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(Image source: C-SPAN)
BY NATHAN BYRNE
ANCHOR JIM FLINK
Drone strikes continue to be a hot topic on Capitol Hill. With Iran releasing claims it
captured a U.S. drone a year ago, and President Obama agreeing to release documents on the
strike that killed a U.S. citizen who was working for al Qaeda.
Then, there’s John Brennan — facing the Senate Intelligence Committee at the hearing
for his potential confirmation as the next director of the CIA.
A CBS News article calls Brennan “the person who has for the past four years overseen and
managed the White House's kill lists, and essentially institutionalized the drone program
itself … ” Fox News predicts tough talk at the hearing.
“And Brennan today will still, no doubt, face a barrage of questions over those strikes
— including whether it’s better to simply kill terrorists remotely, rather than capture
and interrogate them.”
An editorial in The Washington Times emphasizes the importance of asking those questions now,
suggesting … “The White House could be setting legal precedent for unintended consequences
on a broader scale.”
Politico’s Josh Gerstein poses five questions Brennan will likely face — one of which
is: “Is the drone program under control? And is it working?”
But Gerstein writes that he doesn’t expect the questioning to be too sharp. A writer
for TIME agrees, saying …
“There’s no reason why John Brennan’s CIA confirmation hearing has to be the place
to hash out these questions. Congress has been free to do so at anytime. But Congress
has also shown virtually no appetite under Obama for interfering with his prosecution
of the anti-terror war … ”
The hearing is set to start at 2:30 Eastern time on Thursday.