NYT Tenet Resigns as C.I.A. Director; 3 Harsh Reports on Agency Due

[maddezmom]

~snip~
A number of Mr. Tenet's friends said that despite the looming critical reports, the intelligence director was stepping down for the family reasons he cited and because he was worn out from the relentless pressures of his job since the attacks of Sept. 11. Under Mr. Tenet, the C.I.A. has been the subject of blistering critiques for what its detractors have called the two worst intelligence failures of the last 50 years: not anticipating Sept. 11 and exaggerating the threat of Iraq's unconventional weapons.

~snip~

Mr. Graham, the former Democratic chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he doubted that Mr. Tenet had departed as willingly as his friends said. "I suspect there was some push out of the office," he said. "This president has been enamored of George Tenet, and has been reluctant to hold him or anyone else accountable, and that failure was becoming a bigger and bigger liability."

In the end, Mr. Graham said, Mr. Bush announced Mr. Tenet's resignation for his own political well-being "under circumstances where he is at the crime scene as short as possible.

~snip~

The timing of the announcement appeared to take even senior White House officials by surprise. As one recounted the events, Mr. Bush had just walked back into the Oval Office after finishing a morning news conference in the Rose Garden with Prime Minister John Howard of Australia. At that point, Mr. Bush informed a small group in the Oval Office that Mr. Tenet had resigned. The group included Mr. Cheney; Secretary of State Colin L. Powell; Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser; Andrew H. Card Jr., the White House chief of staff; and Dan Bartlett, the White House communications director.

~snip~

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/04/politics/04TENE.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5062&en=71fa78a066064b52&ex=1086926400&partner=GOOGLE

[Old and In the Way]

1. NYTimes: Well, I guess I'm not surprised.

"Under Mr. Tenet, the C.I.A. has been the subject of blistering critiques for what its detractors have called the two worst intelligence failures of the last 50 years: not anticipating Sept. 11 and exaggerating the threat of Iraq's unconventional weapons."

Did Bush go in front of the 9/11 commisssion, in public, under oath, by himself?

Looks to me the NYT's has bought the big lie. Let's pretend George never had that DPB on 8/6 that Tenet personally delivered. A question....if this administration wanted 9/11 to occur, just what info could Tenet have provided that would have got this administration's attention?

[Tansy_Gold]

2. Help me out here. I'm old and I forget things, but isn't the NYT

the paper that recently admitted it sometimes didn't vet its news reporting quite as carefully as it should?

Or do I remember that wrong?

/sarcasm off now/

:puke:

[Old and In the Way]

3. They don't report the news anymore, they help make it.

Ask Judith Miller.

[leesa]

4. We cannot let them get away with blaming the CIA

[John_H]

5. Welp, there it is folks. The NY Miller-Rumsfeld Times tips the hand

This Tenet thing ain't the neurosurgery we've been performing around here.

1)Rove tells everyone to tell I-Get-A-Woody-for-Access Woody that Tenet said the words "Slam Dunk."

2)Committe controlled by right wing rethugs and Dems who don't like to criticize chimp too much (bayh et. al.) generates report blaming Tenet for 9-11.

3)Admin spin machine line: "Tenet resigns because of blistering 9-11"
report." Lazy hoes say, "How easy is that?" and report "Tenet resigns because of blistering 9-11 report."

4)American Idol watching Americans: "9-11 was Tenet's fault. Our Preznit fixed it."

[maddezmom]

6. perhaps Tenet's resignation has to do w/ the Plame investigation

Since it's heating up and Tenet's the one that ordered it. :shrug: Just throwing it out there.....

~snip~

Complaints from within

Tenet also had critics within the CIA. Some subordinates said he hadn't fought hard enough against efforts by Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to link former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to al-Qaida when there was no compelling proof they were working together.

And some CIA officers complained that Tenet had skewed analyses to please his political bosses.

"He did not stand up for his people when it mattered most," said a CIA officer, speaking on condition of anonymity. "He was a political animal, and he's leaving behind a mess that somebody else is going to have to clean up."

It was Tenet, however, who requested a CIA investigation last year into who in the Bush administration leaked the name of CIA undercover officer Valerie Plame to a newspaper columnist.

~snip~

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2001947357_tenet04.html

[joeunderdog]

9. Let's not forget that Tenet was always suspicious of Chalabi.

Chalabi has to be a huge embarrassment/fiasco for ChimpCo. Chalabi hates Tenet who probably knew just what he was up to. Chimp wants to bury that story asap--Mr. Save-Amerkins-from-Terra put a spy in the Presidential box at the SOTU and Tenet can only say "I told ya so."

Tenet was constantly in the middle torn between his employees' needs and recommendations, and his bosses rejection. He had agents pulled from investigations into hijackers. Plame got outed. No WMD's. This was an unmanagable situation for any CIA head.

If there existed a division between the intelligence CIA offered and the contradicting behavior of the Bush Administration, Chalabi is the latest, clearest face of it.

[drfemoe]

7. we do remember that just one week ago

Gore called for Tenet's resignment?

George Tenet should also resign. I want to offer a special word about George Tenet, because he is a personal friend and I know him to be a good and decent man. It is especially painful to call for his resignation, but I have regretfully concluded that it is extremely important that our country have new leadership at the CIA immediately.

As a nation, our greatest export has always been hope: hope that through the rule of law people can be free to pursue their dreams, that democracy can supplant repression and that justice, not power, will be the guiding force in society. Our moral authority in the world derived from the hope anchored in the rule of law. With this blatant failure of the rule of law from the very agents of our government, we face a great challenge in restoring our moral authority in the world and demonstrating our commitment to bringing a better life to our global neighbors.

http://www.moveonpac.org/goreremarks052604.html

What does this have to do with what's going on?

[Triana]

8. bu$hit misadministration pins all its failures on CIA....

...so the headlines SHOULD read. Can anyone blame them for quitting?