How the CIA Failed America

Washington Post ^ | 5/11/07 | Richard Perle

[advance_copy]

George Tenet sets the stage in his memoir by recalling a conversation he claims to have had with me on Sept. 12, 2001: "As I walked beneath the awning that leads to the West Wing[, I] saw Richard Perle exiting the building just as I was about to enter. . . . Perle turned to me and said, 'Iraq has to pay a price for what happened yesterday. They bear responsibility.' I looked back at Perle and thought: Who has [he] been meeting with in the White House so early in the morning on today of all days?"

But I was in Europe on Sept. 12, 2001, unable to get a return flight to Washington, and I did not tell Tenet that Iraq was responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks, not then, not ever. That should have been the end of the story: a faulty recollection, perhaps attributing to me something he may have heard elsewhere, an honest mistake.

So I was surprised when, having been made aware of his error, Tenet reasserted his claim, saying: "So I may have been off on the day, but I'm not off on what he said and what he believed."

On "Meet the Press" last Sunday, Tenet argued that his version "seems to be corroborated" by a comment I made to columnist Robert D. Novak on Sept. 17 and a letter to President Bush that I signed, with 40 others, on Sept. 20. But my 10-word comment to Novak made no claim that Iraq was responsible for Sept. 11. Neither did the letter to the president, which said that "any strategy aiming at the eradication of terrorism and its sponsors must include a determined effort to remove Saddam Hussein from power."

[advance_copy]

George Tenet was a disaster for the CIA. I wish President Bush would have fired Tenet in January 2001.

[P-40]

Did Tenet talk about having no ‘boots on the ground’ collecting intelligence in Iraq and Afghanistan? Or about having near-zero speakers of Arabic? The 9/11 Commission Report had nothing good to say about that.

[Diogenesis]

That Tenet invokes Novak (daughter wrote Kerry’s speeches,
and who during the last election personally leaked Palmegate
for Kerry) has very bad implications and reeks of impropriety.

[Brilliant]

The biggest scandal is the fact that we are now in the 6th year after 911, and Congress still has not reformed the CIA to eliminate the 1970’s era restrictions that have hampered the War on Terror. Those restrictions led not only to 911, but also to the Iraq War.

[ASA Vet]

MI Ping

Sorry folks, I know the CIA isn't a real intelligence outfit, but since some think so, I guess this is related to our list. ;-))

[Badeye]

“George Tenet and, more important, our premier intelligence organization managed to find weapons of mass destruction that did not exist while failing to find links to terrorists that did — all while missing completely the rise of Islamist fundamentalism. We have made only a down payment on the price of that failure.”

I have yet in my lifetime to hear of a CIA ‘success’ beyond leaks to the New York Times and the Washington Post. That another former member of the CIA is lying publicly should not surprise anyone.

Its my belief we would be better leveling the Langley facility, fire every last employee of CIA, and buy a ‘Magic Eightball’ to replace it all.

[Tarpon]

Good reason to have the CIA spy on climate change.

[Obie Wan]

Well said !!!

[T'wit]

The CIA may not have anything to do with intelligence, but it has everything to do with conspiracy. The CIA is at the heart of every conspiracy theory I've ever heard (an unthinkably large number :-) ). Fully 42% of all conspiracy theories feature some form of the statement, "A former director of the CIA said/told me/revealed...". Another 17% of conspiracy theories say that a former director of the CIA was going to reveal the conspiracy, but they killed him before he could talk. In the remaining conspiracy theories, the CIA has the role of a dark, brooding Presence whose evil intentions are taken for granted.

[armymarinemom]

Sorry folks, I know the CIA isn't a real intelligence outfit, but since some think so, I guess this is related to our list. ;-))

Yeah. What you said.

[MadJack]

Good call. That should keep them busy for years.

[Suzy Quzy]

Please explain.....Novak’s daughter wrote Kerry’s speeches.....and she leaked Plamegate?

[Suzy Quzy]

Why the hell didn’t Perle write this on MONDAY!!!! We are always way too SLOW in getting facts out.

[Badeye]

Thanks.

Can anyone cite a CIA ‘success’ in the last four decades?

I can’t.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Just one of W’s string of bad mistakes since first taking office. Memo to the next Republican president (if there is one); CLEAN HOUSE !

[VA_Gentleman]

The successes of the CIA will never be known.

[Badeye]

‘The successes of the CIA will never be known.’

And golly gee, don’t you wish you could get away with that DODGE in your job?

[Freee-dame]

I have yet in my lifetime to hear of a CIA ‘success’

We don't hear about their successes. They protect their sources by staying quiet about them. Hopefully, there are some.

[Badeye]

“I have yet in my lifetime to hear of a CIA ‘success’ “

“We don’t hear about their successes. They protect their sources by staying quiet about them.”

Again, don’t you wish that was the criteria on your job?

We are supposed to believe a federal agency that can’t keep its mouth shut about a host of top secret programs....can keep its mouth shut for decades about ‘successes’?

Sorry, I’m not buying that Langley created mythical standard.

From the Bay of Pigs to 9/11, the CIA’s track record has been ABYSMAL. They even missed the economic collapse of the Soviet Union....(eyes rolling)

I refuse to accept any longer the Central Intelligence Agency’s ‘our successes are secret’ mantra...because the overwhelming track record is one of unmitigated FAILURE, on every level.