NBC: Obama picks Panetta for CIA director

I like Obama, however, making a circus of the CIA could mean that we would be heading toward another four years of what? He was going to name John Brennan, but some politicians opposed. So instead of Brennan, a veteran of the CIA and opposed to rendition, water boarding, etc., withdrew his name. So now we got someone without the experience? Like we have time to train somebody to handle intelligence for the next four years? Naming Penetta would demoralize the agency, bypassing those who put many years of good service like Brennan. This is bad politics as usual and bad for America. Obama should be able to stand up and fight for the right people instead of being pushed around by people who used to be at that White House. Removing old strategies like rendition, water boarding (torture), and secret prisons in European and other countries is fine. but that would mean finding new strategies. The bad part is the CIA would be searching for new strategies by new and inexperience people. This is very bad.

Leon Pennetta is a very poor choice for director of the CIA. As others have well noted, he has no experience for the job. With two plus wars going on around the world now; this is no time for grand experiments. Mr. Penetta should do the honorable thing and decline the appointment, or at least seek another post in the administration that he is more qualified to fill.

Years ago, when I was a soldier stationed at the former Ft. Ord army base at Monterrey California, I called then, Congressman Penetta's office with the suggestion that the several hundred surplus housing units at both Ft. Ord, Presidio of San Francisco, and The former Letterman army hospital be turned over to HUD as a ready-made solution to the overpriced housing market in central California. Hundreds of low-income families and homeless persons could have been provided with shelter.

This would have been a meaningful use of surplus government property. Many people might have been lifted out of poverty, and put back on track towards a better future. Alas, I was soundly rebuffed by his staff. Today, If you go to the former Ft. Ord installation you will find these surplus housing units abandoned, unused and many allowed to fall into ruins, why?

It was more important to take care of real estate speculators than to help the general public. I encourage anyone living close to the California State University at Monterrey Bay campus to go visit and see the waste for yourself. The monuments to greed and waste are all about. When making choices of unqualified and inexperienced individuals we must weight their past and decide wisely.

Mr. Penetta has shown from his past, he is not a wise choice for such an important post. The damage he could do to the our republic and our standing in the world would take a generation to undo.

In closing, I wish him well in his life, perhaps, being a college professor is the best use of his time. But he should take a sober look and step back away from this appointment.

-Fritz

     Who supplied bad intelligence just prior to the Iraq war?? Who ran drugs into our country during Iran/Contra?? Who supported & trained the oppression that birthed a Communist Cuba? Who trained Bin Laden? and ignored information about a aircraft attack??

     Yes, CIA experience may not be a plus. Their record seems to speak for itself. And nominating a non CIA entity is ......change.

All I can say is "WEAK"!!!!!

I hope for the best...

During the Clinton years our National security was very poor....

Where is all the talk about "CHANGE"? This is getting to be a joke.

I'm curious how many people on this blog voted for PEBO? Bet they won't admit it now. SUCKERS!!!! I for did not vote for this blow hard politician.

Obama's biggest complaint about Bush was his allegation that Bush played politics with the intelligence and now Obama picks a pure politician to head the nations intellegence agency. Stunning!

Even if Panetta had the managerial abilities to lead the organization, he will have no credibility with the thousands of employees in the agency.  You can't tell me that there is no individual in this country with intelligence community background Obama could have tapped for this job.

If Obama mentions Panetta's two years as a low level company grade Army intelligence officer in the mid 1960's as somehow credibility for this choice it will remove all doubt that this was nothing but a political pick.

If we have an intelligence failure leading to an attack on Americans (like the seemingly one a month we had when Clinton was in office), Obama will not be able to recover.  He has sealed his fate for a second term.

Does Bill have picutres/tapes on Obama?

