Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Trump Names Neoconservative Super Hawk as Senior Adviser on National Security Issues

Not good, not good at all.

The Intercept reports:
DONALD TRUMP NAMED former CIA director and extremist neoconservative James Woolsey his senior adviser on national security issues on Monday. Woolsey, who left the CIA in 1995, went on to become one of Washington’s most outspoken promoters of U.S. war in Iraq and the Middle East.

As such, Woolsey’s selection either clashes with Trump’s noninterventionist rhetoric — or represents a pivot towards a more muscular, neoconservative approach to resolving international conflicts...

Woolsey, by contrast, was a key member of the Project for the New American Century — a neoconservative think tank largely founded to encourage a second war with Iraq. Woolsey signed a letter in 1998 calling on Clinton to depose Saddam Hussein and only hours after the 9/11 attacks appeared on CNN and blamed the attacks on Iraq. Woolsey has continued to insist on such a connection despite the complete lack of evidence to support his argument. He also blames Iran.

Weeks before the invasion of Iraq, Woolsey called for broader war in the Middle East, saying “World War IV” was already underway.

Woolsey has also put himself in a position to profit from the wars he has promoted. He has served as vice president of Pentagon contracting giant Booz Allen, and as chairman of Paladin Capital Group, a private equity fund that invests in national security and cybersecurity.

He chairs the leadership council at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a hawkish national security nonprofit, and is a venture partner with Lux Capital Management, which invests in emerging technologies like drones, satellite imaging, and artificial intelligence...

Woolsey has previously called for NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden to be “hanged by the neck until he’s dead, rather than merely electrocuted.”
The horrific Trump statement:

 Today, the Trump Campaign is proud to announce Amb. R. James Woolsey as a Senior Advisor.

Amb. R. James Woolsey stated, “I have been a ‘Scoop Jackson,’ ‘Joe Lieberman,’ Democrat all of my adult life, but I am pleased to be asked to participate with others I respect in advising GOP candidate Donald J. Trump on the urgent need to reinvest in and modernize our military in order to confront the challenges of the 21st century. Mr. Trump’s commitment to reversing the harmful defense budget cuts signed into law by the current administration, while acknowledging the need for debt reduction, is an essential step toward reinstating the United States’ primacy in the conventional and digital battlespace."

Woolsey continued, "Since Secretary Clinton left the State Department we have learned that she demonstrated a complete lack of understanding and an inability to lead the agency she headed in such a way as to maintain its mission and security. Based on the emails thus far released we know that Secretary Clinton also lacks the ability to lead her senior managers while complying with and maintaining the basic protocols designed to protect our government’s sensitive and classified information. Mr. Trump understands the magnitude of the threats we face and is holding his cards close to the vest. Bravo Zulu, Mr. Trump.”

4 comments:

  1. Most Donald Trump voters are so ignorant, and easily deluded that they would have no idea of the significance of James Woolsey being named to the new administration. The fact that such a bellicose operative would be attached to an incoming administration within six days means the deep state is so entrenched that the president is only an ill fitting fig leaf.

    I feel vindicated that voting is something I purged from my system 12 years ago.

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  2. I wonder who will end up more naive, Trump supporters who thought he would change Washington or libertarians who thought Trump was really different than Hillary

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  3. I agree with Switchblade, not voting is the only way. Trump is no dummy and knows that Washington DC is not a swamp, it is a pit of snakes. If you oppose any part of the establishment pit there are too many snakes to defend against and you may end up like Reagan or JFK. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

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  4. On the bright side participation is dropping: http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/voter-turnout-fell-especially-in-states-that-clinton-won/

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