Tenet Takes The Fall

[MonstaThrilla]

Linkage

Tenet said the responsibility for vetting the allegations included in Bush's State of the Union address about Iraqi efforts to get uranium from Africa beloing to the CIA and ultimately with himself.

"Let me be clear about several things right up front," he said. "First, CIA approved the president's State of the Union address before it was delivered. Second, I am responsible for the approval process in my agency. And third, the president had every reason to believe that the text presented to him was sound."

Tenet said CIA officials reviewed portions of the draft speech and raised some concerns with national security aides at the White House that prompted changes in language concerning allegations that Iraq sought to buy uranium from the African nation of Niger. But he said the CIA officials failed to stop the remark from being uttered despite the doubts about its validity.

It's nice to see some honesty in Washington.

 

[tnitsuj]

He;s being forced to fall on his sword. Thier is more to this than just what he is saying.

 

[phillyTIM]

the Regime begins to fall

time to get out the bush regime deck of cards, we're about to see a sizeable fish be taken out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[BaliBabyDoc]

Wait a minute, Tenet/CIA said the claim was suspect so the White House re-wrote the State of the Union to put the onus on the British claims which were based on the same intelligence. How does this vindicate the White House? Instead of telling a questionable story they are claiming it made sense to tell someone else's identical questionable story.

 

[MonstaThrilla]

Well this is how I see the Bush team and its supporters spinning this: "Tenet took the fall. Its not our fault. Look at this statement. End of story".

Sadly, I think the majority of Americans will accept this. Its up to the "liberal" press to show some cajones and pursue this more, but I'm not hopeful.

 

[Czar]

and something related, few days after the speech Powell did his speech to the UN, he skipped the Uranium story because he did not belive it was reliable enough

 

[Corn]

the Regime begins to fall

Tenet was appointed by Clinton.

He;s being forced to fall on his sword. Thier is more to this than just what he is saying.

LOL, why, because you don't like what he's saying.....because it doesn't fit with your irrational hatred of Bush?

Oh well, maybe next week another short straw will present itself for y'all to start grasping at. I'm amused.

 

[UltraQuiet]

Oh well, maybe next week another short straw will present itself for y'all to start grasping at. I'm amused.

Me too. Alternating with disgust as the shrillness increases exponentially.

 

[Zipp]

See,GW didn't lie. He was given bad information.

Tenet will resign and this will blow over. You libs got nothing.

Better get to work on another angle to try to bring him down.


Bush 2004!

 

[Bowfinger]

Originally posted by: MonstaThrilla
It's nice to see some honesty in Washington.

Perversely, this isn't honesty. It's lying to cover for the boss. Falling on his sword as tnitsuj said.

Tenet's "admission" might be plausible if there hadn't been so many leaks over the preceding year contradicting Bush on the Iraqi nuclear weapons non-program and complaining about the Bush administration's manipulation of intelligence. We also have the guy* who was dispatched by Cheney to investigate the alleged Niger uranium purchase, and who reported back in March, 2002 that the documents were forged -- over nine months before Bush repeated the lie in the SOTU. To claim that the Bush administration didn't know this was a lie is absurd. It just doesn't hold water.

(*Sorry, can't remember his name off the cuff, but it's been widely reported in the last week and it's the subject of a thread here.)

Edit: got it, it was former Ambassador to Gabon, Joseph Wilson, sent by the CIA at Cheney's request

 

[Corn]

Alternating with disgust as the shrillness increases exponentially.

Hell, this ought to amuse/disgust you plenty. Evidently Bush is a co-conspirator to 9/11!!! :Q

 

[MonstaThrilla]

Originally posted by: Bowfinger

Originally posted by: MonstaThrilla
It's nice to see some honesty in Washington.

Perversely, this isn't honesty. It's lying to cover for the boss. Falling on his sword as tnitsuj said.

Fair enough. I change my statement to state: "It's nice to see someone actually take blame for something in Washington".

I think this was a genius move by Rove though. Bush has got Tenet by the sack as it is, so getting him to "fall in his sword" keeps the President's credibility and wins him re-election next year.

I would love to see Tenet resign and blow the whistle on everything he knows, especially about exactly what went wrong with the 9/11 intelligence debacle, but I know it ain't gonna happen.

