I guess this comes under the heading of death of a thousand and one cuts.

I think it was Larry Johnson last week who wrote about this, and he nailed it. Tenet is too late to excuse his complicity in this war. He lied, too.

I agree with "Punchy." If Tenet is serious, he'll give his Medal of Freedom back. Toss it over the White House fence, with reporters in tow. There's your slam dunk.

even with nothing startling revealed for anyone with half a brain, the House Oversight Govt Reform Committee should use this to argue in favor of her testifying - she keeps saying she's answered all the questions about the lead up to the war but she hasn't in light of this insider account. Let Rice and Tenet go at it like a couple of fighting roosters....

Why'd Tenet even bother to write it? To absolve himself? Sure doesn't sound like he managed the trick of it.

The corruption (including the collaboration from enablers like Tenet) that stems from the Bush administration is ubiquitous, and some days I wonder how we're going to ever find our way past it.

Another facilitator of the debacle peddles his half-baked mea culpa while the debacle continues and accountability remains a "quaint" and archaic notion.....

I don't think it is too early to begin considering some sort of permanent tracking of the facilitators, engineers, cheerleaders, and principals of this tragedy of democracy. I know that impeachment proceedings haven't even been laid in the nest, let alone approached hatching, but I am tired of the responsible parites in American scandals escaping broad and lasting scrutiny. We track sex-offenders with the zeal of badgers--so should we track the enemies of democratic process.

Had we done so thirty-five years ago (Watergate, COINTELPRO, Vietnam) Donald Rumsfeld and Henry Kissinger and Dick Cheney might not have advanced their careers. Except for Robert Bork, whose career was truly halted by their acts in those cases?

Had we done so twenty years ago (Iran-Contra, Savings and Loan bailouts), many others would have faded into obscurity--including (again) Dick Cheney.

If we don't do so this time with such names as Rice, Wolfowitz, Perle, Goodling, Samson, Hadley, Powell, Tenet, Jennings, and a host of others; then we are dooming ourselves and our children to another round of attacks on the most vibrant political systems in world history.

It has survived attacks on our soil by foreign powers, Civil War of the most atrocious breed, Teapot Dome, Robber Barrons, Tamany Hall, The scandals mentioned above, two Red Scares, Jim Crow, and a long-overdue cultural revolution. But we should not knowingly subject it to even more threats.

These acts must be investigated, and where appropriate, the perpetrators must be held to a full accounting. Mr Tenet, this includes you. Five years after the the march to War began is too little, too late to exculpate you or any other person holding responsibility for the deaths of upwards of one million of the world's citizenry.

We must never forget.

"Slam dunk." What those words convey is that the presentation was more important that the foundation. "We can do better" conveys the very same message. All of these people were more concerned with the facade than the substance, and Tenet was right there with them. The it's-easier-to-get-forgiveness-than-permission type of facade. Maybe he has had an genuine lightbulb moment of realization of the Lee Atwater variety, but I don't think I'll be buying his book to find out.

"Dick Cheney is an a--hole."

Tell us something we didn't know already.

HOW CAN TENET LIVE WITH HIMSELF? If what he says is true, he is - through his silence - one of the PRIME ENABLERS of the worst foreign policy disasters (if not outright humanitarian disasters) in this nation's history! Tenet has blood on his hands that will never wash off.

That Tenet feels now is the time to 'tell all' - after untold thousands have been killed in furtherance of the policy he supported by negative consent - makes me physically ill.

THINK ABOUT WHAT HE IS ADMITTING: HE KNEW THAT WE WERE GOING TO WAR BASED ON LIES - AND DID NOTHING TO STOP IT!

In my book, you don't get to have it both ways, to wit: you don't get to (a) participate in a cover-up, then (b) get credit for coming clean about it after you have an attack of conscience.

It's ... just ... appalling.

He just admitted to the crime, and he apologises for his *etiquette*? Nice.

Over 650,000 civilians and US servicepersons killed since the White House PR blitz to promote the bogus justifications for the war. But since that group does not include "have-mores," they don't count.

