What me worry?

Just One Minute wonders:

Here’s a gloom-inducer – as of Election Eve in 2004 it became obvious that Bush would get a second term and we would elect a new President in November 2008. That gave Al Qaeda (and anyone else who likes long lead times) four years to plan a transition or inaugural surprise.

I’m encouraged by what CIA chief Hayden says:

Osama bin Laden is alive and “putting a lot of energy into his own security,” the director of the CIA, General Michael Hayden, said today.

He also claimed, without providing details, that the US intelligence community had disrupted an attack “that would have rivaled the destruction of 9/11.” A senior intelligence official said Hayden was referring to the 2006 liquid bomb on airliners plot that was foiled in London.

“American and its friends have taken the fight to the enemy,” Gen. Hayden said in a broad roundup of efforts to fight al Qaeda.

I’m more worried about what will happen a few years down the road, because I don’t believe that President elect-Obama or his team fully appreciates the danger still out there. Especially if this is the debate they’re having.

According to ABC, a debate has broken out among the Obama transition team about Hayden. They like his performance and his efforts to rescue the CIA, and they want to retain some continuity in the war effort. Others on Team Obama feel that they cannot have Hayden remain, though, because of his connections to the warrantless surveillance and controversial interrogation techniques, even though those haven’t been in play since 2003. Since Obama himself voted to support the surveillance compromise, that doesn’t seem like as big a hurdle as this report paints it.

If they’re convinced that Hayden is correct and has been effective, there should be no debate. But politics intrudes.

via memeorandum

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.