 

[BaliBabyDoc]

For those buying this retraction/poor vetting story, how is Tenet/CIA to blame if the White House rewrite was materially identical to the first draft that the CIA disliked? It is certainly true the British had intelligence intimating that Saddam was trying to buy nuclear material. But everyone involved CIA/WH had to know the re-write was just as misleading as the original b/c intelligence operatives on both sides of the Atlantic had serious doubts.

 

[MonstaThrilla]

Originally posted by: Corn

Alternating with disgust as the shrillness increases exponentially.

Hell, this ought to amuse/disgust you plenty. Evidently Bush is a co-conspirator to 9/11!!! :Q

Oh please. I explicitly restated what I meant by "taking responsibility". I didn't think anyone would actually misconstrue it that way. If you want to stay blind to the harsh realities of that horrible debacle then you may, but don't put words in my mouth.

 

[UltraQuiet]

Originally posted by: BaliBabyDoc
For those buying this retraction/poor vetting story, how is Tenet/CIA to blame if the White House rewrite was materially identical to the first draft that the CIA disliked? It is certainly true the British had intelligence intimating that Saddam was trying to buy nuclear material. But everyone involved CIA/WH had to know the re-write was just as misleading as the original b/c intelligence operatives on both sides of the Atlantic had serious doubts.

If you have both drafts for me to compare, I'll answer your question.

Powell took it out of his speech 8 days later which leads me to believe that he made an honest and determined effort to make his speech to the UN as factual as possible. A speech he is still standing by as of yesterdays press conference.

 

[Corn]

Oh please. I explicitly restated what I meant by "taking responsibility". I didn't think anyone would actually misconstrue it that way.

I was referring to Moonie's post in that thread, not yours.

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

This story isn't making sense. If the CIA knew all along it shouldn't be in the speach, why was it? Tenet needs to start naming names as to just who was in the meetings where this decision made, and WHY it was made. Somebody obviously wanted it to be included, somebody the CIA wasn't willing to take to task over it.

 

[DealMonkey]

I guess it makes you wonder if the "Iraqi efforts to get uranium from Africa" bit wasn't factual - what else is the administration telling us not factual as well?

 

[SuperTool]

He is blaming himself for not stopping the remark from being uttered despite raising concerns with the national security staff at the whitehouse? If he raised the concerns, and Bush still wants to utter the remark, what exactly is Tenet supposed to do? Bush gives orders to Tenet, not the other way around.
Bush needs to take responsibility, and stop passing the buck. He kept Tenet on so that he can use him as the fall guy, and then say, well, I didn't appoint him, Clinton did. Bush really has no shame. He lies in the State of the Union, and then Tenet has to take the fall for not stopping Bush from lying?

 

[Moonbeam]

Originally posted by: Corn

Oh please. I explicitly restated what I meant by "taking responsibility". I didn't think anyone would actually misconstrue it that way.

I was referring to Moonie's post in that thread, not yours.

You mean the stuff that's on the radio. My question was about secrecy. What are you, Corn, a conspiracist?
=========
We still have a little matter of who did the forgeries.

 

[JellyBaby]

Time to get a few people under oath ya think?

 

[Piano Man]

Everyone knows the CIA was pressured to "come up" with evidence to help Bush get his war. Tenet is the fall guy in this situation.

 

[sandorski]

Declaring this the end, albeit it may end the controversy for many, is like choosing a Lobotomy rather than thinking the facts through! I don't need to get into the reasons, others have already stated them.

 

[jahawkin]

link

But U.S. officials told NBC News? Andrea Mitchell that Tenet himself advised Rice?s top deputy, Steven Hadley, to remove a reference to the uranium report from a speech Bush delivered Oct. 7 in Cincinnati, establishing that the nation?s top intelligence officials suspected that the allegation was false more than three months before they approved Bush?s repeating it in his nationally televised address on Jan. 28.

Oh, I see. The refrence was false in October, false for Powell's speech at the UN, but somehow it was OK for the State of the Union. Right........

 

[digitalsm]

We still have a little matter of who did the forgeries.

Considering we got the forgeries from the UK, you might want to ask them. British intel shared it with the CIA and White House.