Melvin Goodman on Obama and his intelligence advisors from Democracy Now

[balantz]

Run time: 09:47 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRa20DMWyhU   Posted on YouTube: November 18, 2008 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: November 18, 2008 By DU Member: balantz Views on DU: 2342

 
AMY GOODMAN: John Brennan and Jami Miscik, both former intelligence officials under George Tenet, are leading Barack Obama’s review of intelligence agencies and helping make recommendations to the new administration. Brennan has supported warrantless wiretapping and extraordinary rendition, and Miscik was involved with the politicized intelligence alleging weapons of mass destruction in the lead-up to the war on Iraq. We speak with former CIA analyst Melvin Goodman and Michael Ratner of the Center for Constitutional Rights.

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MICHAEL RATNER: Well, it’s extremely, extremely disturbing. When you read Jane Mayer’s book, the worst and most onerous chapter is the chapter on what the CIA did to people in secret sites, from small coffins to waterboarding. John Brennan was there at the time. To hear him say that this stuff works is really—or that it’s very important to do is really remarkable. He’s saying that at the same time when we know about the Center’s client, Maher Arar, being sent to Syria, tortured, so-called diplomatic assurances somehow able to protect him. Another Guantanamo people—other Guantanamo people sent to Egypt with the worst kind of torture. So, the idea that Brennan, who should probably, along with Tenet, be facing some kind of war crimes trial, is actually heading the transition on this is extremely disturbing.

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MELVIN GOODMAN: Well, then you have to wonder who he’s relying on, in terms of advice, to keep Bob Gates at the Pentagon, which I think is another example of continuity and not change. You mean to tell me that there are no Democrats who are qualified to become the Secretary of Defense? Bob Gates has supported all of the policies that Obama said he was going to look at very carefully and seemed to oppose: expansion of NATO, bringing Georgia and Ukraine into NATO, deployment of missiles in Poland, deployment of radars in the Czech Republic, the continued acquisition of a national missile defense, which is the most expensive item in the Pentagon’s procurement project, an item that we’ve spent over $500 billion on in the last forty years. This is—again, this is not change; this is continuity.

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[leftchick]

1. this is not change; this is continuity

you betcha!

:(

[cornermouse]

2. k and r

[waiting for hope]

3. Jami Miscik - her credentials:

Jami Miscik was the Deputy Director for Intelligence during the run-up to the Iraq war. So she went along with the phony intelligence estimate of October 2002, the phony white paper that was prepared by Paul Pillar in October 2002. She helped with the drafting of the speech that Colin Powell gave to the United Nations— 2003, which made the phony case for war to the international community.


So, when George Tenet said, "slam dunk, we can provide all the intelligence you need,” to the President in December of 2002, it was people like Jami Miscik and John Brennan who were part of the team who provided that phony intelligence.

More of the same ..

K&R

[waiting for hope]

4. Kicking again ....

[greiner3]

5. Just wondering if I really posted what I feel right now;

About Obama, would that cause me to be tombstoned?

[balantz]

6. I posted what I feel without really saying anything bad just by passing this info on!

Meaning, the actions of Obama speak for themselves and don't make me feel very good at all!

[leftchick]

7. Glen Greenwald shares our concerns....

John Brennan and Bush's interrogation/detention policies

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/11/16/brennan/index.html

(updated below)

Last Wednesday, I wrote:

It simply is noteworthy of comment and cause for concern -- though far from conclusive about what Obama will do -- that Obama's transition chief for intelligence policy, John Brennan, was an ardent supporter of torture and one of the most emphatic advocates of FISA expansions and telecom immunity.

Yesterday, Andrew Sullivan noted that observation but then linked to this post from James Gordon Meek of the Counterrorism blog, which reported that Brennan -- a top CIA aide to George Tenet during most of the Bush administration -- is a leading candidate to replace Mike McConnell and become Obama's Director of National Intelligence. Meek, not providing any links or citations, wrote: "Among many things Democrats like about the softspoken Brennan are his anti-torture views" (emphasis added). Andrew is right when he says: "They both can't be right."

