Letters to the Editor
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If only...
If George Tenet and Colin Powell had resigned together and held a press conference to denounce the push for the Iraq (no WMD, no link to Al-Qaida, no mushroom clouds), maybe, maybe, it wouldn't have come off. Instead, they chose to toe the line and lie and mislead the Congress and the American public and allow this nation to be gulled into a disaster the damage from which may take a couple of generations to repair.
It's when supposedly good men join forces with evil that true evil is done. Shame on Powell and Tenet for going along with the lies and the deceit. They join Robert McNamara as johnny-come-latelies to the truth of their own actions.
How much does it take to impeach this president and vice president?
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Job security is Job # 1
Other spineless insects are coming out of the woodwork besides Tenet. Have you heard Dick Durbin?
Check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyonYGeyFb4
As someone else here said, blow the whistle and resign or take whatever consequences come from blowing the whistle. But don't ooze in front of a microphone NOW and tell us you knew all along. Tenet's book should be boycotted.
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Righteous Indignation
George Tenet’s performance on 60 Minutes was as distasteful and repugnant a performance by a public figure as any I can recall witnessing in my lifetime. As a life-long news and political junkie at the age of 57 years, I have seen quite a few.
The unmitigated gall of the man! In the short course of this one interview, he is compelled to feign indignation and to vehemently deny the near universal and obvious recognition that his agency engaged in the torture of prisoners and then immediately justify that same treatment. This psychotic episode is followed another large serving of righteous indignation over the damage to his personal “honor and reputation” that has been done, essentially by his own cowardice in the face of the office politics surrounding his role in the Bush White House.
Every one of these officials swears an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States and to uphold the laws established by Congress upon taking office. It should become universal practice for interviewers to read their respective oaths back during the course of such interviews and to premise a significant portion of the questions on the commitments established by those oaths. If some weasel like George Tenet wants to present himself as a victim of government wrong-doing, as he clearly attempted to do in his self-serving interview last night, let him make the case in the context of his sworn obligations to the US and its citizenry.
It would be illuminating indeed, if CBS could find the courage to provide a transcript of the entire interview, eliminating the spin that is inherent in the editing for broadcast process. Scott Pelley made a commendable gesture when he posed a question regarding whether there had been any deaths as the result of CIA interrogations. Sadly and shamefully he allowed Tenet to evade meaningful response when Tenet’s qualifying phrase “not in this program” was allowed to stand unchallenged. What specific program was Tenet referencing in that response? Which “programs” during his tenure as Director have resulted in the deaths of prisoners in CIA custody? These questions can be answered directly or can be honestly acknowledged with a statement to the effect that “the national security of the US does not allow me to respond.” Pelley’s failure to follow-up allowed Tenet to respond in a fashion that sounded like “no” to a majority of the audience, when there is obviously much more to tell about the substance of that particular issue.
I will no doubt, not buy the book. Though, I may pick up some of the numerous copies that I see in various book stores, page through them briefly and return them discretely to the shelves, possibly with accidentally but conspicuously damaged dust covers.
No, wait, that’s not nice. What have George Tenet and HarperCollins done to deserve such treatment? I would never advocate such mistreatment of other people’s property. That is unethical and would place my honor and reputation at risk. I would never do such a thing!
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Tenet - the Little Man Who Wasn't There
Mr. Tenet came out looking better in Richard Clarke's book, Against All Enemies. The fateful summer of 2001, Mr. Tenet was "running around with his hair on fire" trying to warn the Bush White House, to no avail. Last night, he was burning with righteous indignation on 60 Minutes.
But, as other writers have noted, where was he in late 2002, when the case for war against Iraq was being made, and Democrats slammed as treasonous dogs? Where was he during the Presidential campaign of 2004, when Mr. Bush could have been easily defeated by some long-overdue revelatons? For that matter, where was he in 2006?
If you must read his book, wait your turn at your local library.
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Next, the Repubs will blame...?
As the current Administration and Republican Party cohort is so wont to do these days, anything bad that happens is the fault of Bill Clinton.
Of course in this case it will be because Clinton appointed Tenet as Director of the CIA. Tenet failed and everything bad that happened afterwards was because Clinton appointed him.
Thus the failed war in Iraq, the failure to stop 9/11, and the failure to catch ObL are all Clinton's fault. Ask any Republican...
(end tongue in cheek)
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The Publishing Industry is getting fat off these guys
First there was the rash of books from insiders saying how wonderful Bush and everything Bushian was.
Then there were the leftie "but wait a minute" books like Fiasco, and Dick Clarke and so on.
Now that the wheels are all the way off, we are getting a NEW rash of "we knew it all along" books from the insiders.
This administration and everyone who's ever worked in it just makes me sick. I've reached a point where there is just nothing more to say than that.
One small point that no one else seems to have noted: Tenet got the first word out on Al Qaeda's nuclear ambitions/capabilities, with his little tale about Qaeda canceling an operation because they had something much bigger in mind.
Anyone seeing that meme grow on the rightie sites? I can no longer stand to read them even for research purposes.