Froomkin: Purge of the Unbelievers

[babylonsister]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/01/05/BL2007010500923.html

Purge of the Unbelievers

By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Friday, January 5, 2007; 12:18 PM

What to make of the sudden spate of personnel convulsions emanating from the White House?

I see a possible theme: A purge of the unbelievers.

Harriet Miers, a longtime companion of the president but never a true believer in Vice President Cheney's views of a nearly unrestrained executive branch, is out as White House counsel -- likely to be replaced by someone in the more ferocious model of Cheney chief of staff David S. Addington.

Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalizad, considered by Cheney to be too soft on the Sunnis, is kicked upstairs to the United Nations, to be replaced by Ryan Crocker, who presumably does not share his squeamishness.

John Negroponte, not alarmist enough about the Iranian nuclear threat in his role as Director of National Intelligence, is shifted over to the State Department, the Bush administration's safehouse for the insufficiently neocon. Cheney, who likes to pick his own intelligence, thank you, personally intervenes to get his old friend Mike McConnell to take Negroponte's job.

And George Casey and John Abizaid -- the generals who so loyally served as cheerleaders for the White House's "stay the course" approach during the mid-term election campaigns -- are jettisoned for having shown a little backbone in their opposition to Cheney and Bush's politically-motivated insistence on throwing more troops into the Iraqi conflagration.

more...

[leveymg]

1. I've been trying to find McConnell-Cheney ties. Anyone?

There doesn't seem to be a whole lot out there on McConnell's reported relationship with Cheney. What there is seems a bit thin to conclude that McConnell is Cheney's man or is any more a "true believer" than the rest of the national security executives:

http://dotcommonsense.blog-city.com/j_mike_mcconnell__close_ties_to_cheney___also_his_consultanc.htm
About close ties to Cheney:

During the first gulf war, Cheney also worked directly with McConnell, who benefited from a series of rapid promotions that took him from Navy captain to three-star vice admiral within just a couple of years. Cheney and McConnell later "stayed in touch," said a former Pentagon official who also has kept in contact with both men.


The New York Times says of McConnell's selection:

Mr. McConnell first operated in the highest circles of government in the tumultuous time that included the Persian Gulf war of 1991 and the fall of the Soviet Union.
“It’s a gathering of the clan,” said retired Adm. Bobby R. Inman, himself a former director of the National Security Agency and an early promoter of Mr. McConnell’s intelligence career. “You’re getting strong professionals in all these top jobs. They’ll set out to solve problems, and they won’t be motivated by turf or politics.”

Wait a minute. These guys didn't 'get' the facts that showed that the Soviet Union was weak and about to break up due to their insistence on "staying the course" in Afghanistan, because the Reagan and Bush administrations didn't want to hear it.

They also thought that Saddam Hussein was a "good guy" in the Middle East and the intelligence agencies refused to admit that he was gassing Kurds because neither the Reagan nor the Bush 41 administrations didn't want to hear that. (Since the Bush 41 presidency the same information was re-evaluated to proving that Saddam was gassing Kurds, but during the named Republican presidencies until Gulf War 1 he was supposedly a guardian angel who only needed crop dusting helicopters for er crop dusting.

Yeah, real independent and professional.

And in fact the Times article also notes:

But W. Patrick Lang, a former Defense Intelligence Agency official who has been highly critical of the Bush administration, took a more skeptical view. He called Mr. McConnell, who made his career in naval intelligence, “competent but compliant” and expressed concern that he might not stand up to policy makers, particularly on highly charged issues like Iran’s nuclear program.
and:


Colleagues say he was first approached several months ago about the possibility of replacing General Hayden as deputy to John D. Negroponte, the director of national intelligence. He turned down that job and was eventually invited to succeed Mr. Negroponte in the top job.

So another Bush loyalist as long as he's given the top job. Will not take any other. Rather like "only a judge for less than 6 years but now our Chief Justice of the Supreme Court" John Roberts.

Same old story with the Bush (er Cheney) administration. Promote someone beyond their competency and experience and they will be completely loyal.

More:

Matthew M. Aid, a historian of the agency, said that during his four-year tenure, the agency’s monitoring did not keep up with the revolutionary technological changes in communications, including the Internet, cellphones and fiber-optic cable. But he said Mr. McConnell had been handicapped by a steadily declining budget and work force.
“He begged and borrowed and took money from research and development to pay for operations,” achieving considerable success in tracking the warring parties during the war in Bosnia, Mr. Aid said.

So, in fact, McConnell was so involved in tracking things in Bosnia, that he was part of the reason why al Qaeda was not studied and tracked more efficiently during the 90s.

Also, wasn't our interaction in the Bosnia conflict pretty crummy too? We found out later about mass killings by the Serbians. Was the NSA only keep eyes on those "pesky" Muslims or something?
We won't hear any doubts about that in the confirmation hearings, I suspect, though.

[babylonsister]

2. I posted this about McConnell yesterday:

I wonder if McC also has ties to Halliburton and Cheney to Booz? I don't really know, but it will be interesting to see how his confirmation gets played out.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=3045865&mesg_id=3045865

[leveymg]

3. Thanks.

Left a quick comment over there.:hi: