This is just one of the many revelations residing between the covers of the former CIA director's new tell-all, "At the Center of the Storm." So what else do we learn? From Mr. Tenet's pen to your eyes:
"There was never a serious debate that I know of within the administration about the imminence of the Iraqi threat."Yawn. We knew this already. More interesting, however, is Tenet's description of personally nixing a Dick Cheney speech the day before our invasion of Iraq in which the Veep planned to assert a link between al-Qaida and Saddam Hussein. Tenet:
"Mr. President, we cannot support the speech and it should not be given,"And remember that Presidential Medal of Freedom? Well, it turns out that G.T. was, "not all that sure I wanted to accept it." So why did he bow and have the president bestow it upon his capable shoulders? Because the citation didn't mention anything about Iraq. And speaking of that taboo subject, for which Tenet claims little responsibility, what does the former director think of how things are going for the U.S. today?
"It may have worked more than three years ago. My fear is that sectarian violence in Iraq has taken on a life of its own and that U.S. forces are becoming more and more irrelevant to the management of violence."
Previously on 'The Stump':
- 'They Don't Know What They Are Doing'
- Pat Tillman's Brother Addresses Congress
- Remember 'As the Iraqis Stand Up, We Will Stand Down'??
Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 6)
1.
Tenet is a spineless bastard, just like the rest of our cowards who are leading us. First he accepted a medal of citizenship, or something, from the idiot and and his goons, about the service he did for the getting the country in the Iraq War. Now, like a typical slimy civil servant, he makes money over the simple fact that he never had the balls to stand up and be against something that he knew was wrong.
and like the man said: and so it goes, and young indigent Americans are sent to die in a far away place for another useless cause. Of course some other bastards call it patriotism, as long as it does not involve their children.
how sick are we?
a digiorgio
digiorgio anthony at 2:53PM on Apr 27th 2007
2. Hopefully, but not likely, the public that reads all of this liberal claptrap, will see through the bias. All of the negatives about the Conservatives are accentuated, while all of the positives about the Liberals are. I am so sick of it. ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, CNN,and on and on. The public hasn't seen the truth about the news in years. Only what the liberal mainstream media wants them to see. The newspapers are all the same also. Pravda. Lying and distortion come as easy to them as breathing. It is a part of their very being. The scariest thing of all, is that some of them actually believe in what they are saying and doing,....evil will be called good, and good will be called evil. God help us.
Shari at 12:08PM on Apr 27th 2007
3. I hope that, as a nation, we can grow back to our former status as a respected place in the world. Not only have we lost our former respect abroad, we have come to feel embarrassed about our behavior internationally. After WWII we stood as one of the most admired nations, I can remember that. Now I am almost ashamed to go outside our own borders as an American--even to Canada! Cheney and Bush have done severe damage to our country. I hope we will have the will power to rebuild our place in theworld after this regime is booted out.
Tom Edgar at 12:20PM on Apr 27th 2007
4. Shari..God won't do the work for us. We need to pull ourselves out of the mess in Iraq, and get home to take care of our health care, pay down the awful deficit, become a productive country again, and most of all, rebuild our freedoms.
Tom Edgar at 12:21PM on Apr 27th 2007
5. #2 shari - please, them so-call news info can't call Bush what he is - A LIAR! for all that it is, if you are listening to it and believing it. you are the stupid on. expanding your mind will expand your horizons. this "war" is a BIG mess and Bush wants to keep our troops where they are not wanted. Bush and his cronies wanted the OIL. you are going to follow a "man" who does not have any personnal experience in "war" to lead us there? see how stupid you are. remember what your parents taught you - "lead by example"...
iamchavira at 12:51PM on Apr 27th 2007
6. The truth simply doesn't matter to Bush, Cheney, Rove or Wolfowitz. Only power, oil and arrogance matter to them. Now, five years after lying to the American People and getting us into a military occupation of a sovereign nation they simply lie some more in their misguided efforts to keep us there and justify it. Dick Cheney deserves an especially cold place in hell.
Robert at 12:59PM on Apr 27th 2007
7. Shari you must be one of the god is on are side types
One question for you, Is god a Fox News watcher like you.
Tim
Tim at 1:08PM on Apr 27th 2007
8. A magazine "The American Prospect" in November/December 2002 published an article "How Rumsfeld Muzzles the CIA" which had names of CIA personnel upset about the administrations manipulation of CIA information and told of Cheney's repeatedly going to the CIA and reinterpreting their reports...I have been waiting for George Tenet's book ever since. I also wonder where the mainstream
media was when we were lied to and then taken to a war this administration and AEI had wanted long before 9/11.
Donna at 1:12PM on Apr 27th 2007
9. Digiorgio,
Did you actually call the American military "indigent"? Do you know what that word means?
The American military is made up of people who come from all ethnicities, backgrounds and financial situations. Many of them entered the military with college degrees in hand. Many more have acheived bachelor's and master's degrees while serving. I ought to know. I've been one of them for nearly 20 years.
