Tenet's New Book

A system crash has just wiped out roughly an hour's worth of noodling around, but let me push my luck and try to blurt this out about Tenet's new book (written with former CIA pressguy Bill Harlow) - neither the Times nor WaPo review make any mention of Valerie Plame, outed CIA agent.  Geez - 500 pages from the center of the storm and no mention at all?  Guess I'll have to buy the book.

Sorry, I am not even going to try to put in Times or WaPo links just yet.  Ridiculous? Yes.  But I am waiting for my blood pressure to get back in under 250.

PUSHING MY LUCK...

Tenet whacks Condi, but former CIAer Michael Scheur hangs up the No-Sale.  Tenet first, from the Times:

Although Mr. Tenet acknowledges that the C.I.A. failed to predict the specifics of the 9/11 attack, he cites repeated warnings it issued, over the years, about the dangers posed by Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda. Most notably, he describes the alarming intelligence he presented to National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice at a July 10, 2001, meeting — including information from late June of that year that predicted a “big event” was coming. Mr. Tenet’s efforts to spin the C.I.A.’s own failure to watch-list two of the 9/11 hijackers when they first came across the agency’s radar screen two and a half years earlier feel particularly lame: had they been caught, he suggests that Al Qaeda would simply have replaced the two men with other recruits.

And over to Mr. Scheur in the Wapo:

Like self-serving earlier leaks seemingly from Tenet's circle to such reporters as Ron Suskind and Bob Woodward, "At the Center of the Storm" is similarly disingenuous about Tenet's record on al-Qaeda. In "State of Denial," Woodward paints a heroic portrait of the CIA chief warning national security adviser Condoleezza Rice of pending al-Qaeda strikes during the summer of 2001, only to have his warnings ignored. Tenet was indeed worried during the so-called summer of threat, but one wonders why he did not summon the political courage earlier to accuse Rice of negligence, most notably during his testimony under oath before the 9/11 commission.

"I was talking to the national security adviser and the president and the vice president every day," Tenet told the commission during a nationally televised hearing on March 24, 2004. "I certainly didn't get a sense that anybody was not paying attention to what I was doing and what I was briefing and what my concerns were and what we were trying to do." Now a "frustrated" Tenet writes that he held an urgent meeting with Rice on July 10, 2001, to try to get "the full attention of the administration" and "finally get us on track." He can't have it both ways.

Tenet's new version was run out in what looks like this 2006 Woodward excerpt and I managed to come down firmly on both sides - I think Tenet misoverestimated the significance of the fateful Juyly 10 2001 meeting, but I also have deep reservations about Ms. Rice's job performance.

Comments

[pilsener]

Let me guess who the hero of Tenet's book is - could it be George Tenet!

So far in the media accounts of the Tenet story, Tenet started at the CIA on 9/11 and was subsequently betrayed, misled, misquoted, and maligned by the neocons in an incompetent Bush administration, while providing accurate and highly nuanced information from the loyal CIA .

The years between 1995 and 9/11 are missing from the accounts, as are explanations of how the CIA has missed predicting every major event since World War II. Also missing are the accounts of how the CIA leaks to the press and plays Washington political games better than it collects intelligence.

I hold no brief for the Bush administration, but I find George Tenet and the media lionization of him, DESPICABLE!

[SMGalbraith]

Forgive me TM if I view Scheuer with anything other than contempt.

One item:

Scheuer:
Tenet's resignation would have destroyed the neocons' Iraq house of cards by discrediting the only glue holding it together: the intelligence that "proved" Saddam Hussein guilty of pursuing nuclear weapons and working with al-Qaeda.

Scheuer is being deeply dishonest - I'll not use the euphemistic disingenuous - for he made the same accusations in the first edition of his book (Through our Enemy's Eyes) about the connections between Sadaam and al-Qaeda. Accusations that he conveniently fails to include in the piece (and which he later omits in followup editions of his tome).

It wasn't Tenet arguing for links between Iraq and AQ. It was folks like Scheuer providing Tenet the intelligence that there were links. Tenet wasn't making this stuff up out of whole cloth.

