I asked for a Republican ballot.


Now, the fact of the matter is, I do co-teach a class with someone who works for Senator Kerry. That person is named Randy Beers. Randy Beers and I have worked together in the federal government and the White House and the State Department for 25 years.


Randy Beers worked in the White House for Ronald Reagan. Randy Beers worked in the White House for the first President Bush, and Randy Beers worked in the White House for the second President Bush.


And just because he is now working for Senator Kerry, I am not going to disassociate myself from one of my best friends and someone who I greatly respect and worked with for 25 years.


And, yes, I will admit, I co-teach a class at the Harvard University and Georgetown University with Mr. Beers. That, I don't think, makes me a member of the Kerry campaign.


The White House has said that my book is an audition for a high- level position in the Kerry campaign. So let me say here as I am under oath, that I will not accept any position in the Kerry administration, should there be one -- on the record, under oath.


Now, as to your accusation that there is a difference between what I said to this commission in 15 hours of testimony and what I am saying in my book and what media outlets are asking me to comment on, I think there's a very good reason for that.


In the 15 hours of testimony, no one asked me what I thought about the president's invasion of Iraq. And the reason I am strident in my criticism of the president of the United States is because by invading Iraq -- something I was not asked about by the commission, it's something I chose write about a lot in the book -- by invading Iraq the president of the United States has greatly undermined the war on terrorism.


Lehman is exactly the sort that needs to be shown the door.

:puke:

[gbwarming]

11. And defended Cheney's Iraq-AlQaeda linkage

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20040621_85.html

On the issue of al-Qaida's ties to Iraq under Saddam, Lehman defended Cheney, the most aggressive promoter of that idea.

Lehman said new intelligence that "we are now in the process of getting" indicates one of Saddam's Fedayeen fighters, a lieutenant colonel, was a prominent al-Qaida member.

Cheney has said he probably has intelligence the commission does not have, and Lehman said "the vice president was right when he said that."

[Moderator]

17. seafan

Per DU copyright rules
please post only four
paragraphs from the
copyrighted news source.


Thank you.

DU Moderator

[Media_Lies_Daily]

8. First, I wonder if he can get confirmed? And second,....

...he will have one of the shortest tenures, if not THE shortest, in history as the Director of the CIA.

Kerry will replace him very soon after his inauguration.

[Octafish]

10. The BFEE needs someone they can trust to handle the SHREDDING.

It's a big job for the Bushgang. They can't afford to leave it to just anyone. Otherwise, they'll all get life imprisonment -- or worse. Lehman's proved himself long before getting the job on the 9-11 commish. That just cemented his value to the Bush Organized Crime Family.

[Octafish]

9. Lehman's a Big Turd of the BFEE

Coverup Artist John Lehman Named to 9-11Coverup

by WAYNE MADSEN

Outgoing Senate Republican leader Trent Lott had one more nasty surprise for the American people before he announced he was quitting his leadership post.

He nominated former Navy Secretary John Lehman as a member of the "independent" Sept. 11 investigation commission, passing over former Sen. Warren Rudman, R-N.H., a respected former head of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board and a co-chair, along with former Sen. Gary Hart, D-Colo., of a federal blue-ribbon Commission on National Security that recommended drastic changes in the U.S. intelligence infrastructure before the attacks in 2001.

Lehman was Navy secretary from 1981 to 1987 and presided over Ronald Reagan's buildup to a 600-ship Navy. But Lehman also presided over one of the worst cover-ups in the Navy's entire 227-year history.

Long before the Roman Catholic Church pedophile scandal, the U.S. Navy experienced one of its own. It involved at least one U.S. Naval Academy graduate, P-3 Orion naval pilots with access to nuclear weapons (the P-3 Orion is an anti-submarine warfare aircraft), personnel with top-secret clearances, and officers in leadership positions of trust akin to those of clergymen.

CONTINUED BFEE PERVERSION...

http://www.conspiracyplanet.com/channel.cfm?channelid=70&contentid=717

[GoBlue]

12. Lehman sounds perfect for the JOB

Protect the perverts and screw the victims. This administration has a lot of perverts on it's roster and victims to it's credit.

[Disturbed]

14. News tonight.

I heard that this appointment will be delayed until after the election. I hope not. The rank and file of the CIA know that Tenet was a BushCo bootclicker that sold them out and let them be scapegoated. Lehmen's appointnment will keep them pissed off. That would be a good thing because it will encourage them to keep documents that reveal the crimes of BushCo flowing to the Net and the Media.

