Letters to the Editor
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Dear Professor Cole,
As someone who is intellectually honest, I expect that you might wish to edit your own article to delete your apparently satisfied reliance on George Tenet's story that he had a White House hallway conversation on 9/12 with Richard Perle, whom he quotes as cursing what "Iraq" had done "yesterday." Tenet seems to have crawled out on a limb as to what "yesterday" might have been at issue, and when such a conversation took place, or whether any such conversation took place at all.
Why?
Well, as Bill Kristol reports in the Weekly Standard, Mr. Perle was out of the country on 9/11/01. He was notably unable to return to Washington until the 15th of September due to the worldwide shutdown of air traffic. Mr. Perle was not anywhere near where Tenet places him on 9/12, to have made any "yesterday" reference. Mr. Perle denies, rather credibly now, that he ever had any such a conversation with Tenet at all.
The Tenet book is positively in error on the point you quoted, Prof. Cole. Period.
http://weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/013/593daqmw.asp
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IMHO, the "emotionalism" is a tactic .... an anti-analytical, anti-intellectual tactic ..
His emotionalism was terrifying. This "feel my pain" whacker was the head of the CIA under two US Administrations?
It's also part of that "need" to use torture because the bad guys are so very very very bad .... and tough, so tough, you can't break them ...
It's very comic book and it's also been proven that torture is NOT magically how "more" effective, it's less effective ....
but his "guts" tells him otherwise ...
It also likely this "emotionalism", being the opposite of BORING actual data and policy talk, is part of Tenet's appeal ... his quaint "up from nothing" life story too must appeal to those executive branch down-home blue bloods ... who revel in visions of "evil doers" and "dead or alive" tough talk ...
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Tennet breached his Patriotic Duty to Leak....
Too little too late.
If George Tennet had this sinking feeling pre-war, but felt he couldn't talk, he could have done what many patriots do in this situation as a last resort.....LEAK.
He could have leaked, especially with regard to Perle, Feith, and Rumsfeld's preconceived motives and statements, BUT, he didn't. He saved it all for his book. Therefore, his profitable information does very little for his country NOW, but does a lot for himself.
Too little, too late. Juan Cole states it well; if he knew the agenda of Perle and gang, as top spy, he did little to nothing to be an obsticle. Tennet was perfectly positioned to wage an internal battle and WIN. But, he didn't try. He just pulled one speech and tinkered with a few others.
Too little, too late.
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BOYCOTT THIS PIECE OF CRAP!
That’s a sentiment I believe people across the political spectrum can rally around.
Meanwhile, a few questions for “not so curious” George:
What happened, did you not get enough when you pawned your Presidential Medal of Honor?
Was Bob Woodward your book premise advisor?
Do you have a book-marketing plan for the families of the 3,622 coalition death victims?
Is there a separate marketing plan for the families of those among the immense Iraqi casualties?
Having set a new low in public service, are you now trying to reset the limbo bar for prostitution?
Do you really think you can get away with this?
Have you NO shame, sir?
Okay, I borrowed that one from Keith Olbermann…
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The US Political System Was Too Scared to Challenge Bush
I remember switching on CNN at about midnight Sydney time to catch up on the news before going to sleep. I watched in amazement as the second aircraft flew into the Twin Towers. It was a terrible thing but, in world terms, the loss of three thousand or so people is not unusual.
Violent death happens frequently around the world and the US has often had its fingerprints on the smoking gun. For instance, it helped Saddam Hussein acquire the lethal chemicals used by him against Iranians (and his own people) because it suited US strategic objectives. Don't forget the US planes that dropped Agent Orange and Napalm in Vietnam. How many Americans lost sleep when they read about that peccadillo? My guess is that too many Americans care about their own and do not value the lives of others very much. The American media rightly publishes details of US troops who have died in the Middle East. Notably, it has very little to say about those Iraqis and Afghanis who have died, lost limbs and loved ones, their houses and neighbourhoods.
When Bush went on his Evangelical tour preaching the need for the US to bomb Iraq into the stone age I thought that he was a most unconvincing debater who flipped flopped from one paltry reason to another. American politicians from all parties supported him with their inertness. Did it cross their minds that an invasion of the US by disgruntled Iraqis would have been equally unfair? Is it acceptable for the US to invade others but unacceptable if others invade the US?
Your politicians did not say boo to Bush. He went unchallenged In Australia and the UK, both of which joined the US in Afghanistan and Iraq, there was a serious debate and opposition which exists to this day. I must admit that the politicians who controlled our entry into these war zones glibly repeated whatever Bush said and that they still hold office.
I suspect that if US politicians had worried less about their prospects of being re-elected or being a lone voice speaking up about Bush that the US might have had some semblance of a debate. Well, we know that didn't happen. Those guys were more worried about their grooming: expensive suits and well cut hairdos with never a hair out of place.
Your political system has failed you and it will continue to do so because the Presidential system is cumbersome. Unlike the Parliamentary system which has a Prime Minister and Ministers elected by the House of Reps, as in Australia, Congress cannot replace Bush even though he has lost the confidence of the people. He is able to continue his lost war while Congress whistles in the wind.
It is upto Americans to look deep into their souls because they have caused much misery in the Middle East and to their own troops and their families. I imagine that they will soon be protected by widespread amnesia. If you do not examine these evnts and compare them to Vietnam and the British presence in Northern Ireland then you will continue to make the same mistakes because you will fail to learn to be self-examining.
One last thing. Bush came on CNN and explained that the US was in Iraq because of oil. I was amazed by this crude explanation for the invasion. However, CNN, which dutifully repeats its newscasts every hour dropped this interview without any explanation in subsequent news broadcasts. I am confident that Bush is a serial liar who does not have the intellect to be analytical and to think things through to their logical conclusions. I think that he deluded himself with his aspirations. His inability to formulate strategic objectives and the supporting plans is well evidenced by the post Katrina failures. He just can't get things right.
Best of Luck.
Robert James speaking out from Sydney.