The Tenet Fiasco - Discussion Thread

self

[JulieRNR21]

Apparently the Brits are still standing by their report....so who knows what to believe at this point!

[Scenic Sounds]

On the face of it, perhaps. But Bush is the President. He has to take final responsibility, doesn't he?

Well, Cathryn, I'm just not sure that the word "responsibility" has any simple meaning in the context of all this.

Despite the bogus column written by Doug Thompson, I never believed for a minute that the President intentionally misrepresented any facts in his State of the Union address. I think that Mr. Tenet's statement supports the President on that point. When all is said and done, I'm confident that there will be few people here in America that will conclude that the President was guilty of any intentional wrongdoing.

However, that being said, it is something more than just a trifle when any president makes a mistake about matters of war and peace in a State of the Union address. And for that we are going to take a hit politically.

It's of the utmost importance now that we acknowledge any mistakes that were honestly made, promptly and forthrightly disclose whatever facts are relevant and disclosable, answer legitimate questions, and then move on to the important issues that this country faces.

The people of this country have grown to trust this President and I don't think that this incident will sever the connection of trust that he has made with them.

[timpad]

Niger/Nigeria, I always mess those up!

[Cathryn Crawford]

It's of the utmost importance now that we acknowledge any mistakes that were honestly made, promptly and forthrightly disclose whatever facts are relevant and disclosable, answer legitimate questions, and then move on to the important issues that this country faces.

I agree with you that the issue needs to be dealt with. How would you suggest doing so?

[RJCogburn]

I think there must be more to the story. It just is not 'tidy'.

Let it all out...the 'coverup' is worse than the 'crime'. There have to be more people involved in this error. Who? Why? I fear we may be seeing a 'modified limited hangout'.

[William McKinley]

You want a scandal and a Watergate? Let's find out who arranged for Wilson to go to Niger.

This was worded poorly, apologies. Let me try again:

You know where there might be a scandal and a Watergate? Let's find out who arranged for Wilson to go to Niger.

I did not mean to imply that you want a scandal, if anyone took it that way.

[Mr. Mojo]

GWB made his whole military plan contingent on WMD (in front of me and the whole world), and if there are none there, he is going to be hung by it.

The Euros and "the rest of the world" - two entities I personally could give a sh/t about - seem to care a helluva lot more than the American electorate about whether we find the WMD we and everyone else know Saddam had. Last poll I saw, over half of all Americans believe we did the right thing by enforcing the provisions of the '91 ceasefire in Iraq, whether or not we find the damned things.

[huck von finn]

George Tenet's admission last night that it was his mistake that caused President Bush to use faulty intelligence in his State of The Union address

Hmm. I didn't read it that way. What I gleaned from the statement was that Tenet was saying, rather, that his mistake was that his people did not finally insist upon taking it out. They had nothing to do with putting it in. So his mistake could not then logically cause Bush to use the faulty information--it only allowed Bush to use it.

[William McKinley]

I guess I am in the minority. I don't consider anything of the Niger/uranium tempest in a teapot to be of the utmost importance.

Other than finding out why Wilson was sent to Niger, that is.

[cyncooper]

President Bush did not convey faulty information. He said British intelligence sources found Iraq was seeking to purchase uranium from Africa. That is a fact that Britain stands by to this day.

Straw defends UK dossier uranium claims

The controversy centers around whether President Bush ought to cite foreign intelligence when our own agency cannot confirm to the level required for a president to publicly comment on.

I say President Bush owed the American people this information.

Tenet never says the information is not true, only that they did not have sufficient information to meet that high threshold.

[sd-joe]

"On the face of it, perhaps. But Bush is the President. He has to take final responsibility, doesn't he? If Bush can truly claim to know absolutely nothing, then don't we have a serious problem - wouldn't that imply that Bush is either incompetent or is simply not paying attention?"

Pres Bush has to take responsibility for the overall working of the government. That means that if a part of the government is not working or messed up, it is up to the President to fix it or replace it.

Obviously the President can not personally know every little detail of the millions of details that occur in the government. This is just not possible. He has to appoint people he believes he can trust, and then trust the information that he gets from them. If one or more of them prove that they can not be trusted, then the President should replace them.

The press is making a very big deal out of this one very minor statement because a large part of the press wants to tear down the President, and they have not found anything else to effectively attack him on.

[PhiKapMom]

And who Wilkinson is if there is a Wilkinson!

[Cathryn Crawford]

Tenet's admission

First, CIA approved the President's State of the Union address before it was delivered. Second, I am responsible for the approval process in my Agency. And third, the President had every reason to believe that the text presented to him was sound. These 16 words should never have been included in the text written for the President.

That's a pretty personal admission, in my opinion.

[William McKinley]

lol will you stay on topic!!!

We don't know that that was connected to the current Democrat assault. It just looks like it is highly likely.

[optimistically_conservative]

Unfortunately, we all know just how powerful the media is in this country.

That's right, it was the overly patriotic and conservatively biased media that duped us Americans into attacking Iraq under false pretences.

Silly me, here I am thoughtfully analyzing the information available over the two decades against my own experiences and coming to the same conclusion Bush did.

If only we were as intelligent as those powerful media pundits.

[Yeti]

One alternative might be that your typical reporter could not distinguish Uranium from Uranus.

True, except for maybe this guy, who I think is a reporter or journalist. He seems to have devoted considerable study to the matter.

[AAABEST]

However, if you want to talk about whether Bush should have purged Tenet and other Clintonites from the CIA some time ago...

He'd be gone right now if this whole debacle really was all his fault (as they contend) and caused this much trouble.

The conversation would go something like "you ex rat sonofabitch, it's your gudddamm job to provide us with reliable data and you fuxed up, not pack your $**t and get the hell out of my sight. Look at all the trouble you you got us into".

Instead they're best buddies still.

[Dog]

Ok lets get a message to Saddam .....tell him we didn't mean to invade his country and he can have it back..

Will that make all you naysayers happy???

[RJCogburn]

GWB made his whole military plan contingent on WMD (in front of me and the whole world)

I'm with Jim...and I don't so much as care about the whole world as much as what he said to me.

[Mind-numbed Robot]

This is a tempest in a teapot, blown all out of proportion for political purposes by the left on both sides of the pond. In his speech he stated that this information was from the British. That was only one of many reasons listed for outing Saddam. As are all speeches dealing with intelligence information, this was passed through the CIA for vetting. It passed. To now try to turn this into some lie Bush purposely told is laughable. To say that Bush, as top man, is responsible for all the government does is also unrealistic. Tenet, of whom I am not a fan, took the fall as head of the CIA but it was a gesture of leadership rather than a frank admission. He did clear Bush in the process, however.

So much of this has been discussed for so long it is discouraging that some of you still act like junior high school kids coming straight from a DNC indoctrination session. Too bad you made flaming out of bounds, as I am all primed.