While I am certain that Tenet's book will contain great political fodder and maybe even a smoking gun, there is no way in Hell I will buy it, nor will I be watching any of his interviews on TV. If Tenet wants to tell his side of the story, let him put his hand on the bible and testify in front of a Congressional committee or a grand jury - THEN, I'll listen to what he has to say.
I was furious reading the advance press on his book, which goes on sale tomorrow. One article notes:
Tenet writes: "Policy makers have a right to their own opinions, but not their own set of facts." Here again, Tenet blames himself for not pulling Cheney aside and telling him the WMD assertion was "well beyond what our analysis could support."
Not pulling Cheney aside? WTF? How about NOT TELLING CONGRESS OR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WE WERE ABOUT TO SEND OUR CHILDREN OFF TO FIGHT A WAR BASED ON A LIE?
In another snippet, Tenet says of having to sit and watch Colin Powell's Powerpoint to the UN Security Council in the weeks leading up to the invasion of Iraq:
"That was about the last place I wanted to be," Tenet recalls. "It was a great presentation, but unfortunately the substance didn't hold up," he says of the performance, in which Powell charged Iraq had WMD stockpiles.
"One by one, the various pillars of the speech, particularly on Iraq's biological and chemical weapons programs, began to buckle," he writes. "The secretary of state was subsequently hung out to dry in front of the world, and our nation's credibility plummeted."
Well, boo fucking hoo for Tenet and Powell. BOTH of them had the ability to derail the war train, but neither chose to do so, placing their personal interests in maintaining power above the interests of the nation and its people.
Wonkette's review of Tenet's self-serving book reads:
Bush is genial and well-intentioned, torture and extraordinary rendition are totally justified, Colin Powell is a nice guy, the "slam dunk" line was totally out of context, Dick Cheney is a dick, Paul Wolfowitz is a dick, Doug Feith is the dumbest fucking guy on the planet, Condoleezza Rice is a dick, he really had to think long and hard about accepting that medal, and Stephen Hadley is a dick.
Michael Scheuer, former CIA officer and author, describes Tenet in today's WaPo as "a man who never went from cheerleader to leader." Scheuer goes on to note:
At a time when clear direction and moral courage were needed, Tenet shifted course to follow the prevailing winds, under President Bill Clinton and then President Bush -- and he provided distraught officers at Langley a shoulder to cry on when his politically expedient tacking sailed the United States into disaster...
Scheuer's conclusion in his piece is one with which I wholeheartedly agree:
Tenet's attempts to shift the blame won't wash. At day's end, his exercise in finger-pointing is designed to disguise the central, tragic fact of his book. Tenet in effect is saying that he knew all too well why the United States should not invade Iraq, that he told his political masters and that he was ignored. But above all, he's saying that he lacked the moral courage to resign and speak out publicly to try to stop our country from striding into what he knew would be an abyss.
Why would anyone want to reward Tenet's cowardice by buying his book?
UPDATE: Elveta noted in her comments that Larry Johnson, another former CIA officer, has posted an open letter to Tenet about about the book over on Booman Tribune. Larry Johnson and several other former CIA officers are calling on Tenet to give back the Medal of Freedom, donate royalties from the book to veterans or their families, and to come clean about the betrayal of trust that led this country into an unncecessary war. It's the least that Tenet can do to try and make some penance for his grievous errors, in that, as Johnson states,
For starters, during the critical summer and fall of 2002, you could have gone to key Republicans and Democrats in the Congress and warned them of the pressure. But you remained silent. Your candor during your one-on-one with Sir Richard Dearlove, then-head of British Intelligence, of July 20, 2002" provides documentary evidence that you knew exactly what you were doing; namely, "fixing" the intelligence to the policy.
By your silence you helped build the case for war. You betrayed the CIA officers who collected the intelligence that made it clear that Saddam did not pose an imminent threat. You betrayed the analysts who tried to withstand the pressure applied by Cheney and Rumsfeld.
Most importantly and tragically, you failed to meet your obligations to the people of the United States. Instead of resigning in protest, when it could have made a difference in the public debate, you remained silent and allowed the Bush Administration to cite your participation in these deliberations to justify their decision to go to war. Your silence contributed to the willingness of the public to support the disastrous war in Iraq, which has killed more than 3300 Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.