Scheuer's a full-fledged crackpot (e.g., he said that the Holocaust Museum is an example of the excessive influence of Israel in American politics. What a loony statement.).

And a ever more fully formed liar (see above).

SMG

[clarice]

I bwg you don't make me make a credibility resolution between Tenet and Sheuer! One neither predicted 9/11. forestalled it. nor even could provide the President with actionable intelligence after the fact. And he did nothing to stop his agency from working perfidiously for Kerry--Pillar, Plame, Whoever approved her stunt, the clearing of Sheuer's book for publication MOM and her friends leaking to the press.

The only honest thing in the book is that he's now unemployable which suggests there is some sense in this world.

[Menlo Bob]

Gosh, is Tenet's book trying to make it look like he told Condi that something big is going to happen and therefor his work stops while awaiting a response? Fault President Bush--he should have been fired after 9/11.

[Cecil Turner]

Scheuer's a full-fledged crackpot . . .

Yes, he is. And I find it more than a little rich for the "Anonymous" CIA author of Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror to decry leaks of any sort; and his "self-serving" bit is self parody.

Further, he continues with the same contentions he made in the 9/11 report about strikes to take out Bin Laden. It's obvious that neither of these guys has any military experience, and their expectations are at best optimistic. (Further, though I have little use for Tenet, his description of Scheuer as "an analyst not trained in conducting paramilitary operations" appears to be spot-on.)

Fault President Bush--he should have been fired after 9/11.

Well, before would've been better.

[glasater]

Charlie Rose had former CIA officials on his program last evening commenting on the Tenet book. I did not watch it thoroughly but have tivo'd it to review. One can go to Rose's site to watch excerpts but don't believe those are posted yet.
Tyler Drumheller's (former head of the European division of the CIA) comments seemed pretty denigrating to the President.
So sad.

[PatrickR]

I'm still trying to figure out why Tenet thinks anybody would believe his 'slam dunk' story; it wasn't about the WMDs it was only about the presentation of the WMDs.

[clarice]

I'm not sure I get the point. As the editors of IBD accurately report today, the WMDs were only part of the justification. IIRC Wolfowitz indicated the Administration was trying to decide how best to put the case and determined (probably based on Tenet's presentation) that the wmd argument was the easiest to make.

But again if my recollection is not failing me, that was to the UN Security Council, not the Congress.

[danking]

Read the book Patrick R.

Tenet's "slam dunk" was in reference to Gilbert Arenas over Eddy Curry.

[glasater]

The thing I don't understand is why has former Sec. of State Powell been so quiet?
All these other folks making interpretations in the run up to the war in Iraq and Powell has said nothing.

[danking]

Armitage too, glasater.

You would think an intrepid reporter might stick a camera and mike in their face and ask a few uncomfortable questions.

[pturbo]

"the CIA has missed predicting every major event since World War II" from Mr. Pilsner.

Not quite. The CIA accurately predicted, in detail, the collapse of Communist Yugoslavia. These predictions were ignored by its former chief, President George H.W. Bush.

Consequences flow for others, whether the U.S. acts or not. For Yugoslavia, U.S. leadership and insistence that Belgrade respect its own rule of law could have made a big difference.

The position of the Bush I administration to ignore new realities in favor of maintaining the status quo at all costs proved disastrous for hundreds of thousands of Muslims, Croats and Serbs.

The CIA's failures will be highlighted, their victories largely undetectable under the veil of disasters avoided. That is the nature of the intelligence game.

[glasater]

Guess if Armitage and Powell did speak out or at least answer some questions, they could reveal their perfidy in the Libby investigation.

[PeterUK.]

Without being picky,the CIA predicting the collapse of the former Yugoslavia is not much of an achievement,everyone within distance knew that Tito was all that was holding it together.Further the Balkans,the fault line between West and East had been a tinderbox for millenia,more so with the advent of Islam.
Presumably someone at the CIA googled Archduke Franz Ferdinand,Sarajevo?

