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[Name removed]

[Comrade Grumpy]

1. Good. A bit too warlike for my taste.

[24601]

2. He or she is going to be a caretaker Secretary in an administration where the WH Staff has the real

influence and Departmental Secretaries just carry out their policies. My off the cuff is Sen Carl Levin who is retiring after many years as Chairman or Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. I believe he could be be confirmed "without objection" and without a hearing - like Senator and Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen of Texas.

[CJCRANE]

3. "Your job...

is to persuade American troops to fight an army of nutters who are equipped with American made weapons and vehicles and who will propagandize every atrocity via American owned social media and mainstream media. Interested?"

[KoKo]

6. Sadly....agree.....

Glad to see Flournoy out of the picture...but...we shall have to see.

[happyslug]

4. Former Representative Pat Schroeder is still alive at age 74,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_Schroeder

When she was a member of Congress she knew the Pentagon and its budget better then anyone. On the down side she is to independent.

[TwilightGardener]

5. Seems strange to throw away a perfectly good defense secretary who

wants to stay on the job, for...? Just any taker, at this point? What a stupid, embarrassing clusterfuck, Obama. You really covered yourself in glory here, didn't you?

[CJCRANE]

7. Both Obama and Hagel were dealt an almost no-win situation.

Events unfolding now in the ME were set in motion before Obama was elected and involve at least a dozen countries.

[TwilightGardener]

8. The big war plan isn't going to change after Hagel leaves, and if it does,

it will be something he probably wouldn't agree to: ground combat/infantry troops--another occupation and COIN and bodybags with wasted lives in them.

[Purveyor]

9. This is good news. Thank you for posting, indeed. eom