Obama adviser: Let's engage terrorists Approach suggests split between White House, State Department

FROM JOSEPH FARAH'S G2 BULLETIN

The self-proclaimed principal adviser to President Obama on counter-terrorism is proposing engagement with Hezbollah, which the U.S. officially regards as a terrorist organization, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.

John O. Brennan, a former Central Intelligence Agency station chief in the Middle East and State Department official, said that such engagement, in effect, will be part of strengthening U.S. national security and "safeguarding the American people from violent extremism and terrorist attacks."

While at State, Brennan also was a political officer in Saudi Arabia.

In a virtually unpublicized address Aug. 6 to the Washington, D.C., think-tank Center for Strategic and International Studies, Brennan relegated most of his prepared remarks to the Obama administration's efforts to confront terrorism, especially that of al-Qaida.

"Some like to claim that the president's policies somehow represent a wholesale dismantling of counter-terrorism policies and practices adopted by his predecessor," Brennan said. "Others claim that the president's policies constitute a wholesale retention of his predecessor's policies. … Both are wrong … (the president's) views are nuanced. …He understands the complexities and many dimensions of the challenges presented by violent extremism." ....

.... In addition to being comprised of many professionals, Hezbollah also is the single largest minority bloc in the Lebanese parliament, holding some 57 of 128 seats. In addition, it is allied with the Amal, headed by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and the Christian leader of the Free Patriotic Movement, former Gen. Michael Aoun.

Brennan pointed out the U.S. already has relayed its willingness to engage with Hezbollah and other terrorist or insurgent groups which seek to change. He pointed out that in Lebanon and among Palestinians the Obama administration has demonstrated it is prepared to engage organizations and groups and have a dialogue with them if they dedicate themselves to peaceful solutions to existing problems. ....