[RalphL]

Wonder what Tenet says about the DCI being demoted by the DNI. Could his performance have something to do with that, or was it just the 9/11 commission re-arranging deck chairs?

[Section9]

I'm not quite sure that Tenet's book is going to make that big of a splash. It is written to follow the Conventional Wisdom of Democratic Washington, as most Poison Pens are these days.

I'm in no mood to cut Tenet any slack, as I believe he represented an Agency which is deeply disfunctional and has, as one poster above mentioned, missed every major event in the post World War II era, from the Norh Korean Offensive in 1950 through the Bay of Pigs to the Iraq War. His blaming of Condi, for instance, is typical. He gives a briefing with slides, and that gets him and the Agency off the hook for losing track of the hijackers and the rest of the Base's operation in North America.

When in doubt, blame the Colored Lady.

As to the Plame Affair and Tenet, I will make this prediction: the Plame Affair was an outgrowth of the CIA's inability to track and shut down the AQ Kahn network. President Clinton had charged Tenet and others with shutting down the illicit trade in nuclear materials. The CIA tried to cover up this catastrophic failure, one of many, by blaming others. The implcations of the CIA's failure to shut down AQ Kahn are vast, given the success of Iran's and Pakistan's atomic weapons program. When you dig behind Joe Wilson, the Niger trips, and the entire CIA WMD Division, you will get to one of the most catastrophic failures in the history of the CIA-one which led to the development of the Iranian Atomic Weapons program. That's what the CIA has been hiding.

The CIA sought protection from the Democrats. The price, of course, was to leak hostile information against Bush and the Republicans. In return, the Democrats would continue to tolerate the mediocrity that exists in the CIA, and would protect them from needed reforms.

Henry Waxman will never hold a hearing to investigate the CIA.

[Maybeex]

Perhaps Murray Waas and Jeff can next write a book about Tenant.

[Maybeex]

Henry Waxman will never hold a hearing to investigate the CIA

Too true. In fact, at the end of the Plame hearing, this is what the Republicans were suggesting he do. You can't find out how an agent's identity went unprotected, they said, without talking to the CIA about it.
Ditto Waxman trying again to subpoena Rice about the so-called 16 words. Shouldn't he be asking the intelligence agencies that provided the intelligence about Africa (not Niger, as Waxman cluelessly contends).

Joe Wilson, the Niger trips, and the entire CIA WMD Division, you will get to one of the most catastrophic failures in the history of the CIA-one which led to the development of the Iranian Atomic Weapons program.
And again, I find it so odd that the same players are talking about Bush ginning up evidence against Iran, and trying very hard to convince the American public that a)Bush really WANTS to attack Iran and probably will and b)Iran isn't really that far along in its programs.

[Section9]

Here's the thing. I think Rice may be used by Rove and the President in a "set the record straight" hearing, using Waxman as a foil. It's got all the right dramatic elements; Rice as Ollie North, Waxman as the Villian out of Central Casting, and the chance to explain the 16 words and British Intelligence.

No one out of the WH has ever properly explained what really happened, and the CIA conducted a smear campaign in the press against Britain's MI-6 and the embarrassment it might have caused the hapless WMD crew in Langley. That's what the entire Niger Affair was about. Plame and her crew were hideously incompetent people, at least insofar as AQ Kahn and the Iranians and Pakistanis were concerned.

Not that a general offensive against CIA would begin. However, this is a huge chance to rebut the Left's Narrative. Why not set it up? Can anyone else explain WHY Rice has been treating Waxman like a used dishrag? One usually doesn't do that to Henry Waxman unless one deliberately wants to piss him, and his moonbat supporters, right off.

Unless, of course, you wanted Network Coverage of your hearings. This is exactly what I would do if I were Condi and I wanted the nets to cover my confrontation with Waxman.

[exmaple]

I happen to believe Tenet's story that he gave Condi Rice warnings about attacks.

But he left out the part where she replied,

"OK, stop them. That's your job."