Who said Billy Bob didnt know it was SEX+++++

Here's YOUR Billy Bob Blythe AKA Clinton---

The forty-second President of the United States was born William Jefferson Blythe on August 19, 1946, in Hope, Arkansas. His father, William Blythe, died in an automobile accident three months before the birth of the baby, who was adopted by his stepfather, Roger Clinton. Bill Clinton attended Georgetown University, then Oxford, and eventually graduated from , whom he had met at Yale. From 1977 to 1979 Clinton was the Attorney General of Arkansas. He was elected Governor of the state in 1978, lost a re-election bid in 1980, and then won back the office in 1982. He was thereafter re-elected in 1984, 1986, and 1990. In 1992 he defeated incumbent George H.W. Bush in the race for U.S. President, and in 1996 was elected to a second term when he defeated Republican Senator Bob Dole. Clinton's presidency was marred by a long succession of scandals, including sexual harassment allegations, lawsuits, an accusation of rape, and, most famously, revelations that he had carried on a sexual affair with 21-year-old White House intern Monica Lewinsky. On December 19, 1998, after having perjured himself repeatedly before a grand jury, Clinton - on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice - became only the second President (after Andrew Johnson in 1868) in American history to be impeached, though he was not removed from office. In October 2001 he was disbarred from practicing law before the United States Supreme Court. He had previously had his Arkansas law license suspended for five years as a result of a disbarment lawsuit brought by a committee of the Arkansas State Supreme Court.

Clinton's most significant failings as President concerned less publicized but far more ominous matters of national security. Clinton's loathing of the American military led to his failure in his primary responsibility: the protection of the American people. His actions with regard to military preparedness speak for themselves. In less than three years, deployments increased while manpower decreased from 2.1 million to 1.6 million. That decrease was the foundation upon which stood Al Gore's purported "reinvention" of government. Of the 305,000 employees removed from the federal payroll, 286,000 (or 90%) were military cuts.The statistics for America's defense during the Clinton years reveal the deep-seated animosity of the administration toward those who served in the military. The Army was cut from 18 divisions to 12. The Navy was reduced from 546 ships to 380. Air Force flight squadrons were cut from 76 to 50

In May 1996, Lt. Col. Robert Patterson was appointed Senior Military Aide to President Clinton, a role which required him to accompany Clinton at all times and carry (handcuffed to his wrist) what is known colloquially as the "nuclear football" - a black bag which contains the top-secret codes needed in case of nuclear war. Patterson fulfilled this role from 1996 to 1998. In addition, he was the operational commander for all military units assigned to the White House, including Air Force One, Marine One, Camp David, White House Transportation Agency and White House Mess. In his book , Patterson writes that "[d]amn near all" of his military associates viewed the administration's military policies as "open-ended" and "rudderless."

As the carrier of the nuclear football, Patterson was astounded that Clinton repeatedly said on the campaign trail no American children would have to go to sleep with nuclear missiles pointed at them. Such a statement was patently untrue. Conversations he overheard in the car transporting the President most often did not revolve around foreign policy issues but subpoenas, lawyers, and executive privilege. The Clintonites had priorities, and national security was not one of them.

The nuclear football goes everywhere with the President. Several days after testifying in the Paula Jones deposition, Patterson went to exchange the codes for the football with Mr. Clinton, only to find that Clinton did not have them. "I don't have mine on me," said the President. "I'll track it down, guys, and get back to you." The codes could not be found that day

and his terrorist-related activities were well known to the United States by 1995. Clinton had an opportunity to capture him in the fall of 1998, but was unavailable. When he was finally reached, further consultation was needed with various secretaries. The two-hour window in which bin Laden could have been caught was lost. Says Patterson, "This lost bin Laden hit typified the Clinton administration's ambivalent, indecisive way of dealing with terrorism. Ideologically, the Clinton administration was committed to the idea that most terrorists were misunderstood, had legitimate grievances, and could be appeased, which is why such military action as the administration authorized was so halfhearted, and ineffective, and designed more for 'show' than for honestly eliminating a threat."

Hits on Americans by Islamic fundamentalists associated bin Laden continued through the decade as the price for an administration that was derelict in its duties and traitorous in its effect. The nation was at risk while the commander-in-chief golfed, cavorted, dialogued or was otherwise unavailable for the ultimate task of defense against a foreign enemy.

BUT wait there's more!!!

If "Panetta was a surprise pick for the post, with no experience in the intelligence world." does that mean President - elect Obama is taking the "Intelligence" part out of the CIA and replacing it with "Stupidity"?  It appears President - elect Obama does not see the CIA as a top priority by the unsuitableness of his choice Leon Panetta.

First it was change we can believe in, then it was change we need (that sounded pretty desperate), but now we are in for change that is unbelievable!

What a circus act this administration is going to be!  and with Al Franken coming on board.......It's Saturday Night live everyday in DC!