[DavidFL]

13. Lehman a signatory of the PNAC's "Comprehensive Strategy"

April 3, 2002


The Honorable George W. Bush
President of the United States
Washington, DC

Dear Mr. President:

We write to thank you for your courageous leadership in the war on terrorism and to offer our full support as you continue to protect the security and well-being of Americans and all freedom-loving peoples around the world.

In particular, we want to commend you for your strong stance in support of the Israeli government as it engages in the present campaign to fight terrorism. As a liberal democracy under repeated attack by murderers who target civilians, Israel now needs and deserves steadfast support. This support, moreover, is essential to Israel’s continued survival as a free and democratic nation, for only the United States has the power and influence to provide meaningful assistance to our besieged ally. And with the memory of the terrorist attack of September 11 still seared in our minds and hearts, we Americans ought to be especially eager to show our solidarity in word and deed with a fellow victim of terrorist violence.

No one should doubt that the United States and Israel share a common enemy. We are both targets of what you have correctly called an “Axis of Evil.” Israel is targeted in part because it is our friend, and in part because it is an island of liberal, democratic principles -- American principles -- in a sea of tyranny, intolerance, and hatred. As Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld has pointed out, Iran, Iraq, and Syria are all engaged in “inspiring and financing a culture of political murder and suicide bombing” against Israel, just as they have aided campaigns of terrorism against the United States over the past two decades. You have declared war on international terrorism, Mr. President. Israel is fighting the same war.

<snip>

Furthermore, Mr. President, we urge you to accelerate plans for removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq. As you have said, every day that Saddam Hussein remains in power brings closer the day when terrorists will have not just airplanes with which to attack us, but chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons, as well. It is now common knowledge that Saddam, along with Iran, is a funder and supporter of terrorism against Israel. Iraq has harbored terrorists such as Abu Nidal in the past, and it maintains links to the Al Qaeda network. If we do not move against Saddam Hussein and his regime, the damage our Israeli friends and we have suffered until now may someday appear but a prelude to much greater horrors. Moreover, we believe that the surest path to peace in the Middle East lies not through the appeasement of Saddam and other local tyrants, but through a renewed commitment on our part, as you suggested in your State of the Union address, to the birth of freedom and democratic government in the Islamic world.

Sincerely,

William Kristol Ken Adelman Gary Bauer Jeffrey Bell William J. Bennett Ellen Bork Linda Chavez Eliot Cohen Midge Decter Thomas Donnelly Nicholas Eberstadt
Hillel Fradkin Frank Gaffney Jeffrey Gedmin
Reuel Marc Gerecht Charles Hill Bruce P. Jackson
Donald Kagan Robert Kagan John Lehman Tod Lindberg
Rich Lowry Clifford May Joshua Muravchik Martin Peretz
Richard Perle Daniel Pipes Norman Podhoretz
Stephen P. Rosen Randy Scheunemann Gary Schmitt
William Schneider, Jr. Marshall Wittmann R. James Woolsey

http://www.newamericancentury.org/Bushletter-040302.htm

[DinahMoeHum]

15. That little POS will do to the CIA what he did to the US Navy. . .

saddle it with a bloated budget and unrealistic expectations.

He was a major figure in a book by Newsweek writer Gregory Vistica titled "Fall From Glory - The Men Who Sank The US Navy"

Link:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0684832267/ref=cm_cr_dp_2_1/102-1431283-2308119?v=glance&s=books&vi=customer-reviews&me=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Here's what one reader had to say about the book and about Lehman:
(snip)
AWESOME!!!, April 15, 2003
Reviewer: An Amazon.com Customer
I remember when I started flight school in the Navy. I knew little about the politics of the Department, and was a big fan of John Lehman. I grew to despise him over the years. He never earned his Naval Flight Officer's Wings. He is the only citizen that I know of who was ever authorized to wear such an insignia and joy ride in the right seat of an A-6. His vision for a 600 ship Navy, and the information provived to Congress to get it, was based on lies. John Lehman ultimately weakened the United States. As a result of John Lehman, tens of billions were spent on worthless weapons systems. We are still paying for it. Vistica's book is right on target. In the 1980s, the U.S. Navy was an authority unto itself. Its real mission had little to do with national security, but rather advancing its own selfish interests. Our leaders were a bunch of gutless, and spineless self promoters who would stab their mothers in the back rather than take personal responsibility for their disasters.
(snip)

Lehman is like King Midas in reverse - everything he touches turns to shit.


:nuke:

[feminazi]

16. and his brother, Chris

was part of the Office of Special Plans

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0807-02.htm