[TerryeL]

I am so tired of all these people. If they had anything meaningful to add to the debate, they should have done it years ago.

Just think how different history might have been if the CIA had the right information a decade ago.

[TerryeL]

ex:

I can remember Richard Clarke on some TV interview back before Clinton left office saying that he was 100% sure we would see a big attack on the United States mainland in the near future. It was a safe bet.

[Sara]

If you are interested in joining the White Feather Campaign that Michell Malkin has been talking about, Cafe Press has the postcards for sale in packages of 8 for $6.59.

[Slartibartfast]

Tenet should have been fired by Clinton, after he kept Deutch on. Actively kept Deutch on.

[clarice]

Iran and the CIA? The brilliant Operation Merlin:
"Last night, radio talk show host and former US Justice Department official Mark Levin shocked many listeners when he reported that President Bill Clinton gave nuclear technology to the Iranians in a harebrained scheme.
He said that the transfer of classified data to Iran was personally approved by then-President Clinton and that the CIA deliberately gave Iranian physicists blueprints for part of a nuclear bomb that likely helped Tehran advance its nuclear weapons development program.

The CIA, using a double-agent Russian scientist, handed a blueprint for a nuclear bomb to Iran, according to a new book "State of War" by James Risen, the New York Times reporter, who exposed the Bush administration's controversial NSA spying operation, claims the plans contained fatal flaws designed to derail Tehran's nuclear drive.

But the deliberate errors were so rudimentary they would have been easily fixed by sophisticated Russian nuclear scientists, the book said.

The operation, which took place during the Clinton administration in early 2000, was code named Operation Merlin and "may have been one of the most reckless operations in the modern history of the CIA," according to Risen."

http://www.postchronicle.com/news/security/article_21214451.shtml

Capt Ed does a number on Tenet today. Re Iran, he had a fit when he found out the DoD had asked Ledeen to contact dissidents there to establish contact with them/

Today Ledeen reminds us (NRO) that student uprisings are taking place thu/out Iran.

[Section9]

Oh, for Christ's sake, Clarice, I had forgot! If Tenet and the WMD Division could be crucified for NOTHING ELSE, it's Operation MERLIN.

This was an operation so poorly conceived, so galactic in its stupidity, that only the Central Intelligence Agency could have come up with it.

Clarice didn't describe the leak of just any warhead; rather, Tenet and his boys leaked dummy plans for the W-88 thermonuclear warhead, a fusion bomb. The W-88 is our generic hydrogen warhead that we have sitting on top of our MX squadrons in the Dakotas. I believe it was one of Harold Agnew's last designs before he retired. Very reliable.

The Agency, in a feat of cat-like mental dexterity not seen since the rollout for New Coke, made several design errors in the W-88 plans. Thinking that the Persians would be stupid enough to fall for such a trick, the CIA ran off, chuckling and slapping knees back to Langley. Meantime, the Persian, knowing he has a bill of goods, hires Russian atomic scientists and bomb designers at top dollar to fix the bomb designs. Just as Clarice wrote...

Uh oh....

The point is, because of Tenet's bungling, once the Iranians get a working plutonium design, they don't have to do any fusion bomb research, because Tenet's CIA gave them a working warhead design.

Suppose you're a blue-lighted eyed Islamic Fascist on a Mission from Allah? Well, the W-88 can be reliably fitted atop an intermediate range ballistic missile for use against the local hook-nosed Zionist Banking Conspiracy, for instance. W-88 can get you a yield in the 300-500 kiloton range. Have it ready in time for Purim...

Anyone want to take bets on whether or not Tenet boasts about the success of Operation MERLIN in his book? Or if he does, does he find a way to work in blame for Rice, who was still out at Stanford at the time.

[clarice]

I grant you it is a classic.

And given that about 80% of Iranians hate the mullahs and the mullahs have a military force which in any real battle would match the not so stellar performance of every other Moslem army in the ME, one wonders why they opted for Operation Merlin instead of Operation Upset the Baklava Cart.

