Obama names Hagel and Brennan to lead Pentagon and CIA

US President Barack Obama has named Chuck Hagel to be his next defence secretary and counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan to lead the CIA, but the nominations may not go smoothly.

Mr Hagel's fellow Republicans have accused him of being hostile to Israel and soft on Iran.

Mr Brennan is also under scrutiny over harsh interrogation techniques used at the CIA.

Both appointments must be confirmed by the Senate.

Mr Obama, who has just returned from a family holiday in Hawaii, said at a White House press conference that Mr Hagel was "the leader our troops deserve".

'Worst possible message'

Mr Obama said that Mr Hagel, 66, has been a "champion of our troops", as he praised his independence and bipartisan approach.

Mr Obama said that Mr Hagel, 66, has been a "champion of our troops", as he praised his independence and bipartisan approach.

The president said Mr Hagel knew that American leadership was "indispensable", but added that he would treat military action as a last resort.

Mr Obama said: "Most importantly, Chuck knows that war is not an abstraction." Mr Hagel, a decorated Vietnam War veteran, would be the first enlisted soldier to lead the Pentagon.

In his remarks, Mr Hagel said he would try to "live up to the standards" of his predecessors, as he pledged to strengthen America's alliances.

Meanwhile, Mr Brennan said he would work to ensure that the CIA "always reflects the liberties, freedoms and values that we hold so dear".

Along with Senator John Kerry, whom Mr Obama nominated last month to replace Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, Mr Hagel and Mr Brennan would help shape the president's second-term national security agenda.

But the choice of Mr Hagel could prompt a Senate confirmation battle.

Mr Hagel has stoked controversy in criticising discussion of a military strike by either the US or Israel against Iran. He has also advocated including Iran on future peace talks in Afghanistan.

Although no Republican lawmakers are threatening to block Mr Hagel's nomination, influential senators have attacked him.

Senator John McCain said he had "serious concerns" over the Nebraskan's positions on a "range of critical national security issues", which he would raise during the Senate confirmation process.

Mr Hagel made critical remarks against the Israel lobby in the US capital, in a 2008 book by former state department official Aaron David Miller.

"The Jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people up here," Mr Hagel was quoted as saying. "I'm a United States senator. I'm not an Israeli senator."

Top Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told CNN on Sunday: "This is an in-your-face nomination of the president to all of us who are supportive of Israel."

Homophobic comment

But White House officials say Mr Hagel's positions on these issues have been misrepresented, saying he voted to send billions in military assistance to Israel and has supported the imposition of multilateral sanctions on Tehran.

Mr Hagel has also been criticised by some Democrats for saying in 1998 that a nominee for an ambassador post was "openly, aggressively gay". He has since apologised for those comments.

President Obama's decision to nominate John Brennan to lead the Central Intelligence Agency is also not without controversy.

Although put forward for the same role in 2008, Mr Brennan withdrew his name amid questions about his connection to interrogation techniques used during the administration of George W Bush.

Sen McCain said in a statement on Monday he had questions for Mr Brennan, "especially what role he played in the so-called enhanced interrogation programs... as well as his public defense of those programs".

A CIA veteran, Mr Brennan is currently Mr Obama's chief counter-terrorism adviser.

The 57-year-old was heavily involved in the planning of the 2011 raid that killed Osama Bin Laden.

He would replace Gen David Petraeus, who resigned in November after admitting to an affair with his biographer.

Source

Morsy on al-Assad and war crimes

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy supports calls by people in Syria for President Bashar al-Assad to be tried for war crimes, he told CNN on Sunday in an exclusive interview.

"The Syrian people through their revolution and through the movement will -- when the bloodshed stops -- move to a new stage where they will have an independent parliament and a government of their choosing," Morsy, Egypt's first freely elected leader, told CNN's Wolf Blitzer in Cairo. "And then they will decide what they want to do to those who committed crimes against them. It is the Syrian people who decide."

Al-Assad's effort to crush anti-government protests in 2011 has turned into a bloody civil war in which the United Nations estimates that more than 60,000 people have been killed. In his first televised address since June, al-Assad said Sunday that Syria was under "an external attack" by "extremists, who only know the language of killing and criminality."

Asked about Syria, Morsy repeated his previous calls for al-Assad to leave power.

Egyptian revolutionaries toppled longtime strongman Hosni Mubarak in early 2011, and Morsy has said Egypt will work for Arab and international support to replace al-Assad. Asked whether he thought the Syrian leader should be tried before the International Criminal Court for war crimes, Morsy said, "It is not I who want this, but the Syrian people who want this."

"This phase is the phase of the people," Morsy said. "Similar to what the Egyptian people wanted, the Syrian people want it. And we support the Syrian people, and they're going to win, and they have the will to win."

Morsy brokered the November cease-fire that ended an eight-day conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist faction Hamas, which controls Gaza. Now, he has invited the heads of the two major Palestinian factions to meet in Cairo in hopes of building unity, a task he acknowledged won't be easy.

Morsy said he invited Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to meet with Khaled Meshaal, the political leader of Hamas, who lives in Cairo. Hamas controls Gaza, while Abbas's party, Fatah, controls the West Bank. The two factions have clashed violently over the years.

The United States, Israel and the European Union list Hamas as a terrorist organization. The group has carried out numerous attacks, killing scores of civilians.

In the interview Sunday with CNN, Morsy sought to assure viewers around the world, as well as people in his own country, that he is committed to promoting democracy and protecting minorities, including the country's Coptic Christians, from discrimination.

Having spent time in the United States -- he received a doctorate at the University of Southern California -- Morsy knows U.S. democracy and said he is committed to allowing free speech.

Source

test