Leon Panetta Does Intelligence

Suddenly Democrats are coming out of the woodwork stating that we must all work together on a bi-partisan level to combat terrorism. How refreshing. Wonder what changed over the last 7 1/2 years. Oh yeah. Funny how that happens.

So, to Leon Panetta, if Obama doesn't throw you under his very special bus and he allows your name to go forward as CIA director, good luck to him. When he was first announced, I thought he was further verification that the Obama administration has no intention of taking the methods of the war on terrorism seriously and using them to keep us safe. The far left, Obama's base support, demanded he choose someone completely removed from anything that could be construed as support of the Bush administration's very successful methods of waging homeland protection. The Supreme Court continues to rule in favor of the administration and with the upcoming closing of Camp Gitmo, not to mention no other country will take these cast-offs, Panetta will need all the support he can get.

The fun part? The far left who makes such ignorant demands, by way of temper tantrums with their faux intellectual bent, has conveniently forgotten that it was during the time Panetta was in the Clinton administration - as Chief of Staff- that the nifty rendition executive order was signed. Clinton was down with the idea of Egypt doing the 'intense questioning' and it was so tidy to do it out of the spotlight here at home.

Not to mention all the missed opportunities where bin Laden was all but handed to Clinton on a silver platter. That administration thought it was easier to concentrate on the cronies on Wall Street, like Bob Rubin, to continue making millions instead of protecting the lives of American citizens at home and abroad.

Some experts in the intelligence community, like Michael Ledeen, who headed up the bin Laden unit during the Clinton days, thinks it's a decent choice. He points to Panetta's Army experience - rah roh, don't tell Code Pink - and that Panetta is a good manager. He is a political choice so he'll have Obama's back, which is more than the current bunch have for President Bush. A large segment of CIA are so rooted in their own little careers that they'll steamroll the President to stay relevant. Never mind what this does to our national security.

Will Dennis Blair, the designated Director of National Intelligence, also fall into line on the politically correct demands of the Code Pink crowd? How about the demands that the Bush administration be investigated for 'war crimes' and abuse of the Constitution for national security? If so, will they also investigate Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Jay Rockefeller, and all the others who were in on the top secret briefings since 2002? None of them demanded funding for any policy process be discontinued, which would have stopped any program. At re-election time they may have suddenly found moral indignation at the whole protecting the country thing, but during regular work hours there was no big objections to any of it.

From The Wall Street Journal: "If Mr.Panetta doesn't want to go down as another Frank Church or (Carter-era CIA Director) Stansfield Turner, he'll tell his fellow Democrats to drop their "torture" vendetta against intelligence officials who were acting in good faith and with the full knowledge of key Members of Congress."

We are a nation conducting two wars overseas. A CIA Director with no intelligence experience but a concentration in policy management may work. If he's up to the challenge. If he's not just another politician.