Bush Taps Ex-NSA Chief For Top Spy Post

Mike McConnell Chosen To Be National Intelligence Director

(CBS/AP)  President Bush turned to a diplomat nearly two years ago when Congress created a national intelligence director to coordinate the work of the 16 U.S. spy agencies. Now, he's turning to an intelligence veteran for his replacement.

Mr. Bush named retired Navy vice admiral, former National Security Agency Director Mike McConnell, to be his top intelligence official on Friday.

The current spy chief, career diplomat John Negroponte, will move into the long-vacant job as top deputy to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

"Each of them will do good work in their new positions and it is vital that they take up their new responsibilities promptly," Mr. Bush said on Friday.

Negoponte called his new job "an opportunity of a lifetime." McConnell said the threats of today "are moving at increasing speed" and said he looked forward to returning to the intelligence community.

If confirmed, McConnell said he looks forward to building on the accomplishments of Negroponte and his team, who have been in place just 20 months.

"Unlike just a decade ago, the threats of today and the future are moving at increasing speeds and across organizational and geographic boundaries," McConnell said, standing alongside Mr. Bush, Negroponte and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

The moves come as part of the White House effort to chart a new direction on Iraq and reshape Mr. Bush's national security strategy with two years left in his presidency.

Part of the new course appears to be a renovation of Mr. Bush's intelligence and national security team. In addition to Negroponte's shift, Defense Secretary Robert Gates took over the Pentagon last month and is expected to bring in retired Lt. Gen. James Clapper as his undersecretary for intelligence.

Also, Gen. John Abizaid, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East, and Gen. George Casey, the chief general in Iraq, are both expected to leave their jobs in coming weeks.

Adm. William Fallon, currently the top U.S. commander of the Pacific, will replace Abizaid, and Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, who was in charge of the training of the Iraqi military, will replace Casey, CBS News correspondent Gloria Borger reported.

Mr. Bush will also nominate his ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, to be the U.S. envoy to the United Nations. Khalilzad, who is Afghan born, has served also as ambassador to Afghanistan. He is likely to be replaced in Baghdad by Ryan Crocker, a veteran American diplomat, said an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to make an announcement for the White House.

Khalilzad would replace John Bolton, whose appointment to the U.N. job expired recently.

Mr. Bush plans to announce his new strategy for the war in a speech that could come as early as the middle of next week. It had been expected before Christmas, but was delayed.

[macusweil]

"Let's impeach the President for lying
And misleading our country into war
Abusing all the power that we gave him
And shipping all our money out the door

Who's the man who hired all the criminals
The White House shadows who hide behind closed doors
They bend the facts to fit with their new stories
Of why we have to send our men to war

Let's impeach the President for spying
On citizens inside their own homes
Breaking every law in the country
By tapping our computers and telephones

What if Al Qaeda blew up the levees
Would New Orleans have been safer that way
Sheltered by our government's protection
Or was someone just not home that day?

Flip - Flop
Flip - Flop
Flip - Flop
Flip - Flop

Let's impeach the president for hijacking
Our religion and using it to get elected
Dividing our country into colors
And still leaving black people neglected

Thank god he's cracking down on steroids
Since he sold his old baseball team
There's lots of people looking at big trouble
But of course our president is clean."

~Mr. Neil Young

[bluestardad]

Plausible Deniability, Shuffle the people and they can truly say they did not know anything about the treason that was going on in this Bush Administration. When in American History has a Sitting Vice President jumped when Summoned by Saudi Arabia?

[defirststate]

The terms "deck chairs" and Titanic come to mind.

[bildooreilly]

And speaking of working J Whitman, as if any of these politicians in either party has ever actually worked or ran a successful business of their own besides being a lawyer which is all about who you know and padding pockets and lying... they're all failures, and crooks/lawyers. Why do americans feel compelled to vote for these two parties of elitist frauds?



Here we go again,, The Great Decider makes his choice,,, As if any of his decisions have ever worked.
Posted by j-whitman at 05:04 PM : Jan 05, 2007

[tibu987]

So "W" continues to surround himself with a@@ kisssing yes men.
And so it goes.
The following is an intelligent quote that seem appropo for the occassion.

%u201CSerge, this boy is very intelligent, but I can't keep working with him.
He agrees with everything I say.%u201D

Luis Bunuel, the Director, to Jean-Claude Carriere
in his biog. By John Baxter, p.269

[j-whitman]

AMERICA NEEDS A NEW DECIDER -- NOW

[j-whitman]

Here we go again,, The Great Decider makes his choice,,, As if any of his decisions have ever worked.

[fascistusa]

To some of use, "TAP" has another meaning. You TAP him Lord Bush, you TAP him GOOD.

More shuffling of People. Who cares?