Idiot!
James at 1:18PM on Apr 27th 2007
10. Saddam Hussein deserved his fate, and the U. S. should have left after removing him from office. This country is hopelessly embroiled in a civil war that our presence only exacerbates. We can still grab all the oil without an enormous military presence. Let the oil companies hire mercenaries to protect their interests not the public taxpayers. any surprise that Exxon Mobil and other oil refiners along with Halliburton are recording record profits while being subsidized by the Bush administration and the blood of innocent soldiers. Hunt the terrorists all over the world but don't try to continue to perpetuate the lie that IRAQ IS now the al-queda headquarters for worldwide terrorism
ken mastrilli at 1:25PM on Apr 27th 2007
11. there,s no one that i know gives two hoops in hell about how one civil servant feels toward the other. They are all in the same bed together serving at the pleasure of the other. In this case both are picked by the TOP. Mr Bush is a tough bird but blinded by politics and needed both tenent and cheney as junkyard dogs to prosecute the civil war in iraq the same as mr Johnson did in vietnam.Politcal claptrap is always the same rhetoric and we,ll pull out from iraq with our tails between our legs as we did in vietnam.Who cares that the next one will be in ever major city,hell tenet want be around to snoop and Bush will have saved his party yeh (i am a twenty yr army vet and am damn glad not to have to write the w/drawal orders from iraq. (i's awfully hard to run backwards and fight and fight the people you went to save) Clay 1320 pm
sollon c wilson at 1:29PM on Apr 27th 2007
12. I think the Bush?Cheney team are a disgrace to our country and its people. Greed money and power are their theme they should be impeached. It is a disgrace that congress took all the time to impeach President Clinton (who has more brains in his zipper than Bush and Cheney combined)for a personal flaw and let this bunch in congress vote party line regarless of the issues, wether they are important to the american people, I think this bunch of Reps & Sen have really made this country representative for the money brokers and the money hungry polititions. We have lost our ability to vote. How does our little dictator Bush continue to think he represents the people. I guess its in Gods hands. Boy is he DUMB.
Anthony Santoro at 1:26PM on Apr 27th 2007
13. This is a war that was for lack of a better term "optional." It was a mistake to believe that we could successfully engage in two simultaneous wars in a region that so thoroughly hates us and think that merely toppling despots would earn us immediate goodwill.
The administration continues to play upon our fears by now calling Iraq part of the war on terror and pronouncing that only the Republican party through God's grace can save our lives.
I personnally find it despicable that the administration attempts to manipulate us with their divergent arguments of fear of attack and success in a war that has devolved to religous homicide.
Patriotism is not mutely following a failed policy.
Invoking God's name does not confer sanctity.
Ignoring the facts in Iraq and pronouncing success is not leadership.
Mike
mikeltharp at 1:36PM on Apr 27th 2007
14. Something is drastically wrong here. Why is Tenet so on the defensive? Certainly dICK cheney is one of the least liked or trusted individuals ever to walk the hallowed halls of our nations capitol. dICK has zero credibility except for the 9% who continue support of this truly evil little power mad monster.
Is Tenet perhaps concerned that as investigations and subpoena's are issued he might be one charged with high treason?
Slam Dunk, a phrase latched onto becomes even more understandable when we remember not only has it been proven that Iraq possessed no WMD, had no nexus at that time with al Qaeda, and no AIR FORCE for it's own defense...Not one Iraqi jet was in the air once geoWge gave the word for his shock and awe in defense of Iraq.
Saddam was consistently grandstanding and making threats, even inviting the USA to fulfill our stated agenda to invade. Saddam gambled and lost, big time, playing right into the hands of the neo-con/military industrial complex agenda. Saddam was little peanuts compared to his neighbor, supposedly a soft target to the minds of those plotting this debacle.
Tenet is apparently more concerned about his reputation than proving hard facts that there was no debate pro or con concerning the preemptive strike on Iraq.
How or why could there be any debate? That decision was made by all the old cronies who understood they need only wait till they next took office and could implement their strategized sale to the American public and the world through trumped up, cherry picked, fallacious spin for the achievement of such long held goals.
Poor George Tenet, brought down by a figurehead manchurian candidate who repeatedly uses 9/11 fear mongering as his penultimate cry to abolish our laws while forging wars for profiteering mega military industrial complex mega-corporations-just one little geoWge.
Not to worry GT-you are already little more than a footnote in the scheme of our current governments worst blunder ever-------------->
Steve at 2:05PM on Apr 27th 2007
15. Tenet's book is just one more indication of the enormous disarray and lack of leadership that existed and still exists in the Bush White House. Buch, Cheney and Rice continue to cover-up and shift blame. Of course, Tenet was part of the cabal. These people have no honor. Their Iraq plan that has killed many Americans plus thousands of Iraqis will go down in history as one of the most disasterous waste of human life.
Jerry at 1:46PM on Apr 27th 2007