Clinton chose not to support research and development for a Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) system to shield the United States against the specter of a missile attack by any of the world's numerous unstable, nuclear-capable regimes - in spite of a Donald Rumsfeld-headed commission's 1997 determination that nuclear threats to the American mainland from Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran were grave enough to warrant an immediate push to develop an effective defense system. Even the threat of an accidental first-strike ought to be of great concern to those entrusted with overseeing national security. As Bill Gertz reported in his 1999 book , Clinton sought "to pacify truly dangerous nations with unilateral concessions, under the flawed notion that totalitarian regimes will return kindness for kindness." Moreover, wrote Limbaugh, Clinton was "afraid of rocking the international boat and mucking up his legacy again," and thus preferred to leave the nuclear dilemma for future administrations to address

AND MORE---

Clinton dismantled the Energy Department's Russian Fission monitoring program which had kept tabs on Russia's nuclear arsenal - at a time when CIA reports showed that Russia's alarmingly poor control over its 21,900 nuclear warheads made it more possible than ever that an accidental Russian strike could occur. Colonol Robert Bykov, a career strategic missile officer and member of the Russian parliament, candidly lamented that Russia "could launch an accidental nuclear strike on the United States in the matter of seconds it takes you to read these lines

Clinton policies created conditions that left Americans in greater, rather than lesser, danger. For example, the President loosened America's longstanding ban on the export of supercomputers and other high-technology products to Communist China; this allowed Beijing to dramatically improve the potential accuracy of its intercontinental missiles, vaulting the Chinese missile program forward by at least ten years. A prime American beneficiary of this Clinton policy was Loral Space & Communications chairman Bernard Schwartz, the single largest contributor to the Clinton campaign and to the .

Then there was the case of Iraq, which Defense Secretary William Cohen estimated to have "produced as much as 200 tons of VX [nerve gas], theoretically enough to kill every man, woman, and child on the face of the earth." Notwithstanding Cohen's sobering estimate, Clinton assented to a U.N.-brokered deal in the mid-1990s that greatly restricted inspectors' access to 's "sensitive presidential locations" that were suspected of housing nuclear and biological weapons production plants. Afraid of being cornered into a potentially embarrassing public showdown with Saddam, Clinton elected to pacify the Iraqi dictator by intervening to dissuade U.N. inspectors from making surprise visits to the suspected weapons sites.

In short, Clinton placed his preoccupation with his own public image above the safety of his countrymen and the world at large. This was the most enduring legacy of Bill Clinton's presidency

This is not to mention about HOW the Chinese got ahold of Some of our super-computers and nuclear weapons tech.

heres a little about Billy Bob

December 16, 1998
Web posted at: 8:51 p.m. EST (0151 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- From the Oval Office, President Clinton told the nation Wednesday evening why he ordered new .

The president said Iraq's refusal to cooperate with U.N. weapons inspectors presented a threat to the entire world.

"Saddam (Hussein) must not be allowed to threaten his neighbors or the world with nuclear arms, poison gas or biological weapons," Clinton said.

Operation Desert Fox, a strong, sustained series of attacks, will be carried out over several days by U.S. and British forces, Clinton said.

"Earlier today I ordered America's armed forces to strike military and security targets in Iraq. They are joined by British forces," Clinton said.

"Their mission is to attack Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs and its military capacity to threaten its neighbors," said Clinton.

Clinton also stated that, while other countries also had weapons of mass destruction, Hussein is in a different category because he has used such weapons against his own people and against his neighbors.

'Without delay, diplomacy or warning'

The Iraqi leader was given a final warning six weeks ago, Clinton said, when Baghdad promised to cooperate with U.N. inspectors at the last minute just as U.S. warplanes were headed its way.

"Along with Prime Minister (Tony) Blair of Great Britain, I made it equally clear that if Saddam failed to cooperate fully we would be prepared to act without delay, diplomacy or warning," Clinton said.

The president said the report handed in Tuesday by Richard Butler, head of the United Nations Special Commission in charge of finding and destroying Iraqi weapons, was stark and sobering.

Iraq failed to cooperate with the inspectors and placed new restrictions on them, Clinton said. He said Iraqi officials also destroyed records and moved everything, even the furniture, out of suspected sites before inspectors were allowed in.

"Instead of inspectors disarming Saddam, Saddam has disarmed the inspectors," Clinton said.

"In halting our airstrikes in November, I gave Saddam a chance -- not a license. If we turn our backs on his defiance, the credibility of U.S. power as a check against Saddam will be destroyed," the president explained.

Strikes necessary to stunt weapons programs

Clinton said he made the decision to strike Wednesday with the unanimous agreement of his security advisors.

Timing was important, said the president, because without a strong inspection system in place, Iraq could rebuild its chemical, biological and nuclear programs in a matter of months, not years.

