Deja vu all over again

We're now beginning to learn why Negroponte was downgraded from DIE to a Condi lackey at the State Department. Cheney didn't think he was coming up with enough dirt to convince the public to launch a war on Iran, so he replaced him with someone who will:

The nomination of retired Vice Admiral John Michael "Mike" McConnell to be Director of National Intelligence is part of an effort by the Vice President to tighten the Administration’s grip on domestic intelligence and grease the wheels for a more aggressive stance towards Iran, current and former intelligence officials believe.

If confirmed, McConnell will replace current National Intelligence Director John Negroponte, who was tapped Friday to become Deputy Secretary of State under Secretary Condoleezza Rice. According to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, Negroponte’s exit followed a lengthy internal administration battle between the Office of the Vice President and the two-year-old Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

According to officials close to both men, two issues surround Negroponte’s departure and McConnell’s nomination: a forthcoming National Intelligence Estimate on Iran – which the White House could use to buttress a case for military force – and pressure from the Vice President to augment domestic surveillance...

... “McConnell will go along with whatever [Cheney tells him to do] and make sure that no objective NIE comes out,” one former senior intelligence officer said...

... In a call Friday, President Reagan’s Director of Intelligence Programs for the National Security Council from 1984-1987 and onetime CIA counterterror chief Vincent Cannistraro called the nomination “a disaster.”

“McConnell’s not an effective manager,” said former CIA officer Larry Johnson. “He will be likely to acquiesce to White House pressure on issues.”

Johnson called McConnell “Rummyesque.”

So much for the rumor that Dick Cheney is going to be replaced by Condi. I didn't think there was much to it anyway.