George Tenet Tests Out His Chainsaw...
George Tenet really isn't helping himself here:
Long a Target Over Faulty Iraq Intelligence, Ex-C.I.A. Chief Prepares to Return Fire - New York Times: By MARK MAZZETTI and JULIE BOSMAN: George J. Tenet has maintained a determined silence even as senior White House officials have laid the blame for the prewar mistakes about Saddam Hussein on him.... Vice President Dick Cheney... pin[ned] the mistake about the Iraq intelligence squarely on him.
Now... Tenet... will use the book to juggle a host of agendas: polishing his legacy, settling scores and explaining just what he meant when he said it was a "slam dunk" that Mr. Hussein had unconventional weapons.... Friends and former colleagues... say... top aides with whom Mr. Tenet clashed in the past, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, are... targets of criticism....
Mr. Tenet is not expected to take on Mr. Bush, with whom he developed a close bond during early morning intelligence briefings in the Oval Office. But Mr. Tenet's friends said he had been surprised when Mr. Cheney and Ms. Rice, appearing on Sunday talk shows last September, fingered him in justifying Mr. Bush's decision to go to war with Iraq....
One person who has read early drafts of the book said Mr. Tenet defended himself by carefully parsing the "slam dunk" comment: he said he was not telling Mr. Bush that there was rock-solid evidence that Mr. Hussein had chemical and biological weapons, only that the president could make a "slam dunk" case to the American public about these weapons programs.
If true, Tenet appears to have forgotten who he was supposed to work for.
