Counterterrorism Chief Says Bullets Alone Won’t Do the Job

John Brennan has known controversy for his defense of torture and rendition, but the president’s top counterterrorism adviser has just condemned the Bush administration’s approach by declaring: “We cannot shoot ourselves out of this challenge.”

It’s tempting to take Brennan’s apparent change of heart at face value. However, Glenn Greenwald has a dated but comprehensive analysis of Brennan’s pro-torture, pro-rendition past that gives us pause.

And the administration’s escalation of the war in Afghanistan doesn’t exactly align with Brennan’s words. Unless this has something to do with those reports about negotiating with the Taliban.

Los Angeles Times:

President Obama’s counter-terrorism chief rebuked the Bush administration repeatedly today in a speech designed to make the case for an expanded approach to fighting Islamic extremism, just weeks before the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

In his first public appearance as White House counter-terrorism advisor, John Brennan said the Bush administration’s policies had been an affront to American values, undermined the nation’s security and fostered a “global war” mind-set that served only to “validate Al Qaeda’s twisted worldview.”

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USAF / Tech. Sgt. Eric T. Sheler

U.S. Air Force personnel participate in a counterterrorism training exercise.