[Brother Hezekiah]

Tyler Drumheller's (former head of the European division of the CIA) comments seemed pretty denigrating to the President.

I read Drumheller's book, and he is such an unimpressive idiot. It terrifies me that someone of his caliber apparently had a responsible position at the CIA. No wonder that organization is so worthless...

I can remember Richard Clarke on some TV interview back before Clinton left office saying that he was 100% sure we would see a big attack on the United States mainland in the near future. It was a safe bet.

And also as useless a prediction as "the world will end someday". Unless you know when, where, how, and who, such a prediction does not qualify as "intelligence" in any sense of the word.

[clarice]

Section9, was ever there a dumber mission ? It's name is like salt in a wound.

[glasater]

Condi Rice has been awfully quiet lately other than ducking Waxman's spears. I can only hope she is planning a "godfather" moment as the Bush administration comes to an end down the road.
The liberals keep repeating their lies over and over and I think it's brainwashing the public. Republicans aren't doing anything to counter. So I'm ready for a spectacle of any sorts to take the dims down quite a few notches.

[Elliott]

It's name is like salt in a wound.

I've been bemused by the name "Operation Merlin" since I learned about it. My guess is that whoever christened the operation was a fan of John Le Carre's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, in which "Operation Witchcraft" and "Source Merlin" figure prominently.

[PeterUK.]

"I can remember Richard Clarke on some TV interview back before Clinton left office saying that he was 100% sure we would see a big attack on the United States mainland in the near future. It was a safe bet".

Very similar to the fall of Singapore,the guns were facing out to sea,the attack came from the mainland.Nobody expected domestic flights to be hijacked and used to fly into the WTC.
Whoever lost track of the hijackers is at fault.

BTW Operation Merlin was a typo,it was originally Operation Moron.

[clarice]

Operation Moron--That's the first sensible explanation for this, PUK.

Though that name was later used by those who decided it would be a great idea to send Munchausen to Niger.

[PeterUK.]

Clarice,
No,Operation Gobshite was a brilliant conception.If you want to deflect attention from where everyone WAS getting uranium from,what better than to send a loud mouthed,egotistical poppinjay to Niger.Munchhausen's visit has seared,poached and charbroiled Niger into the public consciousness,why even prominent Democrat committee men think only of Niger,mention of all the other African uranium producers never passes their lips.
Could it be that there was Operation Moron II being conducted by the CIA,either as a sting or funding for some clandestine operation."Sell 'em yellow cake they ain't got centrifuges and they ain't got a reactor".

[clarice]

Possibly, PUK--Or Maybe they got the map from Al-Primikov's Used Atlas Shop.

[clarice]

OT: Last night the latest charge against Wolfowitz was leaked to the Telegraph anonymously, of course:He is so hated around the world that the Bank's security costs to protect him are too high. (PUK, this is the Brits who have behaved outrageously in this..)

[Cecil Turner]

No,Operation Gobshite was a brilliant conception.If you want to deflect attention from where everyone WAS getting uranium from,what better than to send a loud mouthed,egotistical poppinjay to Niger.

Well, it certainly had that effect. I still think the least well-explained piece in the whole puzzle is the decision-making process that led to Wilson's assignment. Obviously there was something hokey about it (e.g., pro bono, no NDA) . . . but it's hard to believe they had a planned political misdirection op going on a year prior to the forgeries being discovered (and almost two years prior to the election). I'd love to see an investigation into that process, as the SSCI tantalized, but studiously avoided coming to a conclusion on it.

[kate]

clarice-ot but great work on the Haditha case. I'm so glad to see that case possibly fall apart.

Tenant is quite the crybaby. I lost all respect for him when on his televised farewell address he cried like a baby about spending more time with his family.

I could just see our world wide enemies laughing at that. Nice show by the head of US intellience...whine, whine, whine.

