Comments on: Don't Pity George Tenet
National Review Online: Uproar Over Misquote Is Misguided; Tenet Deserves Blame For CIA Failures
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- October 9th, 1999 Letter to President Clinton Signed by Senators Levin, Lieberman, Lautenberg, Dodd, Kerrey, Feinstein, Mikulski, Daschle, Breaux, Johnson, Inouye, Landrieu, Ford and Kerry -- all Democrats
"We urge you, after consulting with Congress and consistent with the US Constitution and laws, to take necessary actions, including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspect Iraqi sites to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq's refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs." - Reply to this comment
- Read the article. Listened to Tenet on Larry King Live. Based on what I read and saw and heard, I would not trust the man's testimony. Quote, "We do not torture". Immediately followed by, "I do not talk about methods, ever." His live interview was not credible. Basically, he asserts the truth, then claims the inability to back his assertion, due to national security. "Trusssssst in me...." I do not like the Bush Administration, but George Tenet is not coming across credibly.
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- I saw 60 minutes and I don%u2019t think Tenet did much to enhance his image. I don%u2019t find it creditable that he told Condi, about his fear of an attack, and did not directly ask Bush if he was briefed, or informed him directly. As head of CIA I think he could have gotten hios attention. According to Tenet, CIA was way off the mark about WMD in Iraq. Was this due to gross failure in intelligence gathering, or did Tenet tell Bush what he WANTED to hear? Still, there were some interesting moments. Tenet said that Richard Perle told him on September 12th that Iraq was going to be held accountable for 9-11 even though they had NOTHING to do with it. This correlates with what Richard Clarke, said in the book, Against All Enemies. Clarke said that Rice and Wolfie blew off info on Al Qaeda and focused on Iraq prior to 9-11, and that Rumsfeld was talking about targets in Iraq on 9-12 even though he knew Iraq had NOTHING to do with it. Tenet said Iraq had NOTHING to do with any attacks against the US %u2018period%u2019. But, Bush, Cheney, and others tried to link Saddam to terror attacks in their lead up to the war. CIA repeatedly told Bus that a nuclear program in Iraq didn%u2019t exist, but Bush and others used it as an argument for war, and outed Valerie Plame to protect their lies. Congress should put Tenet under oath and subpoena EVERYONE associated with pre-war intelligence. That is the only way to know how much lying is/was going on and who was doing it.
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- %u201CThe war in Iraq was a mistake, so why did%u2026.%u201D
Posted by frb01 at 10:27 PM : Apr 30, 2007
frb01,
Starting a war under false pretenses is NOT a mistake. It%u2019s a Crime.
I look forward to the day when these neo-con Fascists are brought to justice for it. - Reply to this comment
- What didn't they know, and when didn't they know it?
It is good that Tenet's "slam-dunk" comment is back in the news. There is something very troubling about that verbal exchange between Tenet and Bush.
Much has been written about this monumental error on the part of Tenet. But, why hasn't this conversation been analyzed from another perspective?
Tenet's comment resulted from a question posed to him by the man with his finger on the trigger of war. "George, how confident are you?" the president asked. "Don't worry, it's a slam-dunk.", Tenet said. The question the president asked, related directly to the quality of evidence against Iraq.
Just the fact that the president asked the question, speaks volumes. Obviously, at that point, Bush still had doubts. Otherwise, he would not have asked. Why would Bush even be asking Tenet about his confidence? Why didn't Bush already know whether or not it was a "slam-dunk"? How did they get that far in the marketing campaign without knowing for sure?
And, after Tenet blurted out his infamous comment, Bush did not perform the most basic due diligence task expected of any leader. He did not say "Slam-dunk? Great! Then this should be easy. CAN I SEE THE EVIDENCE?". He wasn't sure, and he didn't ask for (or look at) the proof!
He started a war, and he didn't know? He had doubts, and he didn't ask? He "decidered" to do it anyway?
The one thing he knew for sure, was that he didn't know for sure. George Bush is accountable for this! - Reply to this comment
- Don't worry. The last person or persons that I am going to have sympathy for are the ones that think torture is okay, and keeps their mouth shut about this corrupt and evil administration until they have a book out. This guy is as slimey as anyone else that is still clinging onto this administration and is no patriot. He needs to go home, suck his thumb, and try to figure out how grown ups behave.
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- The war in Iraq was a mistake, so why did Tenet wait until the book is released to start shooting his mouth off. If anything we should be asking why did you not get it about Osama Bin Laden and tell the new administration about that concern from day 1.
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- Nobody at the National Review has the balls to put their name on the opinion piece? Signed, the editors?? I would venture a guess that it is "an" editor who has control over the National Review's ideology, but it doesn't matter. Denial is denial. Partisanship is partisanship. There is NOTHING definitive web can learn from the National Review.
Get it straight... this war was a mistake on everybody's part, starting with arrogant violations of the basic principle of international law that a foreign power does not overthrow a sovereign leader and government of another nation except under extreme circumstances out of self preservation. And we did not have that here, not even close. George Tenet knew it, and maybe realized the full ramifications too late when he didn't speak out when he should have.
I have been on this planet since Roosevelt and I have never seen a president and his administration so stupid and naive and vindictive and self loved and incompetent as the current administration.
