Power-Hungry Pentagon Needs to be Reined In

That's the understatement of the year!

Power-Hungry Pentagon Needs to be Reined In:

"Some influential Republicans are upset at the nomination of Gen. Michael Hayden to head the Central Intelligence Agency, preferring a civilian to maintain the CIA's independence from the powerful Pentagon. Just a change of clothing isn't enough to distance Hayden from his fellow generals.

When Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, backing Hayden, asserts, 'There's no power play taking place in Washington,' lock up the silverware, for the Big Con Game is afoot. Rummy is surpassed only by his buddy, Vice President Dick Cheney, in playing the capital's inside-power game � just ask Colin Powell.

Public fears brought on by 9/11 have given the American military unchallenged access to taxpayer funds and increased responsibilities and prestige that can only be compared to World War II. Along with the super-secret National Security Agency, which Hayden headed while it collected personal data on millions of Americans without a court warrant, Pentagon intelligence is shrouded in secrecy.

Its increased power has come largely at the expense of the State Department and the CIA. The Pentagon already controls some 80 percent of intelligence funding, and has greatly expanded the scope of its intelligence operations under Rumsfeld. "