[clarice]

Thanks, Kate..But on Haditha I am simply pulling together the work of others.
Cecil, me too.Maybe we'll learn more this week as more is revealed of the AQ Khan network which seems to have been far more extensive than previously known--raising the question:How could this have been missed by Merlin's apprentices?

http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=146312&version=1&template_id=41&parent_id=23>Dumbkopfs

[lurker9876]

In the meantime, we have the Democrats wooing voters with Bush attacks

I don't think they'll have a problem wooing votes from California but they will in most of the red states so why are they spending time in California?

Campaign contributions?

[lurker9876]

Looks like the story of Aruba is back on the front page. Hope this story goes away soon with the proper conclusion.

Clarice, it seems that the private organizations, like IISS funded by the individuals, produce far more results than CIA and FBI combined.

[lurker9876]

And Clarice, will this discredit FURTHER Joe's Wilson credibility?

HHHmmm...not according to Waxman.

[lurker9876]

Fox News is about to cover the topic about the new army "Grizzly" and the fund holdups for this program.

What do you think?

[lurker9876]

Not Again??????

"Democrats Turn to GOP for New Emergency Supplemental War Bill"

They are hoping to turn many GOPs so that they can override Bush's veto.

Here is what Rice has to say

[PeterUK.]

What I find incomprehensible, is the CIA could not accomplish the relatively simple task of monitoring Yellow cake exports in all the major producer countries.Wouldn't need to be a super secret, covert coven,simply regular bribes to officials and someone on the Cogema payroll.
Payments to dispatchers would be easy enough,just regular reports of how many trucks left the mines and where to.
The other possibility is Munchhausen was sent to kick up a fuss to cover for the CPD's abject failures.It is no worthy that attention went off the CIA and onto the administration.

[lurker9876]

What was it all about after all? The causes of the Iraq war

Read all of 22 pages.

[clarice]

As far as I can figure out, Wilson was sent either to cover up something (the WMD office's failure , a hidden black op CIA operation, or undermine a basis for overthrowing Hussein). Which it was exactly, I still have no idea.

That this was not a serious inquiry I am certain of.Chris Hitchens has persuaded me that his report was utterly dishonest. And the SSCI (and Roberts separate report) persuade me the trip was utterly unnecessary, the questions he asked of the people he was permitted to ask were designed not to find out anything of value.

[lurker9876]

I posted this in the "Open Friday" thread and PUK responded following this long post:

Now read this and enter Socialism in place of Communism. Then THINK! Also note the date 1963

EXTENSION OF REMARKS OF HON. A. S. HERLONG, JR. OF FLORIDA

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Thursday, January 10, 1963

Mr. HERLONG. Mr. Speaker, Mrs. Patricia Nordman of De Land, Fla., is an ardent and articulate opponent of communism, and until recently published the De Land Courier, which she dedicated to the purpose of alerting the public to the dangers of communism in America.

At Mrs. Nordman's request, I include in the RECORD, under unanimous consent, the following "Current Communist Goals," which she identifies as an excerpt from "The Naked Communist," by Cleon Skousen:

[From "The Naked Communist," by Cleon Skousen]

CURRENT COMMUNIST GOALS

1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.

2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.

3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament [by] the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.

4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.

5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites.

6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.

7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N.

8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N.

9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.

10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N.

11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.)

12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.

13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.

14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office.

15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.

16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.

17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks.

18. Gain control of all student newspapers.

19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.

20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.

21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.

22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."

23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art."

24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.

25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.

26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."

27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."

28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state."

29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.

30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man."

31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.

32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture--education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.

33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.

34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.

36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.

37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.

38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand [or treat].

39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.

40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.

41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.

42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use ["]united force["] to solve economic, political or social problems.

43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.

44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.

45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction [over domestic problems. Give the World Court jurisdiction] over nations and individuals alike.

PUK caught on:

Lurker, The machinery is still in place,instead of communism rushing in to fill the void,socialism has found a resurgent Islam jostling to take its place.Socialism will lose.

The sad part is that this machinery remains in place under a new name. Nothing has changed.

[PeterUK.]

