Obama Nominees 1-11-09

11, January 2009                   Obama nominees

Obama’s recent announcement of Admiral Dennis Blair, as Director of National Intelligence, is extremely disturbing. Blair played a critical role offering unconditional US military support to top Indonesian general, Wiranto, during the brutal massacre of the East Timorese in the 1990’s which wiped out one third of the population. When world opinion forced the Clinton administration to halt its military and diplomatic support to Indonesia, Blair defied Washington and continued his unwavering support to Wiranto.

It is odd that senior democrats have reacted so strongly against the nomination of Leon Panetta as head of the CIA but have thus far given a free pass to Blair, ignoring his past history. Perhaps, bruised egos of these democrats who were not informed of Panetta’s appointment may have had a lot do with their public opposition. Panetta, who vigorously opposes torture and abuse of detainees, would be a welcome change.

On the other hand, Blair’s appointment must be vigorously opposed. Obama must make a clean break from our dark past history and usher in new era based on respect for human rights. We must hold Obama accountable to his election promise of ‘change we can believe in’. We must demand an immediate halt to supporting regimes that sponsor terrorism such as Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.