Why Jane Harman Should Not Be Named Intel Chair

The question of who to name instead of her is not simple - Speaker-Elect Pelosi has different people she can tap as the new chair of the House Intelligence Committee. But it's pretty damn clear that she can't name Jane Harman. Courtesy of Justin Rood at TPM Muckraker, here's a compilation of Harman's own words which demonstrate her lack of fitness for the post:

On Colin Powell's U.N. speech: "I happen to know that our intelligence agencies made absolutely certain that it was totally accurate, and that anything put out there had been reviewed 100 times to make sure it was accurate." (Fox News, Big Story with John Gibson, 2/6/03)

On Saddam Hussein's WMDs: "There's a strong intelligence case that Iraq has not destroyed its weapons of mass destruction and is building the capability to use them." (Washington Post, 1/30/03)

On the Iraq-al Qaeda connection: "There's a growing al Qaeda presence in Iraq, and I think the case can be made that there is a growing affiliation [between the two.]" (Washington Post, 1/30/03)

On victory in Iraq: "[V]ictory will mean displaying for the world the evidence of weapons of mass destruction, and the horrors and torture of a generation of abuse by this dictator and then rebuilding the country with a multi-national coalition, and the emergence of an indigenous, transparent, moderate, democratic regime in Iraq run by the people of Iraq for them. I think that that will be a marvelous victory." (CNN, Larry King Live, 3/19/03)

On the NSA domestic surveillance program: "I believe the program is essential to US national security and that disclosure has damaged critical intelligence capabilities. . . . Due to its sensitive nature, I have been barred from discussing any aspect of this program. . . .[However] I am deeply concerned by reports that this program in fact goes far beyond the measures to target Al Qaeda[.]" (Harman press release, 12/21/05)

On the leak to the New York Times which revealed the program's questionable operations: "I deplore that leak. . . I think it is tragic that a lot of our capability is now across the pages of the newspapers." (NBC, Meet the Press, 2/12/06)

She was in a position to vet the bogus intelligence and call Bush on the unsupported Iraq assertions, and fight against the illegal wiretapping. Instead, she lent credence to the claims and provided cover for the law-breaking.

It wouldn't surprise me if Bush tries to push another unprovoked attack and I don't want Harman to be there as a cheerleader again when he does. One unnecessary war was quite enough, thank you very much.