Man, I bet Tenet's soul suffers every night for his complicity in this demonstrable disaster for his country. So, he thinks that writing a book 4 years after the fact will absolve him of the guilt he carries and ths sins he has committed. Well, George, you didn't have the courage to stand up to the liars and incompetents in the Bush Administration when it really mattered; as a result you have potentially irreperably injured your country for years to come.

You were the head of the CIA, Mr. Tenet. You had the responsibility at the time to protect this country. Instead you bowed to the administration; helped them make their case before the world; kept your head down while you sat behind Colin Powell at the UN, and allowed him to make the U.S. a liar; and you accepted the Medal of Freedom from the president like a good little lap dog.

You said nothing when it counted. You did nothing when it counted. This war is partially on your head and no book you schill in 2007 will ever change that.

code: "memory," as in ours is very clear as to your complicity.

I know its been said before, but for Tenet to make a guaranteed $3 million on this book is about as obscene as things get in this world.

I can't wait to see how WingNut Nation spins their dizzy diatribes. One commenter said; "Did he mean
the evidence for WMD's, or selling the evidence of WMD's to the public?"

Just remember, Tenet sat right behind Colin Powell in the well of the UN when they gave lie after lie to justify war with Iraq. This book shows that Tenet knew they were lies at the time. (As did anyone with the courage to look at the evidence.)

He's just another rat scurrying away from the sinking ship that is the Bush admin.

Sounds like the inner circle of bushco was just as good at "playing" the players (on the inside) as at "playing" the press. So I can just imagine how they maneuvered Tenet into his "slam-dunk" statement and then simply amplified that.

cheney managed to get the Times to print certain articles and then he amplified them. And I'm viewing Tenet as in the same league with Miller.

How convenient.

"Shame" is the word.

Slam-dunk was an inside joke. A reference to waterboarding.

After all the lower level people who tried to speak up and were forced out of federal service, in some cases heart breaking close to the 30 year retirement mark, for Tenet to come out now with his expose after all the deaths, all the lies, is simply shameful.

People who could afford it far less had courage of their conviction when it had a chance of mattering. This guy belongs in the McNamara hall of failed men who failed to save their nation when they had the chance.

Let's assume for a moment that this WH needed Tenet advice on how to sell the war to the American public. How does this make Tenet look better? The WH thought his advice on PR matters and he advised on such matters? This makes him look not just like an idiot, but like a political hack and an idiot.

Americans can rightly ask, regarding the lead-up and selling of the Iraq war, why isn't Tenent hauled before the Congress as not only a witness to events within the White House, but as a war criminal as well?

The answer is, Congress really doesn't want to know.

You don't have to be a blind conservative not to see it, just an ignorant one to deny it.

Someone who calls himself “Avenging Angel” wrote this in dailykos:
” There are many factors explaining why this scandal-ridden presidency with a 28% approval rating even has a pulse at all. One is simply the "crowding out" effect. That is, the sheer number of scandals, probes, inquiries and convictions prevents the media - and the American people - from focusing on any given one.”

I, for one, am throughly crowded out -- numb, really. Bring on impeachment. Even if it fails, it will dominate the news for months and might -- just might -- serve to drive Cheney and Bush from office by resignation as the charges and evidence are discussed and debated.

some questions for Mr Tenet:
1) are you saying that bob woodward took your quote out of context? that he, god forbid, lied?
2) as one of the commenters above rather bluntly asked: why did you wait so long to come forward? doesn't your failure to tell the American people the truth make you just as guilty of sedition as those you criticize?
3) knowing what you cliam to have known, how could you, with good conscience, have accepted the freedom medal? since you have, by your own admission, digraced yourself and damaged your country, shouldn't you give it back?
4) why shouldn't you be held accountable for crimes against the American people?

