JEEZO - Tenet takes blame for war but won't resign!!??

[bunnyhop]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=544&e=1&u=/ap/20030712/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_iraq_tenet

****CIA and administration officials said that despite the mea culpa, they did not expect Tenet to resign. The Democrat is the long holdover from the Clinton administration and, while distrusted by some conservatives, has enjoyed Bush's confidence. "I've heard no discussion along those lines," CIA spokesman Mark Mansfield said Friday night when asked whether Tenet would consider resigning. Other administration officials noted that Rice and Bush, while placing blame on Tenet's agency, also expressed confidence in the CIA director.*****

So it looks like no one will be punished for starting an illegal war that murdered hundreds of americans and thousands of iraqis. Harry truman must be rolling over in his grave right now over the way buck-passer-Bush makes sure that neither he nor anyone else in his administration is ever held accountable for their monstrous crimes.

[baffie]

1. As posted below, what Tenet actually did

was apologize for letting Bush get away with lying. IOW, he did not quite "fall on his sword" as people are saying. He took responsibility for letting BushCo lie, but he still says BushCo lied. So, BushCo is still on the hook.

[Jack Rabbit]

2. Your title is misleading

Tenet did not take the blame for the war, nor should he. It would be absurd for him to take the blame for the war.

This was about misinformation in the SOTU. In the end, the same fellow has to take the blame for both; his name is Bush.

Tenet really didn't take the blame for very much. If one reads what he said, all for which he took the blame was the fact that the refernece to Saddam's attempt to buy yellow cake unranium, which was based on a forged document, was not removed from the SOTU. As The New York Times pointed out in an editorial in Saturday morning's edition, nothing Tenet said explains how the reference got into the SOTU in the first place. That is what we really need to know.

[Robbien]

3. And if you read the wording carefully

You will see that the he says the SoTU statement is really not wrong. The statement says according to Brit Itel. And the info was according to Brit Intel. Just because the Brit Intel is bogus doesn't make the SoTU statement wrong.

[ex_jew]

5. It's not just "according to" the Brits...

Perhaps it's pointless to examine Bush's actual words, but I believe he said that the British had "learned" of this. You cannot "learn" of something that is not true. Bush was apparently just giving them credit for being the first to make this discovery. When he uses the word "learned" (rather than reports or believes) it seems to me that he has placed his own (or rather the government's own) imprimatur on that statement.

Of course Bush did not say - the British report, but our intelligence service disagrees. This would have been the HONEST thing to say. If you don't say the honest thing, if you conceal a material fact, well that's a lie in my book. The fact that another public servant did not KEEP him from lying is the flimsiest god-damned excuse I can possibly imagine.

[bunnyhop]

4. Of course the title is misleading.

It's called spin and democrats need to start playing that game. Tom Daschle should be saying right now "Bush started an illegal war and is now blaming it all on his employee Tenet". That's not quite what happened but dems should be saying that.

[Old and In the Way]

6. Proof is in Bush's reaction.

Did he fire Tenet? No.
Did he reaffirm his commitment to Tenet? Yes.

So, I can surmise that the key evidence used, while false, was acceptable to this administration to support their goal for war. It's not like they were pushed into this whole WMD -must send in the troops tp stop immenent attack on the US story. They couldn't push this war hard enough, IMHO.

A real President would be outraged at being set-up in such a hi-profile speech with bogus information....apparently not this guy...no, he kinda likes Mr. Tenet. The same guy whose Department also failed this administration on 9/11, if you believe the Bush version of history.

Just what does it take to get fired for incompetent counseling in this administration, anyway? Unless, of course, there is more to the story than meets the eye....