June 03, 2004

CIA Director George Tenet Resigns The Washington Post's Robert G. Kaiser tries to make sense of Tenet's resignation with readers in an online chat. I say Tenet's "slam dunk" WMD intelligence and pre-September 11 tracking of known terrorists that were hanging out in strip clubs justifies giving the man a second chance.
posted by Sullivan 20 years ago
  • I know it was sarcasm, but the man has had about thirty chances. I can count no less than seven things that would have made lesser directors resign.
  • The Iran-Contra affair is/was a conspiracy that has never been fully explained (for example, we have never been able to discover the real role of George H.W. Bush in that dark business). Wheeee!
  • I heard the Illuminati forced him out because he was going to expose the shadow governement's role in Iraq's attack on the WTC.
  • New York, N.Y.: The President did not appear very prepared in his remarks announcing Tenet's resignation -- they seemed off the cuff. Was the resignation a surprise to the President, too? (That would suggest to me that it was driven by unexpected events, rather than something that had been discussed for a few days or longer.) Robert G. Kaiser : Literally, no, beause, as he said, he and Tenet discussed it last night. There wasplenty of time to prepare a statement, but Bush for whatever reason chose not to. I thought he looked very hesitant and uncertain myself. Why did he allow that impression to be created, I wonder? Baffling. Baffling - yeah, that too.
  • I completely agree with Josh Marshall.
    Having said all that, beside the possibility that the White House's favored Iraqi exile was an Iranian agent, that the spy chief just got canned, that the OSD is wired to polygraphs, and that the president has had to retain outside counsel in the investigation into which members of his staff burned one of the country's own spies, I'd say the place is being run like a pretty well-oiled machine.
    Nothing to worry about. So go out and show your patriotism by shopping.
  • do hookers count?
  • Pete, these are Republicans. Not Democrats.
  • Will more rats abandon this sinking ship? Don't touch that dial!
  • So who will be the next to resign?
  • no way. from Rummy's cold dead hands! I'd say Powell.
  • My money's on Rice, personally.
  • Jeff Jarvis is so smart. He correctly declares that the "war in Iraq is not like Vietnam. It is like World War II. It is a war against fascism." This is why we must have Tenet back in the CIA. THIS IS WWII!!! If we leave Iraq now the insurgents won't have any US soldiers to shoot at. That means the Iraqis would have to start shooting at each other. It's fascism.
  • If this is a war against fascism, when are the Iraqi insurgents going to storm Hilton Head? That whole, WWII/Iraq comparison just fucking smacks of political opportunism considering the 60th anniversary. And, at least to me, it's an insult to all of those men and women who served to overthrough evil, fascist regimes who had attacked us or our allies. If they want a non-Vietnam comparison to make to Iraq, they should look to the Soviets in Afghanistan. Not a perfect fit by any means, but enough to draw similarities (albiet stretched). WWII was a fight for survival and doing the right thing. Iraq can barely claim the latter.
  • shawnj oh sure, and next you'll accuse the GOP of piggybacking off the memories of the Sept. 11 victims at their convention this year. Just because they chose to put it in New York. Near the site. And the date. anyone know where Hunter Thompson has been for the last 4 years?
  • Here?
  • Former CIA official Ray McGovern on George Tenet.
    George Tenet is clearly the first sacrificial lamb here. Things are going quite badly here in Washington. Somebody has to start being held accountable. And Tenet is sort of a tragic figure because he did all he could to help George Bush, much more than he should have as an objective intelligence professional. For example, the estimate that was prepared in September and October of 2002, which was used to persuade our Congress that Saddam Hussein was about to rain mushroom clouds upon us. That was George Tenet actually corrupting the Intelligence process to the policy that had already been decided. The decision for war antedated that estimate by six or seven months at least. And so we had the bizarre experience of a decision for war before there was any intelligence estimate, and the intelligence estimate sort of playing catch-up ball so that the Congress, that needed to approve this war, would be deceived. He played that game, and he defended it, and if you look at what that estimate said, it was wrong on virtually every count. It
  • Great link, homunculus.
  • Spy Work in Iraq Riddled by Failures
    U.S. analysts also erred in their analysis of high-altitude satellite photos, repeatedly confusing Scud missile storage places with the short, half-cylindrical sheds typically used to house poultry in Iraq. As a result, as the war neared, two teams of U.N. weapons experts acting on U.S. intelligence scrambled to search chicken coops for missiles that were not there. "We inspected a lot of chicken farms," said a former inspector who asked not to be identified because he now works with U.S. intelligence. His U.N. team printed "Ballistic Chicken Farm Inspection Team" on 20 gray T-shirts to mark the futile hunt.