"If Saddam can cripple the weapons inspections system and get away with it, he would conclude the international community, led by the United States, has simply lost its will," said Clinton. "He would surmise that he has free rein to rebuild his arsenal of destruction."

Clinton also called Hussein a threat to his people and to the security of the world.

"The best way to end that threat once and for all is with a new Iraqi government -- a government ready to live in peace with its neighbors, a government that respects the rights of its people," Clinton said.

Such a change in Baghdad would take time and effort, Clinton said, adding that his administration would work with Iraqi opposition forces.

Clinton also addressed the ongoing impeachment crisis in the White House.

"Saddam Hussein and the other enemies of peace may have thought that the serious debate currently before the House of Representatives would distract Americans or weaken our resolve to face him down," he said.

"But once more, the United States has proven that although we are never eager to use force, when we must act in America's vital interests, we will do so."

Heres the DC two step!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

28 Nov 2007 06:31 am

?

"Even though I approved of Afghanistan and opposed Iraq from the beginning," said Clinton, "I still resent that I was not asked or given the opportunity to support those soldiers."

Clinton has long been critical of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and called it a "big mistake" as far back as November of 2005.

But like his wife, the former president supported giving President Bush the authority needed to go to war.

"I supported the President when he asked the Congress for authority to stand up against weapons of mass destruction in Iraq," said Clinton in 2003 while delivering commencement remarks at Tougaloo College in Jackson, Miss.

Mr. President -- your wife is going to be in Iowa tomorrow. She is supposed to talk about health care. You don't want to step on her message by claiming that you opposed the Iraq War from the beginning! We're in the era of instantaneous fact checks... within 10 minutes of your comments, they're everywhere, and if you want to walk them back, it's not like calling Ron Fournier to walk back an AP story!

Remember: The last two times Mr. Clinton campaigned for his wife, well, there were messaging issues. He used the word "Swift Boat" in conjunction with opponents' attacks and then, in South Carolina, fueled a few days worth of coverage by noting how those boys were getting tough on her

OH and by the way CLITOON had several chances to avert 911 (bin ladin) but he blew it (probably while Monica was busy)

PUPPET on a string=OBAMA 

Panetta ???  I thought that we were rid of this arrogant a55. Heres hoping that PE O gets his strings cut soon. Maybe He will wish upon a star and get the blue fairy to turn him into a REAL BOY! Quick before that growing nose gets out of hand. To you "hope & change" Libs, Doesn't look like we'll be living Happilly Ever After, after all. The Nightmare before Christmas continues. Lets hope we all make it to 2010, 2012? Maybe the Mayans got it right. LOL

Where the heck are all the nObamabots now to defend him, and did I see where someone said the comments are about 50/50..looks more like 50/1 COMPLAINING about his choices!..gawd....another 4 years of the Clintons and all their cronies.....And I kinda commend Richardson for bowing out ..guess him and myself are the only ones that remember what happened to Vincent Foster..he doesnt wanna end up in some park  mysteriously DEAD like Vince did!

I am so glad that all of you could pick the perfect person to head the CIA.  We have had eight years of someone who was never elected running our country into the ground!! Life was better when Clinton was in! You all can blame Ken Starr for taking our President away from catching Bin Laden......and the audacity of having a President to be on trial while he was in office not to mention what it cost the taxpayers!!  Get over it and give the country a chance or move to Europe! Bill Clinton was not the first nor will he be the last to chase the ladies.....look at history!!! Perhaps, we should get rid of all of the Congress and start over!!!

Panetta for an intelligence post, and with no experience in that area?  Just shows the lack of experience that PEOB has to lead this country. We're in for a bumpy ride, folks!

so obama wants to make a clean break with bushs harsh policies and apparently prefers clintons softer policies when it comes to terrorist. great!!!! and maybe we can all hold hands and hope that they wont bother us anymore. this is what we get for electing a trendy, hollywood approved candidate. we will live to regret this.....hopefully.

Well now we have Barrack Clinton as president...Why did we not just vote for Hillary she was way more experienced and we knew what to expect...Now we have been lied to and all of his appointments are crooks that either had to resign or are from the Clinton regime...

Change all right, change from what he claimed he stood for to what he really is..Just another Lying politician saying whatever he felt like to get elected...

We can all come out of the closet.  I did not vote for Obama.  I voted for the the guy Obama kept referring to being President Bush, even though Bush was not running.

