Posted on 10/01/2006 2:02:11 AM PDT by angkor
On July 10, 2001, two months before the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, then-CIA Director George J. Tenet met with his counterterrorism chief, J. Cofer Black, at CIA headquarters to review the latest on Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda terrorist organization. Black laid out the case, consisting of communications intercepts and other top-secret intelligence showing the increasing likelihood that al-Qaeda would soon attack the United States. It was a mass of fragments and dots that nonetheless made a compelling case, so compelling to Tenet that he decided he and Black should go to the White House immediately. Tenet called Condoleezza Rice, then national security adviser, from the car and said he needed to see her right away. There was no practical way she could refuse such a request from the CIA director. For months, Tenet had been pressing Rice to set a clear counterterrorism policy, including specific presidential orders called "findings" that would give the CIA stronger authority to conduct covert action against bin Laden. Perhaps a dramatic appearance -- Black called it an "out of cycle" session, beyond Tenet's regular weekly meeting with Rice -- would get her attention. Tenet had been losing sleep over the recent intelligence he'd seen. There was no conclusive, smoking-gun intelligence, but there was such a huge volume of data that an intelligence officer's instinct strongly suggested that something was coming. He and Black hoped to convey the depth of their anxiety and get Rice to kick-start the government into immediate action. He did not know when, where or how, but Tenet felt there was too much noise in the intelligence systems.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
It's all Condi's fault.
WHAT A LOAD OF STEAMING HORSE MANURE. -Cindy
TOTAL coincidence, of course...
Can you believe what a bunch of suckers the media played the public for before the new media gave us the ability to witness the manipulation for ourselves?
The entire paragraph above is one big "cover my ass" account by Tenet and Black--both of whom were Clinton holdovers, and both of whom let Bin Laden slip away 8 times before Bush ever took office. Woodward did not get Condi's side of the story, so of course only the holdover failures get advocacy. The Admin. should just say the book is a pack of lies, and that Woodward did not verify source claims at all. "This is a work of fiction", Snow and/or Bush should say.
This is Woodwards "monica" for the CIA for all the leaks given to him over the years.
Tenet's the good guy? Rice bad?
This is crap.
Yup. That's useful intel! < /sarc >
Can Bush recall Tenet's medal of freedom or whatever it was the Dims point to a prove Tenet was a good guy?
Sounds like Tenent and Black should have heald a seance with Condi rather than a meeting. Feelings, vibes, "noise".
>"This is a work of fiction", Snow and/or Bush should say."
I was going to add "Woodward's Fictional Reporting" to the headline.
Condi should have taken the logical step at this point, i.e. contact the CIA Director and have them get to work on this. /sarc>
"...Tenet felt there was too much noise in the intelligence systems."
- THIS SUGGESTS A CONVERSATION THAT WENT SOMETHING LIKE THIS:
- Tenant; "I got a bad feeling about this boss. Things are too quiet."
- Rice; "Have you any more to go on?"
- Tenant; "Well...I'm not sleeping very well at night and I feel anxious a lot. I've found it's never wise to ignore your premonitions."
The CIA had already done its due diligence, which is why Black and Tenent showed up at the White House door with vibes, noise, and voodoo.
If only they'd brought their main man, Mike Scheuer.
I never see anyone bring that up, including the 911 commission.
Good one.
You're almost ready to graduate from the Bob Woodward School Of Fictional Reporting.
You might add some dialogue about Condi's struggle to prioritize the ballistic missile defense system versus Tenent and Black's premonitions.
Woodward's always been a liar.
Woodward practices a unique and admired form of journalism called "Bob Woodward's Fictional Reporting (tm)."
It's not really true, but it's not really false, either (most of the time).
His sources for previous books get sympathetic payoff treatment in subsequent books. That's a key currency in the "Fictional Reporting" repetoire.
His sources and the subjects of a "Fictional Reporting" treatment often get to construct their own stories and quotes.
For example, do you think Woodward was reporting from the bedroom closet of the Tenent home in Virginia, or was Tenent allowed to add some color by including his "sleepless nights" as fact and directly relevant to the emerging bin Laden threat?
I tend to think that Woodward's bedroom closet days have some to an end.
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