Posted on 04/26/2007 4:44:48 PM PDT by Anti-Bubba182
CIA TENET: BUSH ADMIN USE OF HIS 'SLAM DUNK' COMMENT TO PUSH WAR WAS DISINGENUOUS, DISHONORABLE AND RUINED REPUTATION AND CAREER
Thu Apr 26 2007 14:11:35 ET
Ex-CIA Director George Tenet says the way the Bush administration has used his now famous "slam dunk" comment Ð which he admits saying in reference to making the public case for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq Ð is both disingenuous and dishonorable. It also ruined his reputation and his career, he tells Scott Pelley in his first network television interview. The interview will be broadcast on 60 MINUTES Sunday, April 29 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.
The phrase "slam dunk" didn't refer to whether Saddam Hussein actually had WMDs, says Tenet; the CIA thought he did. He says he was talking about what information could be used to make that case when he uttered those words. "We can put a better case together for a public case. That's what I meant," explains Tenet.
Months later, when no WMDs were found in Iraq, someone leaked the story to Washington Post editor Bob Woodward, who then wrote about a Dec. 21, 2002 White House meeting in which the CIA director reportedly "rose up, threw his arms in the air [and said,] 'It's a slam dunk case.'" Tenet says it was a passing comment, made well after major decisions had already been made to mobilize the nation for war.
The leak effectively made him a scapegoat for the invasion and ended his career. "At the end of the day, the only thing you have... is your reputation built on trust and your personal honor and when you don't have that anymore, well, there you go," Tenet tells Pelley. He says he doesn't know who leaked it but says there were only a handful of people in the room. "It's the most despicable thing that ever happened to me," Tenet says. "You don't do this. You don't throw somebody overboard just because it's a deflection. Is that honorable? It's not honorable to me," he says.
Tenet says to have the president base his entire decision to go to war on such a remark is unbelievable. "So a whole decision to go to war, when all of these other things have happened in the run-up to war? You make mobilization decisions, you've looked at war plans," says Tenet. "I'll never believe that what happened that day informed the president's view or belief of the legitimacy or the timing of this war. Never!"
Tenet says what bothers him most is that senior administration officials like Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice continue using "slam dunk" as a talking point. "And the hardest part of all this has been just listening to this for almost three years, listening to the vice president go on "Meet the Press" on the fifth year [anniversary] of 9/11 and say, 'Well, George Tenet said slam dunk' as if he needed me to say 'slam dunk' to go to war with Iraq," he tells Pelley. "And you listen to that and they never let it go. I mean, I became campaign talk. I was a talking point. ÔLook at the idiot [who] told us and we decided to go to war.' Well, let's not be so disingenuous... Let's everybody just get up and tell the truth. Tell the American people what really happened," says Tenet.
Developing...
I said Bush giving this piece of trash a presidental Metal of Freedom along with Bremer was a mistake.
Most of the Intelligence was correct. I don’t understand why the Bush admin chose to throw Tenet overboard. It was a mistake and now it comes home to roost.
Bash Bush,,,,guaranteed free publicity for you book.
“Be the Toast of the Town!” “Make New Friends!” “Be Popular!” “Be on all the Morning Shows!”
to have the president base his entire decision to go to war on such a remark
So, which is it?
Those two statements seem at odds, to me.
Considering he was a clintoon appointee, I don't understamd why the Bush Admin. chose to keep him.
What an assclown tenet is! Honor and reputation, indeed!
Tenet: I said it, but it was Bush’s fault for quoting me.
Let me guess: Scott Pelley did this interview too.
Bush had far too many idiot losers in his first term. Tenet is one of many.
BOO FRIKKIN HOO. He said SLAM DUNK, not the President or the Vice President. This is a fatal flaw of President Bush- he tries to reach out across party lines by keeping Tenet in place and he ultimately gets stabbed in the back. The Bob Bullock model doesn’t apply in cookie cutter fashion, Mr. President. He was the rare exception. Welcome to foggy bottom- again, and hey, and when is the administration going to force weak water Gonzalez to take action against Sandy Burglar, anyway??? EVER??!! You’ve run out of cheeks to turn Mr. President.
Give him another medal and maybe hold a parade for him.
Did Bush look Tenet in the eyes too?
If the President had fired him because he was a Clinton appointee he would be accused of doing it for “political reasons”.
Damned either way.
Was tenet asked how many documents of his were “retrieved” by sandy burglar?
Hillary has already stated she’ll clear out the “Bush cronies” from the government, something Bush neglected to do when he took office and Gonzales is getting raked over the coals for doing...
Bush is a gentleman. He was firing those guys, but he didn’t want to humiliate them. Unfortunately, there is no place for a gentleman in our age.
Tenet, Harry Reid, anybody else?
-PJ
It was compassion.
It’s now clear that Dubya’s biggest mistake was keeping Clinton holdovers.
This is what you get when you let incompetent people from the wrong side of the political divide hang around.
This man presided over the largest, most deadly intelligence failure in US History on 9/11. He then went on to screw up the intelligence on Iraq. Now, to escape blame for historic incompetency, he does what all Democrats do, blame Republicans in a book. All the while knowing the dishonest, disgraceful media in this country will help him in his mission. What a total POS this guy is. I hope he rots in Hell.
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