Jan 13, 2009

Obama takes big gamble with Panetta

Did Barack Obama really find a real-life James Bond in 70-year-old former congressman and Bill Clinton chief of staff Leon Panetta?

The choice is perplexing.

Former CIA guy Michael Scheuer, who headed the agency's bin Laden unit, put it succinctly: "I think they pulled his name out of a hat."

Besides his lack of experience, Panetta (pictured) opposes many of the CIA's anti-terror measures.

He's against any kind of coerced interrogation, wants the FISA overseas wiretap law repealed, and would completely disband the rendition program whereby the CIA sends captured terror suspects to be held and interrogated in other countries.

Without those tools, which former CIA Chief George Tenet and others say have been very effective in uncovering terror plots, the agency's ability to disrupt potential attacks would be gravely damaged. In fact, it was just last February when 68 senators, some of them Democrats, voted the FISA wiretap strategy into law. For the record, Obama declined to vote on the issue.

Needless to say, terrorists around the world have been vigorously applauding the Panetta choice.

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