Monday
Feb082010
Republican Hoekstra Strikes Back At Counter-Terrorism Adviser
Monday, February 8, 2010 at 11:30AM
Hours after John Brennan, the President's top counter-terrorism adviser, lashed out at Republicans for playing "political football" over the handling of Christmas Day bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee accused the Obama administration of trying to "deflect blame."
"The mishandling of this case is the Obama administration's failure, and they have no one to blame but themselves. President Obama failed to respond after the terrorist attack at Fort Hood, and failed to respond immediately after the terrorist attack in Detroit," said Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.) in a statement released by his office.
"Instead of lashing out politically and attempting to deflect blame, Obama and his advisers need to settle on a coherent and rational national security strategy to help secure our homeland," Hoekstra added.
"Quite frankly I'm tiring of politicians using national security issues such as terrorism as political football," said Brennan during an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" yesterday. "They're going out there, they're unknowing of the facts, and they're making charges and allegations that are not anchored in reality."
Brennan was referring to arguments made by Republicans that charging Abdulmutallab in a criminal court and giving him legal rights had prevented the intelligence community from obtaining information from him on al-Qaeda and possible future U.S. terrorist attacks. The White House responded to those allegations last week by briefing reporters about how Abdulmutallab has so far cooperated with U.S. intelligence officials.
"They were told about the fact of that cooperation as well as some information he was sharing," Brennan said. "None of those individuals raised any concerns with me at that point. They didn't say, is he going into military custody? Is he going to be Mirandized?"
In Hoekstra's view, Brennan should have taken it upon himself to divulge such information when he spoke to the Congressman shortly after the failed attack.
"Contrary to what [Brennan] attempts to imply, he at no time informed Hoekstra that Abdulmutallab had been Mirandized nor did he seek Hoekstra's consultation or provide any sort of meaningful briefing," said the statement.
"The mishandling of this case is the Obama administration's failure, and they have no one to blame but themselves. President Obama failed to respond after the terrorist attack at Fort Hood, and failed to respond immediately after the terrorist attack in Detroit," said Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.) in a statement released by his office.
"Instead of lashing out politically and attempting to deflect blame, Obama and his advisers need to settle on a coherent and rational national security strategy to help secure our homeland," Hoekstra added.
"Quite frankly I'm tiring of politicians using national security issues such as terrorism as political football," said Brennan during an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" yesterday. "They're going out there, they're unknowing of the facts, and they're making charges and allegations that are not anchored in reality."
Brennan was referring to arguments made by Republicans that charging Abdulmutallab in a criminal court and giving him legal rights had prevented the intelligence community from obtaining information from him on al-Qaeda and possible future U.S. terrorist attacks. The White House responded to those allegations last week by briefing reporters about how Abdulmutallab has so far cooperated with U.S. intelligence officials.
"They were told about the fact of that cooperation as well as some information he was sharing," Brennan said. "None of those individuals raised any concerns with me at that point. They didn't say, is he going into military custody? Is he going to be Mirandized?"
In Hoekstra's view, Brennan should have taken it upon himself to divulge such information when he spoke to the Congressman shortly after the failed attack.
"Contrary to what [Brennan] attempts to imply, he at no time informed Hoekstra that Abdulmutallab had been Mirandized nor did he seek Hoekstra's consultation or provide any sort of meaningful briefing," said the statement.
Obama is weak on dictators says Hoekstra (R-Mich.)
Kori Schake, the senior foreign policy adviser for the McCain campaign said Obama does not understand the consequences of such a policy decision. Congressman Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.) said if Obama carries out these negotiations with the leaders of Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, Cuba, and Syria, he would greatly undercut efforts to restrain the nuclear activities of those countries. Hoekstra said that Obama's intent to talk with those dictators sets him up with very high performance expectations. Upon Obama's assumption of the Presidency, his credibility would be tested immediately and his open approach to discussion with dictators puts him in a weakened position to deal with real threats to national security. Hoekstra contrasted Obama's plan with McCain's objective of having a strong, multilateral approach to prevent states from becoming nuclear powers.
Randy Scheunemann, another senior foreign policy adviser for the McCain campaign, said Obama's plan shows his inexperience, stubbornness, and malleability. He added that Obama's recent softening of his plan showed that the tried to change his position without the media noticing. (21:41)