Final Brennan

Since this series has been somewhat critical of Mr. Brennan it's only fair to give him his final say, or at least a snippet of what could be the bottom line...



One would think such a comment would go over very well with the rank and file at Langley.

Politics aside, Mr. Brennan is a very smart, very tough and very savvy individual, which seems perfect for the job.  The Committee spent 3 hours reminding him to be forthcoming while spicing their questions with politics; the above reply was a candid and forceful reminder to them that responsibility is a two-way street.  It brings back memories of this clown show:



But in the end the public didn't learn much about his dealings with the flawed follow-up reporting on bin Laden or why they felt it was necessary to burn an agent on the inside of AQAP to defend a political attack.  And of course, none of the Senators could really drill down too deep on Benghazi, such as whether any of this stuff might be true...

The book claims that neither Stevens nor even Petraeus knew about the raids by American special operations troops, which had 'kicked a hornet's nest' among the heavily-armed fighters after the overthrow of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. John Brennan, President Barack Obama's Deputy National Security Adviser, had been authorizing 'unilateral operations in North Africa outside of the traditional command structure,' according to the e-book. Brennan is Obama's pick to replace Petraeus as head of the CIA.

Who knows. These players are in the big leagues, and politics ain't beanbag.

MORE  2/10/13

The closed-door hearing on Tuesday might be interesting.  Graham has vowed to put holds on Hagel and Brennan until the administration answers the question of who changed the talking points and what interaction did the president have with his team during the night of the attack. 

Meanwhile the new e-book alleging an alternate Benghazi history (which if true would certainly explain the silly movie cover story) may not be sourced, but some version of it feels possible, if for no other reason that Petraeus' girlfriend told a college audience that prisoners were being held at the annex.  Still, it's a tough sell to believe that the general had no knowledge of a JSOC operation under his nose in Libya.  One could suppose that he found out, got ticked, threatened something and they dropped the girlfriend bomb on him.  But that would just be a wild WAG.
 
The Senators may ask about some of this Tuesday since they won't need to grandstand in front of cameras. Or perhaps they know they won't get any answers, even in closed session, and they are angling for something else.  If that's the case then Graham knows he won't get answers but also knows the administration can't go public to refute the issue, so he might be looking for some kind of domestic goody in exchange for dropping the hold.