What disheartens me more than anything is the trashing of our constitution. I hear Gorge Tenet trying to reclaim the high ground of principle that we perched ourselves on a few hundred years ago. - Reply to this comment
- Tenet is "spinning like a top" even though he isn't working for Bush anymore. First he says "his" CIA had no proof of WMD's in Iraq, then he says he was convinced Iraq had chemical and biological weapons, which happen to be WMD's! Then he says he never saw anyone tortured and his agency doesn't use torture; but he also says they used "advanced interrogation techniques" which sounds like a "politically correct term" for using water-boarding, intense cold, loud music, and maybe the rack and the thumbscrew, and when those "advanced techniques" were brought up, he didn't want to talk about it. All he wanted to talk about was "it's not my fault", and slam-dunk was never used the way people say he used it.
Do I smell a politican here? I believe that Bush, Cheney, Rice, and Rove decided weeks, maybe months ahead of 9/11 to go into Iraq and used 9/11 to hood-wink everybody, but as to the rest of it, Tenet is just as guilty as Bush and company no matter how much he says "Its not my fault"! - Reply to this comment
- Posted by processor2
If Clinton and Bush both believed Iraq was a threat, why didn't Clinton make the same mistake Bush did?
And why didn't all the other countires that the right like to say "agreed" join in the fight ... and why aren't they there now?
Many had concerns about Iraq ... Bush used those concerns and created a war out of it.
This is mess is all his. - Reply to this comment
- I dont really give a *** about Tenet and his faults. Truth of the matter is that Cheney, Rice, and Bush are the ones to blame because they made the ultimate decision to go to war. Truthfully, Cheney and Rice are the ones to really blame based on their aggressivness toward other people, the mass amounts of money they were to make on this conflict, and because I think they are on such a power trip, its crazy. Tenet needs to spill as much information as he can about The War Against Terror (T-W-A-T) haha
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- George Tenet was a Clinton appointee and was kept by Bush.
That would explain why BOTH PRESIDENTS Clinton & Bush went on TV explaining Hussein was "developing Weapons of Mass Destruction"
Maybe neither Clinton nor Bush lied about WMD, maybe they were both misled by this idiot.
... - Reply to this comment
- George Tenet was a Clinton appointee and was kept by Bush.
That would explain why BOTH PRESIDENTS Clinton & Bush went on TV explaining Hussein was "developing Weapons of Mass Destruction"
Maybe neither Clinton nor Bush lied about WMD, maybe they were both misled by this idiot.
... - Reply to this comment
- George Tenet was a Clinton appointee and was kept by Bush.
That would explain why BOTH PRESIDENTS Clinton & Bush went on TV explaining Hussein was "developing Weapons of Mass Destruction"
Maybe neither Clinton nor Bush lied about WMD, maybe they were both misled by this idiot.
... - Reply to this comment
- George Tenet was a Clinton appointee and was kept by Bush.
That would explain why BOTH PRESIDENTS Clinton & Bush went on TV explaining Hussein was "developing Weapons of Mass Destruction"
Maybe neither Clinton nor Bush lied about WMD, maybe they were both misled by this idiot.
... - Reply to this comment
- George Tenet was a Clinton appointee and was kept by Bush.
That would explain why BOTH PRESIDENTS Clinton & Bush went on TV explaining Hussein was "developing Weapons of Mass Destruction"
Maybe neither Clinton nor Bush lied about WMD, maybe they were both misled by this idiot.
... - Reply to this comment
- Don't worry we don't pity National Review on line either... Your President and his little war - it's all worked out so grand...
Where does the buck stop? Anywhere but El Presidente's desk...
Scapegoats and Fall Guys litter the landscape... - Reply to this comment
- yeah, and maybe Santa Claus is resting in Aruba, that's why we can't find him in the north pole. Maybe tomorrow it will rain upside down and roaches will actually sing in spanish "la cucaracha" if they don't will just have to send the marines to find them. Halliburton, bush , cheney,wolfowitz and their friends and girlfriends (in wolfowitz case) will find a way to use your tax payers money till it runs out, I'm sure they will enojoy making mansions in exotic places, like Kenneth Lay from enron did with the retirement money of his workers. If money runs out, no problems, there is always social security benefits, or veteran benefits we can do without, they are the ones who wanted this war anyway.
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- The one possibility that continues to be overlooked is that perhaps Tenet, Clinton and Bush were ALL correct - that Saddam did indeed have WMD - just that the U.N. inspectors were blind of the fact that Saddam moved them out of the country before the war started.
Posted by One_American
This is an interesting position that I've heard before. But consider this ... if your theory is correct ... it still means that GW's invasion failed it's main mission. GW's goal was to get rid of the WMD ... if they move, he failed.
And, if Saddam was able to move them somewhere else before GW could get there ... GW's preinvasion bluster helped accelerate the movement.
Same is true for GWs "Aix of Evil" speech. He basically warned Iran and North Korea that they better accelerate their efforts BEFORE we got to them.
And they have. - Reply to this comment
- The one possibility that continues to be overlooked is that perhaps Tenet, Clinton and Bush were ALL correct - that Saddam did indeed have WMD - just that the U.N. inspectors were blind of the fact that Saddam moved them out of the country before the war started.
This possibility cannot be ruled out yet; absence of proof is not proof of absence. - Reply to this comment