Shocking for some. But J.H. Christ, for those of us who saw this from day one -- why has it taken so long? Because the press let us down. The press let this happen. As Glenn Greenwald and others have pointed out, six months after the invasion began, 70% of the U.S. population still thought Saddam engineered -- or was at least heavily involved in -- the 9/11 attack. The media let it happen, they should all be sent to Iraq to ride around with dummy bullets and down-armored Humvees.

Paul O'Neill reported that at the first National Security Council meeting, 10 days after Bush's inauguration in January 2001, the ousting of Hussein was 'Topic A' on Bush's agenda.

"From the start, we were building the case against Hussein and looking at how we could take him out and change Iraq into a new country... It was about finding a way to do it. That was the tone of it. The president saying, "Fine. Go find me a way to do this", O'Neill told the January 10 Time magazine.
"Fuck Saddam," Bush fumed at a meeting of the National Security Council in March of 2002. "We're taking him out."
This was a year before Bush said that Saddam and his WMDs had left him no choice but to invade. Bush sold the war on the WMD scare. It fit the 9/11 connection. Bringing democracy to Iraq was an afterthought and not though through. In the 2000 campaign candidate Bush disdained "nation building". Being greeted as liberators would be all that Bush needed to "win" in Iraq. Everything else would fall in place. All those political hires (hacks) at the CPA would ensure the healthy new nation of Iraq would have American values. Loyalty, not experience necessary.

It was about finding a way to do it. Tenet was only one of the officials Bush called on to make his case for war. Having the CIA director concur would help Bush's credibility.

http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2007/04/23/daily47.html

Renzi might resign today.

Yay.

U.S. Rep. Rick Renzi, R-Ariz., could soon step down in the wake of a federal investigation into his involvement in a federal land swap deal and FBI raids of an insurance agency owned by his wife.

His resignation could come as early as Friday or soon after, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Top Republicans, including U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl, have been meeting to discuss what they will do if Renzi resigns and his rural congressional seat opens up.

Republican leaders also are starting to encourage Renzi to resign, saying a prolonged investigation will hurt the party's chances of holding onto his Arizona seat, according to knowledgeable sources.

Democrats also are preparing for a Renzi exit. Cottonwood attorney Jim Ledbetter is among those being recruited by party leadership to run for Renzi's seat in a possible special election.

The federal investigation is looking at Renzi's involvement in a land swap deal including a possible payment by a former business partner, according to The Hill newspaper. The Wall Street Journal reports that a grand jury has been convened in Tucson to investigate Renzi.

The congressman has denied any wrongdoing in the matter. His office did not respond to requests for comment Thursday.

Democrats are keeping the pressure on Renzi and are looking to link the investigation to the resignation of Paul Charlton as U.S. attorney for Arizona. Charlton was pushed out of that post after the November elections, along with several other federal prosecutors.

Ledbetter is a conservative Democrat, favoring gun rights and a federal ban on some late-term abortions. He said it would be best for the district if Renzi stepped down soon.

Ledbetter said Thursday he is traveling to Washington to meet with Democratic congressional and campaign leaders. He said he already has spoken with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and U.S. Reps. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and Adam Schiff of California about a possible run for Renzi's seat.

Renzi's district has a slight Democratic voter registration edge, but it is rural and socially conservative and has gone for the GOP in recent years. It includes Casa Grande, Flagstaff, Sedona, Payson and Prescott.

Other possible Democratic candidates include former Casa Grande Mayor Bob Mitchell, Arizona Reps. Ann Kirkpatrick and Pete Rios, Arizona Sen. Rebecca Rios, state Environmental Quality Director Steve Owens, former Phoenix TV reporter Mary Kim Titla, consultant Fred DuVal and shopping center developer Jim Pederson.

Possible GOP successors to Renzi include former Arizona Senate President Ken Bennett, Arizona Rep. Bill Konopnicki, and rancher and Republican booster Steve Pierce.

Tenet carried their water for years. He diddled with darkness knowing about the lies and what those lies would bring about and now, having lain with them, he is pissed off to be covered with fleas. Now, however, it's safe (and fashionable) to come forward.