This is about the most rediculious appointment of anyone I can imagine. Leon Ponetta is nothing more than a left wing political opportunist. It is no wonder Obama has kept his mouth shut regarding any events either domestic or international. He has no knowledge or experience. He knows one thing, it's better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt. Ponetta has voiced oposition to the Isrealy push to stop attacks across its borders. Stand by and watch this left wing socialist block cuddle up to terrorist.

This is about the most rediculious appointment of anyone I can imagine. Leon Ponetta is nothing more than a left wing political opportunist. It is no wonder Obama has kept his mouth shut regarding any events either domestic or international. He has no knowledge or experience. He knows one thing, it's better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt. Ponetta has voiced oposition to the Isrealy push to stop attacks across its borders. Stand by and watch this left wing socialist block cuddle up to terrorist.

Leon Panetta - again!

My friend, David M. Price, Sunset Research, wrote an expose entitled, 'Secret' "FBI Documents Link Bill & Hillary Clinton to Marxist-Terrorist Network," (c) 1994. On the cover of the booklet David offered, "$1,000.00 Reward to the First Person to Provide Sunset Research Group with Valid Evidence of ANy Quotation Cited in THis Booklet Being Materially False" A copy of the booklet was sent to every sitting member of Congress at the behest of those who wanted truth outed about the person, Bill Clinton, who, at the time, was the president-elect of the United States of America.

In the outline of the booklet, prior to Clinton taking office, David postulated Clinton's consideration for more Institute for Policy Studies, IPS, Operatives for federal appointment. At the top of David's list is, drum roll please, Leon Panetta, which he addressed further into the booklet. A few of the others he cited are as follows: Patricia Schroeder, Mario Cuomo, Walter Mondale, Jane Fonda, and Warren Christopher.

On page 26, David described how "Clinton first appointed Panetta (D-CA) to head the Office of Management and Budget, and then to Chief of Staff." Further, "Panetta is also linked to other famous Marxists. His name appears on a May 14, 1993, Proclamation which honors Communist Party organizers Hugh and Dorother DeLacy." "The Proclamation, which includes Panetta's name as a signer, honors Hugh as, "Hugh the Indefatigable" and Dorthy as "Dorothy the Organizer" who "Worked . . . an organizer of the Communist Party. Declaring itself a present from "friends and comrades," the Proclamation also declares Panetta's "Love and affection, our gratitude, and our appreciation, and our solidarity forever with Hugh and Dorthy DeLacy . . . ." (footnote 215 - IMPAC, undated Santa Cruz "Educational Publication." p.6.)

David Price's booklet, 'Secret' was hand-delivered to the FBI in Wichita, KS. After Clinton was sworn in as President and Leon Panetta was confirmed as a cabinet member, another visit was made to the FBI duty post. There was a short visit with a local FBI agent, now retired, at the Wichita post. A question was asked, "Did you read the booklet." The agent said he had. A question was asked, "Did you hear about Leon Panetta's selection as one of Clinton's cabinet members?" Again, the agent said he had and the booklet had been sent to Washington. The foregoing paragraph is not hearsay.

A little underpinning is required at this point to drive home the point Leon Panetta has been read about and discussed. A few acknowledgements to David's work include, with their statements, persons as follow: "To David -- My best." Rush Limbaugh, response after ordering three copies; "Thank you for exposing the truth!" Floyd G. Brown, author, Slick Willie; "Thank you. We will certainly read this." Senator Robt Dole's receiptionist.

Recognized or not, the United States is at a serious crossroad. While I was running for a Congressional seat, one of my staff, a Nigerian-borne individual who became a bonefide U.S. citizen responded to my question, "How does Europe view the United States," with the statement, "They are watching for the fall of the United States Constitution." Leon Panetta is or will be installed for a purpose.

"Panetta was a surprise pick for the post, with no experience in the intelligence world."

Actually, while in the Army, he was trained as an intelligence officer and became the chief of intelligence operations at Fort Ord. 

Of course, this was a long time time ago, but your statement "no experience in the intelligence world" is absolutely false.

And, of course, as Chief of White House Staff in the Clinton White House, for a number of years, he sat in on the Daily Intelligence briefing, probably because of his intelligence experience.

Fact checking, fact checking, fact checking. There's nothing like it. (Hint: Google and then read the bios from the beginning...)

The bad news is that Mr. Panetta has no experience in the intelligence profession. The good news is that he has more leadership experience than Obama.

The bad news is that Mr. Panetta has no experience in the intelligence profession. The good news is that he has more leadership experience than Obama.