In what has been widely rumored for months, CIA Director Leon Panetta will replace Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and General David Petraues will replace Panetta at the CIA.
This effectively takes out of the running the potentially greatest threat to President Obama's 2012 election chances with Petraeus at CIA. Petraeus has long been a dream candidate for the GOP with his stellar military and foreign policy chops, not to mention excellent communication skills. Panetta's long experience in government and relatively tranquil service at the CIA would seem to have helped him move to the Pentagon.
As another sweetener, Ryan Crocker has been appointed as special envoy to Afghanistan. Crocker was Petraeus diplomatic partner in Iraq during the successful surge.
It will be interesting to see if the politically adept Panetta will have a chance of arm-wrestling the Pentagon into reducing its expenditures. If he only cuts the amounts the Generals personally steal, plus what they give to Congress folk to support their bloated budgets, we’d have enough extra cash on hand to send every kid in the US to Harvard.
Posted by: Atlanta Roofing | April 27, 2011 at 08:19 PM