Dog Of War
Former CIA chief George Tenet writes in a book due out Monday that there was no serious deliberation within the Bush administration about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein, and his inside account seems sure to further roil the Iraq disputes raging now.Via my WSJ morning brief.
Tenet was appointed by Clinton, and Bush kept him. This was likely the biggest mistake Bush made in his presidency, not Iraq or Afghanistan, but keeping this dog.
Be warned, additional right wing rant below the fold:
In this sense I find a not so happy similarity in Bush to our worst president ever: Jimmy Carter. However wacky one may find Carter, he does keep his own council for better or worse. Bush's loyal to a fault peccadillo has come back to bite him more than once, and this is only the latest incarnation. He has never learned how to throw someone overboard, as the current Attorney General imbroglio demonstrates to a tee.
Watching in wonder at our strange political landscape we see Tenet throwing down his partisan gauntlet from the political anti-war side. I've got nothing against anti-war folk, as long as they are following their principles. I think they're dead wrong, but that's just my opinion. Political anti-war people are another story- they are nothing less than despicable.
Tenet, like Joe and Valerie Wilson, takes this one step further- into personal financial gain. I'm a capitalist, I like money. It's good to spend. But there are things you have to forego if you aspire to public service. Take for example: soldiers. There are some highly professional people serving and dying that can make plenty of bucks on the outside (Pat Tillman as an obvious example, but there are many, many more), yet their principles require them to sacrifice short term personal gain for something more important.
People like George Tenet are responsible for sending those soldiers into battle. If he had any principles he would have stood up and done something- like resign- if he felt W was rushing to war. He was the head of the freaking CIA for Christ's sake, not some innocent waif. Where were his balls! Instead he stood there and accepted a Presidential Freedom Award. He should be ashamed, but I found out long ago that's not a real Democratic Party strong point.
Remember, before you Dems go getting all uppity about more evidence that Bush lied and people died, this dick betrayed you too, even worse than evil George. He was a Democrat on the inside, with way more access and responsibility than Hillary, and he screwed you. At least Bush had his convictions, however wrong you may believe they were, which is more than I can say for this piece of crap. Now we have the honor of deciding 'when' he was lying, then-or now.
This 'book' will not help anybody, pro or anti war. It only makes the water murkier and endangers the men and women in harm's way. Had this information-if true-been available at the time it may have made a big difference, Bush would have never gotten a second term, and George Tenet could have gone down in history as a hero. Now he's just a backstabbing coward.