Thanks so much! Mail your Medal of Honor back or be forever seen as a craven lacky henchman. Your book is too little and too late for exoneration.

Isn't this just similar to what DiUlio said and what Paul Oneil said, etc. We knew this stuff back in 2002. But of course they were disgruntled employees. Tenet, another disgruntled former employee. So we should just disregard everything he says. Guess that Medal of Freedom didn't do the trick for good ole W.

so this means Tenet is returning the Medal of Freedom...right?

"the book portrays the president as slow to accept the reality in Iraq."

This is an aspect about this President that I just don't understand how those who support him can not see. The lastest version of this lack of reality is his reaction to the universally panned testimony of Mr Gonzales. It is one thing for politician to put the best face on a situation but I truly believe the President is delusional at times and the country is paying a dear price for it. I echo those however who say shame on the likes of Mr. Tenet who have enabled this President! Shame Shame Shame.

See drowning ship. See rat sailing away, but gnawing another hole in the wood before leaving.

(BTW, could we all agree never to make references to the code words ever again? It's not half as clever for the reader as the writer thinks. I'm not trying to single out the people in this thread, but it is something that I see in thread after thread, and it never does anything for me. Thanks in advance.)

why is everyone ignoring the reason Bush used to go into Iraq..forget the Slam Dunk...Tenet knows exactly what Bush was told prior to 9/11 and that is what is important. Will Tenet tell us that info, or is he still carrying Bush's water on it?

Who is going to buy this? I mean the book not the lies. There will be no bulk sales to the heritage foundation to artificially boost it up the nyt best seller list. I can't imagine many of those who were and are opposed to the war picking it up. So outside his inner circle of family and friends I don't see much sales potential.

Common Denominator

We were lied into the war.
They used fear to continue and expand the war and to strip away the rights of the American people.
Republicans used the war on terror for political advantage.
The lies and deception continue today.

George Tenet sat behind Colin Powell at the UN as he presented fake information to that organization and Tenet said nothing. Now, he wants to sell a book. Call him before a Senate Committee and get all the facts from him and under no circumstances should anyone buy his book. If he had all these tales to tell, why did he not come forward until now? He could only say it in a book? He has no credibility, in my opinion.

the bubble is getting smaller, but my guess is the American public don't and wont realize how significant this is.

I wish I didn't have to say too little too late, but christ 4 years ago was mission accomplished for God's sake,

The ultimate dipshit white-boy gambit: let's hire some lawyers!

That medal of honor was suppose to shut him up,...,I guess you only go to war as a first resort with these sack'o'shizzles. Can Cheney be anymore of a warmonger? What would happen if they actually attacked a country with a real army, like Iran,...these guys would run out of bombs quicker than Fat Albert on the toilet. It would be total destruction like in Germany in WW2... http://images.google.com/images?q=+dresden+bombing++pictures&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&hs=iZ7&um=1&sa=X&oi=images&ct=title

I thought, in real time, that Tenet and Powell were ruining their lives when the traveled to the UN to support Bush in his case for war. It was tragic. Two public servants with good reputations, standing on the stage of history, selling their souls. I had to wonder if something was preventing them from seeing what the commenters right here see plain as day.

donviti,

I agree with you about the bubble getting smaller.

And yes, it's very, very significant.

The smaller it gets, the few people to strategize as to how to cope with the ever widening circles of hell.

little ole jim:

Powell and Tenent selling their souls?

I used to ask that question about people in power.
Eventually I realized I had been naive.

People like Tenent et al are careerists. They are found in the military, government, business.

They get their promotions in large part by doing whatever they are told to do by superiors -- even if it is unethical or even criminal.
Some with principles balk, have their careers derailed or get fired. The others get promoted.

Recall that Gates cooked the books during the Reagan years to make the Soviets major threat when, in fact, they were on the verge of collapse.
So, he fits the model, too. I fear these types, like Willy Loman, are a dime a dozen and rule the world.

It's just disgusting that Tenet will only tell us this now, when he's getting paid for it, rather than at the time, when he could have conceivably made a difference.

