If Obama nominates John Brennan as the CIA director, we will have to assume he's abandoned us, and we will treat him accordingly.
There is a lot of chatter in the blogosphere that Obama is close to announcing the appointment of John Brennan in the CIA and is daring to betray us. If this guy is appointed, will you excuse Obama? I will not. We cannot let this happen. Act now and raise your voice.
Look at the guy's record: He is not just another Washington establishment figure; he's the Cheney incarnate, executor of Bush's surveillance, torture, and rendition. Between 2004-2005, Brennan served as interim director of National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) from its inception, whose precursor was the Terrorist Threat Integration Center, created by Bush by executive order in 2003. Before that he served in the CIA in various capacities, including, from 1999 to 2004, with George Tenet, first as his chief of staff, then as deputy executive director of the CIA.
In nutshell, Brennan was one of the masterminds of the WMD bullshit that got us into Iraq. He supported the 9/11 and Iraq connection, forwarded by Cheney and Rumsfeld. He was an accomplice in fabricating justification to invade Iraq. As an opportunist, he'd say otherwise if you ask him today.
On ethical issues, Brennan was never shy about pushing domestic spying eavesdropping.
Then, still worse is Brennan's embrace of harsh torture techniques in intelligence gathering, with no regard for human rights and image of the United States abroad.
Most recently, Brennan held the view that telecom companies should be given immunity for their wiretapping. In a March 2007 interview, he said, "I do believe strongly that they should be granted that immunity" (http://news.nationaljournal.com/articles/080307nj1.htm).
For further reading, see
(1) Mark Ambinder's "Brennan, Harding Slated For Top Intelligence Jobs": http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/...
(2) Glenn Greenwald's "Update II": http://www.salon.com/...
(3) Andrew Sullivan's "No Way. No How. No Brennan, Ctd": http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.co...
(4) The Anonymous Liberal's "Brennan at CIA": http://www.anonymousliberal.com/...
(5) From an intelligence analyst at the CIA from 1966 to 1990, Melvin A. Goodman, comes "Change in Intelligence?" the earliest to object: http://www.baltimoresun.com/...