Clarice,
It is so implausible that the CIA would send an outsider on such a delicate assignment unless it had either,not taken the assignment seriously or wanted to create a stink.
Why did they not send Plame,one of the most obvious choices?

[clarice]

She had to tuck her twins under non-official covers every night.

[PeterUK.]

Or the pool boy.

[clarice]

http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/04/merlin_and_his_apprenticesthe.html>Merlin and His Apprentices

[Sara]

Nice article Clarice.

[lurker9876]

Good article, Clarice.

Looks like we will see some contemplating of "Now what will happen if we pull out too soon?", starting with Jay Tea's post.

Anyone willing to contemplate or predict what will happen if a premature troop pullout takes place?

[Maybeex]

Larry Johnson reports on Daily Kos that he will be a guest on CNN to discuss a letter about Tenant he wrote with:
Phil Giraldi

Ray McGovern

Larry Johnson

Jim Marcinkowski

Vince Cannistraro

David MacMichael

W. Patrick Lang (Colonel, retired, US Army and former Chief of Middle East Division, DIA)
----
Oh heavens. It's Tenant vs the VIPs.
I wonder if CNN will say anything to challenge Larry.

Another of his interviews will be carried on MSNBC.

[clarice]

Won't someone hold up a wooden cross and some garlic in front of the VIPS? Please. Enough already!!

[Maybeex]

Johnson says on Daily Kos:
The following was sent to George Tenet in care of his publisher. The letter, written by a group of former intelligence officers, reflects disgust with George Tenet's effort to burnish his image with his new tell-all book.

It really is inexcusible. If CNN has some producer trolling Daily Kos to find out what Larry Johnson is saying, it shouldn't be that difficult for them to find out, you know, what Larry Johnson says at other times.
Ditto Ray McGovern. How long has he been out of the CIA? 120 years?

[Maybeex]

What I mean to say is- a cross and garlic shouldn't be necessary. Their own words and bios should be enough to stop them from getting attention.

[clarice]

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=M2FiNWI4MTYyMjYzNzcxYjA0MzA0OGVhZWFhN2ZiNjM=>Andy McCarthy on Tenet

[Sara]

A half-dozen former CIA officers - including counterterrorism experts Larry Johnson and Vince Cannistraro - are urging Tenet to dedicate a significant portion of his royalties to soldiers and families of those killed or wounded in Iraq.

Tenet Memoir Draws Heat From Key Players...

[CroolWurld]

That's not a memoir. It's a meme war.

[Crust]

Re having it both ways: If I had to make a case for Tenet being consistent, it would turn on the distinction between getting "attention" (Congressional testimony) and "full attention" (book). Admittedly, that's slicing it pretty thin. It would basically say that his Congressional testimony was technically accurate, but misleading.

[boris]

From Tenet's book P324 via Rich Lowry

In early 2001, Iraq had been caught trying to clandestinely procure sixty thousand high-strength aluminum tubes manufactured to extraordinary tight tolerances. The tubes were seized in the Middle East. The Iraqi agent tried in vain to get the tubes released, claiming they were to be used in Lebanon to make race car components. Whatever their intended use, under UN sanctions, Saddam was prohibited from acquiring the tubes for any purpose. All agencies agreed that these tubes could be modified to make centrifuge rotors used in a nuclear program. CIA analysts believed that these tubes were intended for the enrichment of uranium. Others thought they were intended to make rockets. To test the theory, CIA brought together a “red team” of highly experienced experts from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory—people who had actually built centrifuges. Their assessment was that the tubes were more suited for nuclear use than for anything else. The Department of Energy’s representative at the NFIB delivered his agency’s assessment that the tubes were probably not part of a nuclear program. He was not a technical expert, however, and, despite being given several opportunities, he was unable to explain the basis of his department’s view in anything approaching a convincing manner.

I'll give him credit for that bit.

[Jeff Dobbs]

Rich Lowry seems to be "live-blogging" his tour through Tenet's book over on the Corner...start here and scroll up...

His first entry starts...

So far (and I'm just getting started), it doesn't seem quite as harsh toward the administration as portrayed by the media.

