Posted on 05/03/2007 4:42:14 AM PDT by IrishMike
There is no reason why George Tenet shouldn’t promote his book, At the Center of the Storm. And every reason why those who have now heard him in action should wonder: How did such a man, so vain, so emotional, so unreasoning, become head of the CIA?
Scott Pelley of CBS did fine work in attempting to explore Tenet’s theses, but found himself at the outset of the interview dealing with a melodramatist unsuited for the role of historian. Self-pity ruled: “People don’t understand us, you know,” Tenet started in. “They think we’re a bunch of faceless bureaucrats with no feelings, no families, no sense of what it’s like to be passionate about running these bastards down.”
If all that Tenet was saying was that a lot of people who do tedious work are underappreciated, he is right about the CIA, as also about garbage collectors and schoolteachers. There is a role for passion, clearly, when hunting down the kind of people who want to explode bombs in New York City. But a key to success in clandestine operations is sobriety. A friend analogized the point for me years ago: “A surgeon doesn’t look down on the ruptured appendix and say, ‘I’ll get you, you son of a bitch.’”
What 60 Minutes wanted to know was: What happened that led to so much misinformation in 2003?
Begin with the president’s State of the Union address, in which he spoke of uranium being purchased in Niger to facilitate nuclear operations in Iraq. In fact, it wasn’t so.
Pelley: The CIA had knocked down that uranium claim months before. The agency even demanded it be taken out of two previous presidential speeches. How did it get through the third time?
Tenet: I didn’t read the speech.
(Excerpt) Read more at article.nationalreview.com ...
Exactly my reaction.
He was appointed by BJ Clinton wasn’t he?
The mystery isn’t that Bill Clinton appointed Tenet, because the Clintons knew that they could push this putz around and that he was just grateful someone was giving him a pay check.
The real mystery is why in the world George Bush kept him on when he came into office. Why didn’t Papa Bush know enough about the qualities necessary to lead the CIA, having been CIA chief himself, to tell W to get rid of this incompetent? Seeing him laying the blame on Janet Reno may be entertaining, because she was also Bill Clinton’s door mat after the massacre of children at Waco, but it emphasizes what a loathsome character Tenet is, totally unfit for the crucial job he held when jihadis were launching multiple attacks on the USA.
How did he get the job? Bill Clinton appointed him.
That should answer the question of how an incompetent like Tenet got his job.
The question is Why in the bloody living hell did George Bush let him stay?
a male hysteric is what I thought. I was amazed at him and how on earth he was head of the agency. He must have been prancing around the halls having histrionics every day. The man should have been a clothing designer, wedding planner or hairdresser for goodness sakes.
Because he's a political appointee and an SES. Most of them are like that. They live in bubbles and are not connected to the real world.
Tenet would make Inspector Cluseau look like a Genius!!!!
What a Boob!
I watched him last night with B O’R...he’s a piece of work. Each time Bill tried to nail him on a discrepancy or point of contention- Tenet’s response was to blame Bill for trying to blame him.
Good question. I doubt we'll ever figure it out.
Carolyn
Bush has kept hundreds of mid- to high-level Clinton appointees in strategic positions within his administration. It blows my mind... because these are the idiots responsible for intentional holdups, leaks, intentional miscommunication, leaks, and leaks.
Never again will I vote against my gut reaction... which in 2000 was that Bush is a missionary, not a warrior.
Good question. I doubt we'll ever figure it out.
It was part of Bush's new tone in Washington.
It worked really well, didn't it?
Lie with snakes, you get bitten.
LOL. Couldn't have said it better.
How did Lisa Nowak become an astronaut... how did Cho Seung-Hui become a senior at Virginia Tech... how did a rapist become president?
You ask very good questions.
I have no answers.
It is really scary to see such an incompetent, hysterical, boob in charge of one of the most important agencies in the nation. The truth be known, Bush has surrounded himself with imcompetent assistants.
Even Buckley has 'forgotten' the facts on this issue: EVERY WORD PRESIDENT BUSH SAID IN THE STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS ABOUT YELLOWCAKE WAS TRUE. It is truly amazing how the DBM can create a false impression, and then it becomes a fact. Goebbels was right. But Goebbels also said at the same time that the worst enemy of the 'big lie' is the truth.
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