He let down the country.

Hey, House resolution 333 introduced into the House by Kucinich contain the articles of impeachment for Cheney and does not have any supporters. You scream for IMPEACHMENT and here it is in the House and no one is supporting it. If you really believe in impeaching Cheney for lying to go to war then call congressmen and tell them to support HR 333. The time is now. Rice is so condescending she may not even respond to the subpoena. Gonzales is staying on...Now's the time to DO something besides just talk. Make the call to your representative and tell them to support this Impeachment or just bend over and hand them the vaseline. (code word..fear--ha.)

Powell,Breamer,Tenet.Who has got Bush's back.There is something lacking in these three wimps.Question for those remaining Bushies still around Bush,will you write a book when you get tossed under the bus? There is not enought money or lawyers around when the day of reconing comes.

Dunker shine, Georgie, dunker shine.
I recall, Fallujah in fall . . .
Though we go, on our separate ways, still the memory stays.

Posted by: Goober

Worthy of Lime Rickey! You deserve much 'credit'!

All Tenent ever did was whatever was in his best interest at the moment.

If Georgy goes down in history as the worst president ever, then Tenent should go down as the worst CIA cheif ever too.

I have total sympathy with the view that anthing Tenet says after the attack on Iraq began is too late. And I agree that nothing he says is "news". And I agree that with respect to judgments on Tenet's morality, his silent complicity as the the attack was planned, launched and continued is the most important fact. And yes, I believe that poeple should be held morally accountable for their actions. But with all respect to the justified rage epxressed in the great majority of the earlier posts, I believe that a focus now on how to judge Tenet's moral culpability is a luxury that we cannot afford. People (Americans, British, mostly Iraqis, others) are being killed and maimed -- maimed physically, mentally, spiritually -- by what Bush is doing in the Middle East (not just Iraq). Basic liberties are at risk at home. US soldiers are being treated horribly by this "patriotic" administration. The absolute central focus for all who believe, as I do, that what Tenet (among others) has done is a crime against humanity must, in my view, be ending this criminal activity. To do that, condemning Tenet for his long silence is no help. On the contrary, it helps those who wish to perpetuate the outrage (on the motive for that perpetuation, please read Josh Marshall's April 27, 2007 -- 02:18 AM EST post at http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/; it is far and away the most perceptive statement I have seen anywhere in the subject). Let condemnation of Tenet wait until the killing, maiming, torturing and terrifying (and threats of war with Iran) have been ended and those responsile removed from power. What to do? In my view, all those who feel as earlier posters feel -- that Tenet is guilty of horrific acts -- focus all energy on using his book as evidence for we all alreay know. wdc and ch are absolutely right, I believe. Forget for now attacks on Tenet. Remember the philosophy of the Black Panthers: "Use what you got [now an insider's accusation] to get what you need (an end to this killing]".

EVERYONE on the news seems to miss the point.

LeChimp and TheCheney are not inept. They are not insulated and incapable of change, or admitting they were wrong.

They are corrupt people feeding on our society. We are a huge cashcow and they are there to bleed us and bleed us.

This isn't about being stubborn or big egoes. They are indifferent to us, and they do not have the same moral compass or checklist. Expecting them to have shame, or to be sorry, or to do the 'Right Thing' or why they cannot bring themselves to admit or confess....that is wasted psychology.

Like claiming a wolf has 'mother issues' or 'low self-esteem' or is psychotic because it hunts and kills a caribou. No, No, and No. It does what it does. It is a predator/killer. It feeds on Caribou.

LeChimp and TheCheney feed on the masses. They swindle economies, rig elections, bribe authorities, have people killed and disappeared...so they can feed on ever more of us. It is what they do, there is no psychology equivalent the rest of us can understand.

security word: wound

More interesting to me are a couple of short paragraphs from the New York Times. It seems Tenet was able to keep Cheney from revealing his pretext for war, since the claims could not be substantiated by the CIA. (but then why too weren't the war plans themselves scrapped???).

