Doc91678
Rookie
- Banned
- #1
By Stephen F. Hayes
February 11, 2013
John Brennan is no Chuck Hagel. That much was clear from the confirmation hearings on Brennans nomination to head the CIA. Unlike Hagel, who stumbled and mumbled through his performance, Brennan demonstrated a deep knowledge of his brief and answered (or gamely parried) tough questions with great self-assurance and forcefulness.
But several of Brennans answers before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence were problematic. Indeed, his three and a half hours of testimony raised important questions on two issues central to his nomination: the politicization of intelligence and the Obama administrations approach to fighting radical Islam. Brennan will face additional questions in both areas at a closed hearing on his nomination on February 12. He should.
During the hearing last week, several senators asked Brennan about the enhanced interrogation techniques (EITs) used by the CIA during the Bush administration. In a 2007 interview, Brennan offered a broad defense of the program. There [has] been a lot of information that has come out from these interrogation procedures that the agency has in fact used against the real hardcore terrorists, Brennan said. It has saved lives, he continued. And lets not forget, these are hardened terrorists who have been responsible for 9/11, who have shown no remorse at all for the deaths of 3,000 innocents.
**snip**
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Brennan?s Evasions
February 11, 2013
John Brennan is no Chuck Hagel. That much was clear from the confirmation hearings on Brennans nomination to head the CIA. Unlike Hagel, who stumbled and mumbled through his performance, Brennan demonstrated a deep knowledge of his brief and answered (or gamely parried) tough questions with great self-assurance and forcefulness.
But several of Brennans answers before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence were problematic. Indeed, his three and a half hours of testimony raised important questions on two issues central to his nomination: the politicization of intelligence and the Obama administrations approach to fighting radical Islam. Brennan will face additional questions in both areas at a closed hearing on his nomination on February 12. He should.
During the hearing last week, several senators asked Brennan about the enhanced interrogation techniques (EITs) used by the CIA during the Bush administration. In a 2007 interview, Brennan offered a broad defense of the program. There [has] been a lot of information that has come out from these interrogation procedures that the agency has in fact used against the real hardcore terrorists, Brennan said. It has saved lives, he continued. And lets not forget, these are hardened terrorists who have been responsible for 9/11, who have shown no remorse at all for the deaths of 3,000 innocents.
**snip**
Continue reading: -->
Brennan?s Evasions
