No on Brennan

For perhaps the first time in his presidency, Barack Obama is having a bit of a bumpy ride. His nominee to be Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel, was disastrous in his confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill last week. The vote on his nomination has been postponed.

As bad as Hagel is, however, he looks like a Boy Scout compared to the other man Obama has nominated for a key national security position: White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan to head the CIA.

If Hagel is soft on Iran, Brennan is soft on the Islamist ideology which inspires the Iranian regime---and al Qaeda and other terrorist, jihadi, and Islamist infiltration groups. Brennan is on the record as buying the Obama line that "violent extremists" are victims of "political, economic and social forces." He also has said that we're not at war with "terrorism," because we cannot be at war with a "tactic"---completely ignoring that Islamic terrorism is much more than just a "tactic." (See:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jun/11/terrorists-are-the-real-victims/ )

He has led the way in whitewashing the words "global war on terror" and "Islamic terror" (among other accurate phrases and descriptions) from the official lexicon. He has pandered to CAIR (the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which has close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, and which has recently begun its latest intimidation campaign of lobbying journalists to stop using the word "Islamist."). He has said that the Guantanamo Bay recidivism rate (about 20% of terrorists held there go back to the battlefield) "isn't that bad," and has claimed that "jihad is a holy struggle, a legitimate tenet of Islam, meaning to purify oneself or one's community, and there is nothing holy or legitimate or Islamic about murdering innocent men, women and children." Brennan chose not to refer to the "lesser jihad," which is the violent struggle against non-Muslims, which is presumably the fight we're currently in. (See: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jun/11/terrorists-are-the-real-victims/
and http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/021610-521248-john-brennans-20-doctrine.htm )

My friend Andy McCarthy has written the most powerful argument yet against Brennan to CIA. Read it here at National Review: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/340012/will-senate-confirm-cia-director-who-denies-existence-what-secretary-state-called-glob
CIA

Hagel is a terrible choice for Defense, but Brennan is a far worse choice for CIA. Hagel is getting much of the ink: criticism---all correct and deserved---is directed his way, leaving Brennan to possibly skate through. Hagel was the rabbit sent out by Obama to run around the track and absorb all of the heat and the slings and arrows so there is no energy left to fight Brennan.

Hagel may or may not make it through confirmation. But Brennan should have even more heat directed toward him: his nomination to head the CIA is truly
dangerous and should be opposed as strongly as possible.