When is the Fascist Tyranny Corporate Controlled Government for the RICH going to STOP???

gasoline + styrofoam couple days = NAPALM

[jn122736]

Given the almost total loss of credibility of this administration I doubt there is anything they are not capable of.
I suspect many Americans harbor great suspicion over the official report about 911 although many are reluctant or afraid to admit it, even to them selves.
Considering the almost too numerous to mention %u201Ccoincidences%u201D both before and after the fact can anyone truthfully say there is no possibility of complicity.

To name a few coincidences:
1. Quote from PNAC before 911; %u201CFurther, the process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event %u2014 like a new Pearl Harbor."
2. Bush administration planning Iraq invasion months before 911.
3. Delayed or nonexistent response to initial attacks on WTC.
4. No previous skyscraper building in history had ever collapsed in freefall except form strategically placed explosives, yet three such buildings did in the same incident on 911.
5. Congressional approval for the invasion of Iraq was gained through multiple incidences of false and or faulty information (Which did not convince the UN to go along).
6. The fear factor exploited to the fullest. i.e. mushroom cloud etc.
7.
I know this will bring out the usual cries of Conspiracy theory but I would like to see a truly independent investigation. This will probably never happen because too many people are afraid to learn what might really have happened.

[heetseeker]

"Strategy Schmategy"

In politics, one of the few things more dangerous than desperation is delusion. A person in a state of thinks that irrational is normal. They can see no fault in their action. To them, the basic principles of sound decision making (contextual appreciation, analysis, risk appraisal and evaluation of options are meaningless).

Next week, the President will present his "new way forward" for Iraq." This effort builds upon the "strategy for victory" in Iraq, which was published just last year. If like me you are wondering why we didnot have a strategy for victory in the beginning..... (coughs)

Presumably, the "new way forward" will also draw lessons from the recently published Iraq Study Group report - but don't hold your breath.

In truth, it will be a last throw of the dice for a President that has allowed his desperation over Iraq to become delusion. More troops will go to Iraq and more will surely die. Why? Because visibility equates to occupation. It won't work because it is "our" plan for Iraq not Iraqi's plan for itself.

The President's delusion is that he fails to recognise that he may be offering the Iraqi's something that they don't even want. And even if they did want it, they would have to get it for themselves. We cannot give it to them.

[specimenfred]

BUSHPIG OPENING YOUR MAIL NOW, NEEDS NEW TRAITOR TO ASSIST

[rharrin1]

I don't think the democrats have enough majority in senate to impeach a lot of gop would have to cross over don't think you'll ever see that. But I wish they would!!!!!

[valendug]

I'd rather blog about Cheney shooting that old man's face off while hunting. Best blog of last year. Beats the heck out of talking about some retired REAR republiKKKon admiral being the new spyman.

[jimibear]

MEboard, in my opinion, Bush is acheiving exactly what he wants to in Iraq: prolonging a war in which members of and contributors to the Republican party are making money hand over fist in no-bid contracts in which they financially rape the US military.

$45 for a 6-pack of Coke, for instance. And for the first time ever, outside contractors are handling things like laundry and catering which the military used to do themselves. And those are tiny examples.

If it were "blood for oil", God knows that would be bad enough. But "blood for money for crooks" is the real crime.

And yes, should you be in any doubt: I believe that this administration is more than happy for Americans to continue to die so that they can make money. We are under the control of genuinely evil people at this point in history, in my opinion.

[jimibear]

One minor point of disagreement, Yurpallid; it may be because I live in a "blue state", but even among people who voted for Bush, I didn't get much sense in 2000 that they thought he had all the answers. It seemed more of a case of, "Well, it's him or Al Gore ... it hurts to do it, but I'm voting for Bush ... "

[meboard]

This lip service of a new approach is only smoke to cover him to the end of his term (if he makes it). He's already said that Iraq is the problem for another administration(s). Yet you can't believe ANYTHING that comes out of his mouth!!! "Yes we're winning." "We're not winning and we're not loosing." He doesn%u2019t have a clue of which way to go or what he wants to achieve...and we're loosing 100 troops a month...a thousand a year. This is truly criminal!!!

[jimibear]

Nice simile, observantX. If you see a big rat in a lifevest with a pacemaker sneaking for a boat, that'll be Cheney.

[jimibear]

Yurpallid, you are quite correct. This country is a perfect example of the dictum that "a people gets the government it deserves".

I foresee the day when we'll phone in our votes to "Presidential Idol". That's about the intellectual level that "we the people" have reached.

[jimibear]

Right on the money, bluestardad. I think that he may find that is a wasted effort, though. In the event that impeachment gets underway, their present positions won't protect them from testifying regarding past misdeeds.

hey, at least McConnell has an intelligence background. Give Bush a little credit (words I thought I'd never say); this beats nominating a former lottery supervisor for the supreme court, making a horse-breeder head of FEMA, or naming a former Seagrams exec to the number-two slot in the defense department.

What a complete tool Bush is, and what a corrupt joke in poor taste his incompetent and venal administration.

[tejasdemo]

I agree with Bluestar.