Did Tenent really say the "slam dunk" thingy? Or was that what GW said

[keithyboy]

he said? I know Woodward reported it in his book. Has Tenent denied it? Is he quitting rathenr than taking this on? Everything I heard Tenent say was that there was no absolute proof of WMDs and that Iraq posed no imminent threat. Am I wrong on this? Did the 9/11 Commission ask a direct question of Tenent about the 'slam dunk' remark?

[Leilani]

1. Who knows?

That is the problem...we cannot believe anything that comes out of this Administration.

The fact that Woodward had complete access leads me to believe they used him, as much as he used them, probably more so.

[LittleApple81]

2. Today in the NewsHour somebody clarified (I don't remember who, I

think it was a Time correspondent (Evan?)) that IT WAS BUSH WHO SAID IT not any other source (including Tenet).

[robbedvoter]

3. I know W said F* Saddam, I'm taking him out. Tenet, OTOH said:

http://www.markfiore.com/animation/dissent.html

So, Woodward can bite me, I don't trust a word he writes.

[grasswire]

4. this was my question too

It was so out of character for Tenet to say this. It smelled from the first moment I heard about it.

[elfin]

5. Yes, according to Woodward BUT

even this passage from the book can be read another way - that he said it in response to a query about if they had enough "evidence" to convince the sheeple on the march to war - NOT if they had enough to KNOW there WOULD be WMDs found.

It may be possible that Tenet knew war was inevitable and was pleasing his master to say the CASE could be made - but was careful not to say it was dead certain WMD's were actually there.

The passage in question --

With some fanfare, McLaughlin stepped up to brief with a series of flip charts. This was the rough cut, he indicated, still highly classified and not cleared for public release. The CIA wanted to reserve on what would be revealed to protect sources and detection methods if there was no military conflict.

When McLaughlin concluded, there was a look on the president's face of, What's this? And then a brief moment of silence.

"Nice try," Bush said. "I don't think this is quite -- it's not something that Joe Public would understand or would gain a lot of confidence from."

Card was also underwhelmed. The presentation was a flop. In terms of marketing, the examples didn't work, the charts didn't work, the photos were not gripping, the intercepts were less than compelling.

Bush turned to Tenet. "I've been told all this intelligence about having WMD and this is the best we've got?"

From the end of one of the couches in the Oval Office, Tenet rose up, threw him arms in the air. "It's a slam-dunk case!" the director of central intelligence said.

Bush pressed. "George, how confident are you?"

Tenet, a basketball fan who attended as many home games of his alma mater Georgetown University as possible, leaned forward and threw his arms up again. "Don't worry, it's a slam dunk!"

[keithyboy]

6. If Tenet didn't say it, why hasn't he refuted it?

He must have said it.

[Eric J in MN]

7. The Bush Administration had been hyping wmd for months

The Bush Administration had been hyping wmd for months BEFORE that conversation, and the conversation itself included evidence so weak that Bush didn't buy it.

See my blog:

http://www.moveleft.com/moveleft_essay_2004_04_29_putting_slam_dunk_wmd_in_context.asp

[blm]

8. I think Bush exaggerated that line for Woodward.

It sounds like something a sports oriented doofus like Bush would say much more than Tenet.

[Cocoa]

9. no, that quote is shorthand Rove spin

the storyline is that Bush was skeptical about WMD, but that the CIA convinced him, and that little fictional scene illustrates it in a way that can be conveniently repeated, which all the whores are doing, to Rove's delight.

The reality is completely inconsistent with that scene. What really happened is that Bush was intent on invading Iraq from the beginning, and Tenet's role was to give him intelligence to support the invasion.