Monday, April 13, 2009

Fred Hiatt's Wise Men


THE HONORABLE C. FRED BERGSTEN -----THE HONORABLE WILLIAM BROCK -----DR. WILLIAM BRODY
GENERAL MICHAEL CARNS, USAF (RET.)-----THE HONORABLE CHUCK HAGEL ----THE HONORABLE LEE HAMILTON
THE HONORABLE CARLA HILLS-----THE HONORABLE DR. SHIRLEY ANN JACKSON -----ADMIRAL JAMES LOY, USCG (RET.)
GENERAL BARRY MCCAFFREY, USA (RET.)-----THE HONORABLE EDWIN MEESE -----THE HONORABLE NEWTON MINNOW
THE HONORABLE SAM NUNN-----THE HONORABLE THOMAS PICKERING-----ADMIRAL JOSEPH PRUEHER, USN (RET.)
THE HONORABLE THOMAS RIDGE -----THE HONORABLE RICHARD SOLOMON-----THE HONORABLE DR. LOUIS SULLIVAN
THE HONORABLE TOGO WEST, JR. -----DR. DANIEL YERGIN
Yep absolutely no interest groups or partisan elements from a plan proposed by four retired generals and admirals (one each from the Air Force, Army, Navy and Coast Guard), a former Secretary of the Army (West) and perhaps the biggest Democratic Defence Hawk since Scoop Jackson and John Stennis died (Scoop has a Ballistic Missile Sub named after him, Stennis has an Aircraft Carrier, what are the odds that Nunn is going to blow his chances for his own ship by proposing big cuts in defence spending in the interest of a balanced budget?) Lets see how is this group filled out? Well we have two more past Congressional defence hawks with Hagel and Hamilton . Plus I see a bunch of Bush 1 & 2 cabinet level officials (Brock, Hills, Pickering, Ridge, Sullivan) and in a blast from the past Ed Meese. Now Dr. Jackson served in the Clinton Administration as head of the Nuclear Regulatory Administration and Newton Minnow came out as an early Obama supporter but taken as a whole this group goes from the Center to the Right and has very strong ties to the Military-Industrial complex. Which is Hiatt's world fully qualifies them to be the 'Wise Men'.

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