WaPo: Tenet's Tell-All Is a Slam Dunk to Provoke Invasion's Architects

[babylonsister]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/15/AR2007041500653.html?nav=rss_politics

Tenet's Tell-All Is a Slam Dunk to Provoke Invasion's Architects

By Al Kamen
Monday, April 16, 2007; Page A15

The drums have begun sounding for the long-awaited book by former CIA director George Tenet, in which he gives his take on pre-9/11 days and on Saddam's huge cache of weapons of mass destruction.

And the drums are saying that Tenet is not going to get too many Christmas cards from Vice President Cheney's office after they read "At the Center of the Storm." Folks from down the river at the Pentagon, including former deputy secretary of defense Paul Wolfowitz-- a guy who's already going through a rough patch -- and former defense undersecretary Douglas Feith, might also get some heartburn.

Former secretary of state Colin Powell comes out fine. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who was President Bush's key adviser in engineering the Iraq invasion, doesn't come out so fine. Not fine at all.

The White House definitely won't be overjoyed, we're hearing. Tenet even takes some shots at himself and for the first time explains his astute assurance that "it's a slam-dunk case" when Bush asked him how solid the WMD evidence was.

Tenet has never really explained his views on that comment. The 500-page book -- or more likely his "60 Minutes" interview on April 29, the day before the book goes on sale -- will be the first time he goes over that.

Tenet, who ran the CIA from July 1997 to July 2004, did the first of two days of taping last week at Georgetown University, where he's teaching.

[spanone]

1. KICK

:popcorn:

[bigtree]

2. good one!

kick

[applegrove]

3. Good news!

[jannyk]

4. Did he also offer to give his nice shiny medal back? n/t

[The Count]

15. He's smart enough to know that medal is nothing to show his grandchildren

[H2O Man]

5. While he betrayed

the employees of the Agency he directed, I am hoping that this book makes an effort to correct some of his errors in judgement.

[The Count]

13. During the preparations for war, I read plenty of articles about CIA disagreeing

with the BFEE pronouncements - re: WMD, connections with 9.11. It's why Cheney had to come up with his own private OSP. I am sure many CIA professionals will be glad to be rehabilitated by this book.
I remember thinking as I was reading those articles: "You know how dark times are, when CIA becomes the good guy in a story"

[Lone_Star_Dem]

6. I'm quite interested in reading this when it comes out

If nothing else they've done an excellent job of marketing his book.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

7. Hmpf! Should I force myself to read all his pathetic excuses for,...

,...engaging in one of the greatest frauds committed against the American people in U.S. history?

:banghead: I doubt it's ANYWHERE NEAR as apologetic as it should be.

Besides, I am sick of the excuses. I think I'll wait and listen to others' opinions rather than pay one dime for his publication.

[CatWoman]

8. BWAHAHAHAHA

I love the smell of chimp palm in the morning

:rofl:

[Gabi Hayes]

9. chimp palm?

snort!

smells like.....

[CatWoman]

!!

:hi:

:rofl:

[Morgana LaFey]

10. I hope this isn't as self-serving as most of the rest of what he's done

has been. I'd love to see an honest attempt to rehabilite himself and his reputation.

[The Count]

12. Much less so than Powell - whom a lot were fawning over here on DU

Tenet refused to take the heat for the 16 words. he tried and tried to warn W about OBL "like his hair was on fire" and insisted OBL not Iraq was the priority. It's all in Richard Clarke's book. The court jester Woodward made tenet a scapegoat for his pal, opportunistic Powell.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

17. So, where the hell did the, "slam dunk" thingy come from?

Was that another piece of propaganda?

Hm. Where DID that, 'slam dunk' assertion come from? I don't remember.

Also, what's with the medal?

[Morgana LaFey]

19. No argument there

Even if he's not "the worst," I still don't like some of what he did, although it's true that there were some things he TRIED to do. Maybe the book will lay it all out.

[Uben]

11. I've met the guy

He comes across as a very intelligent and a very likable guy. I am really looking forward to what he has to say. I think you'll get some answers to some questions that you already knew the answer to, but now you'll know for sure.

[charlie]

14. I was wondering if this would ever bear fruit

Saved this from September 2005:

Mr. Tenet's decision to defend himself against the charges in the report poses a potential crisis for the White House. According to a former clandestine services officer, the former CIA director turned down a publisher's $4.5 million book offer because he didn't want to embarrass the White House by rehashing the failure to prevent September 11 and the flawed intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. Mr. Tenet, according to a knowledgeable source, had a "wink and a nod" understanding with the White House that he wouldn't be scapegoated for intelligence failings. The deal, one source says, was sealed with the award of the Presidential Freedom Medal.

Now that deal may be off. Mr. Tenet's rebuttal to the report is detailed and explicit. In defending his integrity as CIA director, Mr. Tenet treads perilously close to affirming the account of Richard Clarke, the former NSC terrorism official whose public disclosure of the Bush administration's delay in adopting a strategy against al Qaeda stirred controversy last summer.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20050831-091719-1217r.htm

ChimpCo fucks over everyone eventually, even their most loyal minions.

[AnnInLa]

16. At TPM, there is a good discussion of "slam dunk"

and what it may have meant, and what it may not have meant. In particular, read all of the comments:

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/horsesmouth/2007/04/post_56.php

[nam78_two]

18. I think someone has been bad and might lose their nice shiny medal

:spank:

[Dinger]

20. I Was Thinking The Same Thing, But I Ain't Buyin' That Book! (nt)

[BuyingThyme]

21. NOTE TO READER: The WaPo is the architects' rag.

The Post has never done anything that wasn't ultimately aimed at defending/backing Cheney, Wolfowitz, Perle, Feith, and the rest.