My statement about Brennan was based on several pieces of compelling evidence. First, there is this detailed New Yorker article on Bush's secret interrogation programs by Jane Mayer, unquestionably one of the nation's best and most reliable reporters on these matters. She wrote:

Without more transparency, the value of the C.I.A.’s interrogation and detention program is impossible to evaluate. Setting aside the moral, ethical, and legal issues, even supporters, such as John Brennan, acknowledge that much of the information that coercion produces is unreliable. As he put it, “All these methods produced useful information, but there was also a lot that was bogus.

Mayer explicitly identified Brennan --with whom she spoke concerning these programs -- as a "supporter."

[leveymg]

15. Recall what happened to Carter when he openly tried to clear out the Old Boys. Obama has learned

from that example and may be applying the tenet (no pun intended) of Lao Tzu: "Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer."

I think there's going to be a generalized review of intelligence and DoD policy next year. What's going on now is not a real indicator of the changes that are surely coming.

These are interim measures, designed to minimize the risk that insiders will again try to sabotage the incoming Administration, as was carried out so effectively by G.H.W. against Carter, Admiral Turner, and the Church/Pike Congressional committees. I believe Obama's aides and advisors aren't so naive as to allow that to happen again.

[blackbart99]

8. One can only hope

that he is getting them in line so he can get all the resources together to string 'em all up by their
hoohaws in the public square.:shrug:

[JDPriestly]

9. My first reaction: Disillusionment, disappointment.

As a nation, we probably have this one last chance to save ourselves. If Obama wastes this one last chance, I hate to think what fate our nation will face.

If Obama puts criminals in charge of his transition, he will end up committing crimes. I am waiting for an explanation from Obama. There may be one. Maybe these people have been appointed to bring Obama up to date on the reality of what has happened in the Bush administration. It's hard to know what is meant by transition team. After all, Bush has been so secretive. It may be that these people were chosen to help uncover the crimes. It's too soon to judge this.

[balantz]

10. Hope is wearing thin.

Are there not teams of competent Democrats with clean records who can now be appointed to step in and change course? Or are we going to continue to be severely disappointed here?

[waiting for hope]

11. Can't help it balantz ...

Just gotta kick ya again ... }(

[balantz]

12. Thanks, you know I like it!

:P

[Voice for Peace]

13. I'm speculating that there is method in his madness.

That perhaps all of these picks are purposeful, for reasons of keeping close tabs on the whole, at the same time utilizing the knowledge and skills that these people have; rather than trying to captain a ship while half the crew members are plotting a mutiny.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

14. I wrote the Obama people about this yesterday.

It's all I can think to do. Here's where I sent my note of concern: http://change.gov/page/s/yourvision

[JohnyCanuck]

16. American Politics reminds me of a Peanuts cartoon.

The one where Charlie Brown is urged by Lucy to kick the football she is holding. Time and time again Lucy has held the football for Charlie Brown to kick, only to yank it away at the last minute sending CB sprawling on his back on the ground. However Lucy assures CB that this time it really is different. She really, really wants him to kick the football and she really, really is going to keep holding it for him and will not yank it away at the last minute, like she has always done before.

Charlie Brown succumbs to the temptation to believe that this time it will be different, takes a running kick and once again Lucy moves the ball away at the last minute, and once again Charlie Brown goes splat on his ass. Lucy then walks off the scene with some smart ass comment about Charlie Brown's gullibility. But you know for sure, he'll be back to try the same exercise again in a later cartoon. It almost seems like poor, naive Charlie Brown has permanent brain damage which prevents him from learning by experience.

[IsItJustMe]

17. Same old shit, different day.

Very disturbing. I think we are finding out the hard way that talk is cheaper than hell. This is utterly disheartning.

[shireen]

18. i think he is using them for their knowledge

Some of these people in the intelligence community who supported such despicable policies like extraordinary rendition and warrantless wiretapping are also the same people who KNOW stuff. Obama needs people who know the lay of the land in the intelligence community, even if it means tapping into some bad apples to get the best information. It does not mean that he endorses their illegal policies.

If he appointed those scumbags to key positions, I'd be worried. Otherwise, it's ok ... so, just chill folks. B-)

[riverwalker]

19. we need Samantha Power back

I felt better when she was one of his advisors, to give voice to progressive and human rights concerns.
I wish he would bring her back. So she called Hillary a "monster" off the record and someone printed it. So what? I only know I would feel much better about this transition if she were advising him.