Posted on 04/29/2007 6:40:23 PM PDT by Valin
SCOTT SHANE REPORTED in Saturday's New York Times that former CIA chief George Tenet's dramatic description in his book, At the Center of the Storm, of an August 2002 presentation at the CIA by defense undersecretary Douglas Feith and his staff, is at the very least misleading. In order to suggest that Feith's staff was utterly out of its depth, Tenet characterized the main briefer, Tina Shelton, as a "naval reservist." In fact, she had been a Defense Intelligence Agency analyst for almost two decades. Tenet also claimed that Shelton said in her presentation of Iraq-al Qaeda contacts, "It is an open-and-shut case." Shelton and Feith both deny she said that. One person who served in government with Shelton told THE WEEKLY STANDARD today he finds it "inconceivable" that Shelton, an experienced analyst, would have made such an unequivocal assertion.
THE WEEKLY STANDARD has now learned of a second, more stunning error in Tenet's book (which is due to appear in bookstores tomorrow). According to Michiko Kakutani's review in Saturday's Times,
On the day after 9/11, he [Tenet] adds, he ran into Richard Perle, a leading neoconservative and the head of the Defense Policy Board, coming out of the White House. He says Mr. Perle turned to him and said: "Iraq has to pay a price for what happened yesterday. They bear responsibility." Here's the problem: Richard Perle was in France on that day, unable to fly back after September 11. In fact Perle did not return to the United State until September 15. Did Tenet perhaps merely get the date of this encounter wrong? Well, the quote Tenet ascribes to Perle hinges on the encounter taking place September 12: "Iraq has to pay a price for what happened yesterday." And Perle in any case categorically denies to THE WEEKLY STANDARD ever having said any such thing to Tenet, while coming out of the White House or anywhere else.
According to Kakutani, Tenet concludes by paraphrasing Daniel Patrick Moynihan's comment: "Policymakers are entitled to their own opinions--but not to their own set of facts." How many other facts has George Tenet invented?
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Bumpitttt.
He’s just following in the footsteps of his former boss, X42, who vividly remembered black churches being fire-bombed and burning in Arkansas, when they hadn’t.
Hoist by his own petard.
It was the JOOOOooooo’s!
Thanks for posting. I just know I’m going to have to refute a lot of this BS this week.
GWB’s first and biggest mistake. Not cleaning house immediately upon taking office.
Ya gotta wonder about a former CIA director who would put this book out now while we are still at war and Bush is still Prez!
GWB’s first and biggest mistake. Not cleaning house immediately upon taking office.
" I'll turn to president Clinton and say, Mr. president, you're under arrest. "
As I suspected all along!
Right. He makes Dan Rather look downright honest.
Confirmation of Kristol’s account.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2007/04/at_the_center_of_the_storm_a_d.html
Thanks. I hope this story has legs.
What I see in this story is more proof that really smart people can (and often do) do really stupid things.
maybe Tennets Mistake was not doing enough Factual Research by sticking documents down his Skivvies..like Sandy berger
And he went on and on for more than 500 pages! Man, what an imagination.
Ping
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