Tenet should regret it. Does he?
And by "regret it," I mean George Tenet's entire tenure as the director of Central Intelligence.
I already wrote this morning that I'm trying to avoid a lot of press about the book so I can read it with an open mind, but that's becoming more and more difficult to do, since Tenet's book, At the Center of the Storm: My Years at the CIA, is setting off a firestorm in political circles in Washington.
The above clip, put together by a great political Website, Talking Points Memo, lays out in pretty good detail the president spewing a fountain of lies that Tenet was in a position to stop before they happened.
On Meet the Press yesterday, I was floored how many times Tenet said, sometimes in so many words, "I/we (the CIA) should have stopped that, but we didn't..." It makes one wonder why we even have a CIA in the first place, if all the director is going to do is say "yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes" to the president every time he wants to go to war.
I'm sure there's plenty of blame to go around surrounding the various intelligence failures surrounding 9-11 and the War in Iraq. It does seem like any Bush official who is criticized in the book is now running for cover, and they are all using Tenet as a scapegoat.
To be fair, Tenet is not the only official in the Bush administration who could have put a stop to the absurd lies that this administration knowingly used in speeches to promote war with Iraq. Condi Rice could have opened her mouth, but in hindsight, that seems ridiculous, considering the parrot she's become for President Bush these days.
My other question is, where was Colin Powell when all of this was going on? I can almost visualize the rest of the cabinet convening a war game plan while Powell is over in the corner with duct tape over his mouth, in the time-out chair.
One pattern is developing - whenever a former Bush administration official comes out with a book, with his or her version of the truth, and it reflects poorly in any way on Bush, Cheney or Condi, party operatives circle the wagons to protect Bush's already useless reputation like a mother hen protecting her young.
The latest:
Paul O'Neill
Richard Clarke
Christine Todd Whitman
George Tenet
The one person I'm waiting to hear from who used to be very high up in this administration is Powell. I get the feeling we will get a book out of him at some point, but not until Bush leaves office. And there will be others, too. Anyone out there think that I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby isn't going to tell his story at some point? I'd be the first in line to buy that book. And as twisted, full of lies, distortions and half-truths as it would be, I'd buy a book by Donald Rumsfeld, too, just so I could shake my head at his ridiculousness.
(Side bar - I wonder if he would write how he talked during his tenure at the Pentagon? "Do I wish we would have planned better for post-war Iraq? Yes." and "Do I regret my open combativeness with the press corps and breathtaking hubris during my time in the Bush administration? No." On second thought, I'd probably wait until I could get a copy of a Rummy book in a used bookstore.)
In the meantime, the president trudges on, defiant and obstinate, even in the face of overwhelming evidence that we will never realize "victory" in Iraq.
The only mystery left of his presidency is just how ow Bush's ratings can go. Currently, at 28 percent (the lowest during his entire time in the White House), he has the lowest approval ratings since Jimmy Carter in the late 1970s.
In the short-term, it's not likely to change much, however. Bush has shown a penchant for ignoring the polls when they don't favor him, and mercilessly pimping them when they support him.
I already wrote this morning that I'm trying to avoid a lot of press about the book so I can read it with an open mind, but that's becoming more and more difficult to do, since Tenet's book, At the Center of the Storm: My Years at the CIA, is setting off a firestorm in political circles in Washington.
The above clip, put together by a great political Website, Talking Points Memo, lays out in pretty good detail the president spewing a fountain of lies that Tenet was in a position to stop before they happened.
On Meet the Press yesterday, I was floored how many times Tenet said, sometimes in so many words, "I/we (the CIA) should have stopped that, but we didn't..." It makes one wonder why we even have a CIA in the first place, if all the director is going to do is say "yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes" to the president every time he wants to go to war.
I'm sure there's plenty of blame to go around surrounding the various intelligence failures surrounding 9-11 and the War in Iraq. It does seem like any Bush official who is criticized in the book is now running for cover, and they are all using Tenet as a scapegoat.
To be fair, Tenet is not the only official in the Bush administration who could have put a stop to the absurd lies that this administration knowingly used in speeches to promote war with Iraq. Condi Rice could have opened her mouth, but in hindsight, that seems ridiculous, considering the parrot she's become for President Bush these days.
My other question is, where was Colin Powell when all of this was going on? I can almost visualize the rest of the cabinet convening a war game plan while Powell is over in the corner with duct tape over his mouth, in the time-out chair.
One pattern is developing - whenever a former Bush administration official comes out with a book, with his or her version of the truth, and it reflects poorly in any way on Bush, Cheney or Condi, party operatives circle the wagons to protect Bush's already useless reputation like a mother hen protecting her young.
The latest:
George Tenet
The one person I'm waiting to hear from who used to be very high up in this administration is Powell. I get the feeling we will get a book out of him at some point, but not until Bush leaves office. And there will be others, too. Anyone out there think that I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby isn't going to tell his story at some point? I'd be the first in line to buy that book. And as twisted, full of lies, distortions and half-truths as it would be, I'd buy a book by Donald Rumsfeld, too, just so I could shake my head at his ridiculousness.
(Side bar - I wonder if he would write how he talked during his tenure at the Pentagon? "Do I wish we would have planned better for post-war Iraq? Yes." and "Do I regret my open combativeness with the press corps and breathtaking hubris during my time in the Bush administration? No." On second thought, I'd probably wait until I could get a copy of a Rummy book in a used bookstore.)
In the meantime, the president trudges on, defiant and obstinate, even in the face of overwhelming evidence that we will never realize "victory" in Iraq.
The only mystery left of his presidency is just how ow Bush's ratings can go. Currently, at 28 percent (the lowest during his entire time in the White House), he has the lowest approval ratings since Jimmy Carter in the late 1970s.
In the short-term, it's not likely to change much, however. Bush has shown a penchant for ignoring the polls when they don't favor him, and mercilessly pimping them when they support him.
Labels: At the Center of the Storm: My Years at the CIA, Christine Todd Whitman, Donald Rumsfeld, George Tenet, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Meet the Press, President Bush, Talking Points Memo, War in Iraq
posted by RJ at 12:02 PM
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