How the United States could have invaded Iraq on the grounds of weapons of mass destruction, and then not find weapons of mass destruction, amazes me. That's like the cops calling in the press to stage a massive raid on a celebrity's mansion, only to discover that the weapons and drugs that were supposed to be in the place aren't there after all. Talk about embarrassment on a large scale.
The man responsible for the global screw-up on WMDs was, of course, CIA director George Tenet. He wasn't the only one alleging weapons of mass destruction in Saddam Hussein's Iraq, but certainly his view that the WMD charge amounted to a "slam dunk" must have counted for something. After all, the United States spends upwards of $50 billion (yes, billion) a year on its intelligence services and one would expect something intelligent to come out of them once in a while.
Well, it turns out to have been too much to ask. Tenet got the WMD issue completely, disastrously wrong. And now this fellow is back with a new book that seeks to divert attention from his own failures by charging that the Bush administration had its own unrelated reasons to invade Iraq. Not just the fear of WMDs, you see, but other motives.
Sure enough, the left is trumpeting this "revelation" to publicize its own crackpot theories about how Bush and Cheney invaded Iraq to benefit themselves and their oil buddies financially, or why they did it to further vainglorious dreams of empire. In reality there were other motives to invade Iraq, but they were good ones. After 9/11, senior people in the U.S. government realized that, following a catastrophe of this magnitude, it would not be sufficient to go to Afghanistan and shoot some people on the monkey bars. America needed to go into the Middle East itself and send a message that this sort of thing would not be tolerated.
In addition, Iraq is a country of great strategic importance. Consider its neighbors: Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia. Following 9/11 the U.S. felt it important to establish a presence in this critical region to prevent a jihadist conflagration from spreading through these vitally-important regions. It's not always easy to discuss considerations of realpolitik in American public discourse, but that does not mean these considerations do not weigh heavily on decision makers. I find it remarkable that Tenet shows no awareness of this. Is he truly ignorant, or is he playing dumb? Either way, my opinion of Tenet continues to go down, down, down.
Reader Comments ( Page 2 of 2)
16.
That's just the sentiment the right has had from 9/12 Dal, I didn't come up with it but I don't entirely disagree either. If stewardesses hadn't had the freedom to move freely in and out of the cockpit on 9/11 and the door had instead been sealed we would probably still have two towers.
What were those last few sentences even about? I know I heard words in there but couldn't make sense of your intended meaning.
Peter at 5:52PM on Apr 30th 2007
17. Danish,
Presidential Medal of Freedom!
If, as you say, "The man responsible for the global screw-up on WMDs was, of course, CIA director George Tenet," then why would Bush (who's at least as smart as you) give him that award?
Cheers,
Bear Claw
lil_turk at 6:47PM on Apr 30th 2007
18. Berg tries - "It is no surprise that Mr. Tenet (a Democrat appointee) is now trying to cover his own backside by trashing the Republican who did not appoint him."
Uhhhh. I believe Tenet was a Rethugly.
So that mistake by Clinton would be hiring a Rethugly...
To do an intellient human's job.
Bushthwak at 8:15PM on Apr 30th 2007
19.
Yes yes, we all know those medals are a joke. Such a lofty title granted to those who have done little more than put forward a bunch of theories the president liked. Nobody deserves a "medal of freedom" when they haven't even put their life on the line for that freedom, give me a break. Meanwhile our soldiers get a purple heart for losing a limb or two, a grand experience in the outpatient care at Walter Reed, and a complete ass-reaming from the veterans affairs office over their healthcare. Who doesn't support the troops? I forget.
All I'm saying is maybe our wounded troops should get a medal of freedom before some incompetent asshole with a cushy government job and a lot of wacky ideas, or at least change the name of the medal so people don't think these people actually did anything to earn it compared to the people who really sacrificed for their country.
Peter at 8:28PM on Apr 30th 2007
20. So Bush gives the Presidential Medal of Freedom to about a dozen people a year. For some reason he gave one to Tenet, who Republicans claim is mostly responsible for intelligence failures associated with Iraq and 9/11. Did Bush give him the award BECAUSE Tenet wrongly convinced him that Iraq needed to be taken out? Or is this another one of those: "heckuva job, Brownie," nominate Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court, appoint Gonzales to be chief law officer moments where any smart person concludes maybe Bush is just totally out of it?
lil_turk at 9:36PM on Apr 30th 2007
21. If Geo Tenet were speaking the truth, he is derelict in his timely duty to inform the public, but he is riding in on his white horse in time to be reappointed in the second Clinton administration to a functional position, or even his old job.
dalosophy at 4:32AM on May 1st 2007