The NYT excerpt:

Mr. Tenet describes helping to kill a planned speech by Mr. Cheney on the eve of the invasion because its claims of links between Al Qaeda and Iraq went “way beyond what the intelligence shows.”

“Mr. President, we cannot support the speech and it should not be given,” Mr. Tenet wrote that he told Mr. Bush. Mr. Cheney never delivered the remarks.

Bush is so incompetent, he could be ten feet tall and still mess up a "slam dunk"!!

this is where not being a member of the "reality based" community bites you in the hindquarters.

I'd be pissed if I looked like a fat pasty George Clooney too...

So, George Tenet is gonna be this war's Robert McNamara? I hope he gets all the credit he deserves, which isn't much. The time to speak up is long past. Three thousand, three hundred American lives ago would have been a good time. The White House will treat him similarly to the way Saddam did those defectors he talked into coming home with promises that all had been forgiven.

More on the book here

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/27/washington/27intel.html?ex=1335326400&en=e6f2a5232d75afb5&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

According to the Times, Tenet, in his memoir, treats Bush in a positive light. I find this inexplicable. After all, shit is shit, no matter whose suit it's wrapped around.

paul lukasiak

I'm afraid not many here share your sympathy for the SCUM-SUCKING-PIG!

I for one am SICK of hearing the "would have torn the country apart in the aftermath of 9/11" excuse for post-9/11 cover-up. The country is currently withstanding an onslaught of revelations of corruption at all levels of the Execute Branch, and it is faring just well. If you still feel the neeed to justify the 9/11 cover-up, come up with another excuse, please.

The DCI post has never been free of someone's politics, but the agency moved from being headed by OSS - Ivy League Cold Warriors (Dulles, Helms, Schlessinger, Colby, Bush) to administrators with military backgrounds (Turner), to buddies of Presidents who bridged the old CIA and the evolving neocon world (Casey), and finally to men with backgrounds in either 'administration', intelligence, or both (Webster, Gates, Woolsey, Deutch, Tenet).

Tenet was reportedly gifted in relating to others: Personable, willing to listen, fair when it came to personnel matters -- and with that style, Tenet seems to have managed CIA like any other business; he was a fair boss whom you wouldn't have minded working for and would 'go the extra mile' willingly if they asked you to do so because you respected the guy.

One example I remember reading had Tenet's strengths applied to the real legacy any professional manager leaves an organization -- staffing (particularly with the analyists) and promoting from within. Tenet apparently knew how to build teams. As a result, CIA began to regain some of its prior respect after a string of public failures and revealed connections to bad acts abroad and badder foreign governments (El Salvador, Contras; Chile; Guatemala, death squads; governments who use torture, etc.). [This doesn't mean they didn't continue, but we just didn't hear about it.]

And, Tenet appeared to be more free of the politics surrounding the office -- as a result, the intel coming out of his shop could be accused of being anything but bent to fit certain political ideas. Some may debate that, but in comparison with what replaced him, Tenet could be put up for sainthood.

Goss was, effectively, a professional political hack from the jump and, together with the crew he dragged into CIA, Goss performed the same act of politicization of the nation's premiere intelligence agency as Gonzales did at DoJ.

This is all an an opinion, unsupported by any direct research; it's just my hit. But whatever mistakes he may have made, Tenent seemed determined to be the firewall between the White House, White House conduct, and the products of a professional intelligence agency.

That Cheney, Perle, Feith, Libby, Rice, Hadley and Rumsfeld did an end-run around Tenet to create their own intelligence operations, and fabricate the 'proof' needed to carry out their decade-old dream of invading Iraq, says something about Tenet's refusal to bend with the political winds -- at least initially.

Has anyone done a U.S. attorneys/DoJ - style analysis on CIA and America's intelligence organizations since 9/11, to track the politicization of that world? Might be worth it.

I wonder if Tenet said anything about the fact it was he who recommended to Bill Clinton not to attack Ben Laden in 1998.... He was oddly silent when Clinton was being smeared by the Path to 9/11 BS, and Clinton was too classy a guy to start finger pointing....