I hope you were sitting down before taking in that shocker. The thought of the media not accurately portraying something, and the innacuracy leaning against Bush?

It's like the sun rose in the...well...East this morning.

[Jeff Dobbs]

boris, I question the timing of us linking to Lowry at the exact same minute.

I don't know how he did it, but I Blame Bush.

[clarice]

Also at NRO--Ledeen on Tenet's Iran fandango:
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MGVlNjM5MTVkNDA3YjJlNTI3ZDAwODkxNzY1MWVhOGI=>Stupid

[boris]

exact same minute

Well sort of ... here’s what my typical post goes through ...

1. Copy the Lowry quote ...

2. Sign in to Typead as boris ...

3. Paste the quote ...

4. Add the link to Lowry at the corner and a 1 line comment at the end ...

5. Preview and click Post ..

6. Registration Required!” ... damn ...

7. Copy the entire post ...

8. Click back to JOM home page ...

9. Click on the Crust post to get the Sign Out link ...

10. Sign Out ...

11. Click on the Crust post again to get the Sign In link ...

12. Sign In as boris again ...

13. Click on the Crust post again to get to the posting window ...

14. Paste the entire post copied at step 7 ...

15. Preview and click Post ..

16. Ooops ... wrong thread ... cancel at the crypto letter test ...

17. Browse back to JOM home page ...

18. Click on the Crust post again to get to the posting window ...

19. Paste the entire post copied at step 7 ...

20. Click Post

21. Enter the crypto letters ...

Aha! It worked!

[clarice]

It IS frustrating , Boris.

WOW! Here's Chris Hitchens and he minces not a word about Tenet's fecklessness and whining loser's book:

http://www.slate.com/id/2165269/

[maryrose]

Even MODO is getting in the act calling Tenet a whining complainer trying to blame Condi.

[rschop]

Just read his book. His recount why the CIA hid information from the FBI on Hazmi and Mihdhar is a superficial account of this event leaving out all of the important details to justify why the CIA had the names Khalid al-Mihdhar, Nawaf al-Hazmi and Selem al-Hazmi, who were on AA 77, and even had the name Khallad bin Attash, mastermind of the Cole bombing, all long time al Qaeda terrorists from January 5, 2000, and just somehow did not give this information to the FBI until August 23, 2001, over 21 months after they first had this information.

He says when the CIR on Mihdhar was written by an FBI agent at the CIA on January 5, 2000, it was not sent to the FBI due to a simple mistake. But the FBI IG report says that the following was clearly written on the bottom of this CIA, "Blocked by order of the Deputy Chief", (of the bin Laden unit at the CIA), Tom Wilshire. Any body can see this was just a simple mistake. The CIA desk officer who wrote this on this then sent out another cable right after writing this on this CIR that said the information on Mihdhar had been sent to the FBI when it fact it had not been sent.

Yes, there you have it, yet another simple mistake. When the FBI IG investigators talked to Wilshire, he says he can not remember this CIR, the desk officer says she can not remember this CIR, who told her to block it or even why she sent out another cable saying this information had been sent to the FBI or even who told her to send out this cable.

There you have it, simple mistakes seem to be combined with a collective amnesia. But the CIA hid this information on al least 9 more occasions. Yes, yes that's it, just 9 more cases of simple mistakes, 10 all together.

They even hid the fact that Mihdhar and Hazmi were seen together with Khallad at the Kuala Lumpur meeting where the Cole bombing had been planned, clearly implicating them in the planning of the Cole bombing, but this information was with held from the FBI Cole investigators on at least 5 occasions. Again, just more simple mistakes.

Except isn't obstructing a criminal investigation into the murder of 17 US sailors a criminal offense. But when they with held this information into the murder of 17 sailors, they also with held the very information that could have prevented the attacks on 9/11 and could have prevented the horrific deaths of 3000 innocent Americans on 9/11. According to George, so many simple mistakes, and according to the FBI IG investigators, so much collective amnesia.

See www.eventson911.com for more details

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