Perhaps an equally big Tenet fuckup

This is a man that see's GWB wounded with a 28% approval rating and he figures its safe to come out now and give him a couple of shots. He's exactly like Powell. He knew the war was a pack of lies and he went along because he loved being near power. I saw him blubbering on TV saying something like "You don't just throw a guy overboard." "There's no honor in that." He dares to talk of honor. He STILL doesn't get it to this day. He say's he almost didn't take the medal of honor but when they reworded the citation he decided to accept it. I guess he thought that nobody could smear him too bad later because he had that medal. You have to be a hero to get a medal like that huh? What a joke. Every day I wake up and wonder how this whole country just stands by and allows this idiot in chief and his minions to dig us further and further into a bottomless pit.

Security Code: Hand (as in hand over your medal!)

ahh, too bad he was trumped by moyer. no one believes anything (R)'s say, even if it's critical.

takes a lot of work, being a citizen.

I guess the only thing that even comes close to shocking me is that "pitchforks & torches" aren`t in evidence amongst the populace yet.

Where is the rage & action to follow through on it ?

code = wind (as in what I can hear whistling through the trees in the silence about this)

"If you`re not nervous, you don`t understand what`s happening." - John Young

Tenet should give his Medal of Freedom to Landay & Strobel of Knight-Ridder (McClatchy). As documented in Moyers' "Buying the War" (see it if you haven't), they did their jobs while most others in their profession jumped on the bandwagon.

Saw a preview of the 60 Minutes interview and Tenet whines about being betrayed by the White House and made a scapegoat for going to war on faulty intel. I think his words were, "men of honor don't do this".

By now, men of honor would have fallen on their swords because of the unbearable shame due to their part in the Iraq debacle. Creeps like Tenet have no shame and will not loose a moment of sleep over the countless lives they've destroyed or the damage they've done to their country.

Oh, good grief! The 'slam dunk' story was always transparent nonsense, chronologically, regardless of how it was spun by Woodward or by Tenet. Woodward's source (I've always guessed Bush himself) clearly intended it to show Bush exercising healthy skepticism towards a weak case, supporting his public claims that he hadn't yet decided on war -- so that's how Woodward obligingly typed it up. Note: that's in December, 2002. But at least since that September, Bush and his admin had been flooding the media zone with statements of absolute certitude that Saddam had WMDs (see a few choice examples below). The notion that Bush still had to be convinced against his own healthy skepticism that December just doesn't past the laugh test and never did. (Wouldn't you think Woodward would have noticed and maybe, um, mentioned that? I believe Bob Somerby deserves the credit for first pointing out the chronological absurdity of this claim.)

“With respect to the nuclear program, there is no doubt that the Iraqis are pursuing it.” -- Colin Powell to House International Relations Committee, Feb. 2002 (source: Hersh, NYer, 10/20/03)

"Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction." – Dick Cheney, Aug. 2002

‘Bush asserted unequivocally, “Saddam Hussein possesses weapons of mass destruction.”’ –-Sept. 7, 2002, in press appearance with Tony Blair (source: Woodward, Plan of Attack, p. 178)

“We do know, with absolute certainty, that he is using his procurement system to acquire the equipment he needs in order to enrich uranium to build a nuclear weapon.” -- Cheney, Sept. 8, 2002 television interview (source: Hersh, NYer, 10/20/03)

"There's no debate in the world as to whether they have those weapons.... We all know that. A trained ape knows that." -- Rumsfeld, September 13, 2002 (Source: Corn, The Nation)

"Right now, Iraq is expanding and improving facilities that were used for the production of biological weapons." -- George W. Bush, Sept. 2002

By the way, I wish Mr. Tenet all the luck in the world with his book. I'm sure he'll sell hundreds of copies...

Not much on my mind lately. My life's been completely boring these days. I've just been hanging out not getting anything done. So it goes.

Great .Now i can say thank you!

I found your site very informative and helpful, thank you.