Bush says CIA director's job is secure (MTP interview)

[Newsjock]

http://pennlive.com/newsflash/lateststories/index.ssf?/base/politics-1/107619054027370.xml
Bush says CIA director's job is secure

By DEB RIECHMANN
The Associated Press
2/7/2004, 4:40 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush said Saturday that CIA Director George Tenet's job is not in jeopardy despite election-year questions about the accuracy of prewar intelligence on Iraq.

"I strongly believe the CIA is ably led by George Tenet," Bush said in an Oval Office interview to be broadcast Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."

... Bush pledged to cooperate with the commission he set up last week to examine intelligence on Iraq and the spread of weapons of mass destruction. "I will be glad to visit with them," the president said. "I will be glad to share with them knowledge. I will be glad to make recommendations, if they ask for some."

... "There is going to be ample time for the American people to assess whether or not I made ... good calls — whether I used good judgment, whether or not I made the right decision in removing Saddam Hussein from power," Bush said. "I look forward to that debate."

more

[jpgray]

1. Tenet needs to go

Sorry, but if he refuses to blow the whistle on Bush, than better to get this guy out. We don't need him to fall on his sword every time Bush's errors are brought up.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

26. Just recently, Tenet publicly stated that the CIA had found no reason...

...to attack Iraq. How is that failing to "blow the whistle on Bush"? How is that "falling on his sword"? Remember when he repeatedly told Junior's staff that certain words should not be used in Junior's State of the Union speech, and Powell's speech to the UN Security Council? Remember the ongoing Plame Affair...who do you think gave permission to all of those retired CIA personnel to speak publicly?

Tenet knows where all of the bodies are buried, and Junior clearly knows and understands that. A substantial portion, if not all, of the recent negative publicity about Junior has been fed to the media by the CIA. Junior also know that if he lets Tenet go, everything that Tenet knows will hit the media full-force.

As long as Tenet remains an employee of the Government, Junior retains some control over Tenet's actions.

By the way, Tenet has been an employee of the CIA for quite some time...he's not just some political appointee. He is also very popular within the CIA and has a very strong following of dedicated people. His alliances outside the CIA include members of both parties in Congress, as well as factions within the FBI and DOJ. Not a man to piss off...and Junior's people have done so repeatedly.

[leesa]

29. But he doesn't fall on his sword. Just pretends to and then Bush

calls him completely competent. Same drill as 9-11.

[demgrrrll]

2. Well I guess not..he falls on his sword on cue. No reason that I can

see that these grifters need to get him out. He steps up to the plate and covers the Chimp's ass whenever necessary.

[Punkingal]

3. I've already assessed him....

and he get's a :thumbsdown: from me.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

27. Read my post #26 above...maybe you need to reassess him.

[Newsjock]

4. If this is the best interview teaser NBC can dig up ...

... then Russert must've brought two sets of kneepads to the White House. Perhaps even a blue dress.

[pinto]

5. kick

[lancdem]

6. LOL

Not only that, it strikes me as pretty boring.

[UpInArms]

7. well, duh!

Why would the mal-administration want to get rid of the guy they kept after 9/11 - the one that just keeps on grinning in the smokey back room with "da boys".

:puke:

:nuke:

[onebigbadwulf]

8. Wait so LOT has to resign for accidentally implying

that segregation is good...



And Tenet doesn't have to resign for taking credit for 500 American soldier's dead and tens of thousands of Iraqis for no reason at all??

[Leilani]

9. They have circled the wagons

& will protect each other.

They can't throw anyone over the side, or they will have Watergate on their hands.

[gulliver]

11. Absolutely. I think if anything shows Bush has something to hide...

... it's the fact that no heads are rolling.

[hang a left]

13. My take on this move is that the last person they

do not want on their side is Tenet, because if he starts talking, OSP may become a household name.

[seafan]

10. NYT: Tenet Plans to Remain in C.I.A. Job

Looks like if your name is "George", you can write your own ticket..
W. even appealed to Mrs. Tenet to convince him to stay on.

This makes me so very angry. I just don't have the words to express it any more.



WASHINGTON, Feb. 6 — George J. Tenet, the director of central intelligence, has agreed to stay in his post at least through the end of the year, according to three people close to him.

Mr. Tenet made the pledge in December after a personal appeal from President Bush, who had learned that the intelligence chief was thinking about stepping down, the people close to Mr. Tenet said. Mr. Bush even appealed to Mr. Tenet's wife, Stephanie Glakas-Tenet, by telling her that her husband's continued service was important to the country, the people said.


Mr. Tenet, who took office in 1997, has long told friends that he wanted to step down from his post. But Mr. Tenet has also told friends that he was not eager to leave at a time when the Central Intelligence Agency and the rest of the community are coming under criticism for their role in misjudging Iraq's stockpiles of illicit weapons.

Some members of Congress, including Senator Bob Graham, the Florida Democrat who is a former chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, have said that Mr. Tenet should resign or be fired because of the apparent misjudgments made by American intelligence agencies in providing prewar assessments about Iraq's illicit weapons.

....more....

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/07/politics/07TENE.html

[Malva Zebrina]

12. I am not sure what Tenet should have done

but his performance in "defense" of his intellgence community was weak, confused and almost placating.

He left the door open, as far as I am concerned after watching it, for the blame to be places squarely on him.

It would have been better to challenge Bush directly, up front. Instead we get a run around--and the whol time he was making his speach to Georgetown U, he continually shook his head back and forth in the familiar "No" body language.

This is really pathetic. We have been abandoned--those of us who do care about justice, the human being and our place in this country as it's people.

[LibDemAlways]

14. "I will be glad to share with them knowledge"?

What the hell is that supposed to mean? Besides being grammatically askew, it's ludicrous. The chimp has no knowledge of anything to share with anybody.

I'm sure the only recommendation he (read Rove and Cheney) will have for the panel is "Be sure to wrap your report in enough toilet paper to cover all our asses."

[MO_Dem]

15. Wonder what the odds are

that Russie's next question was "Mr. President, will you testify under oath?"

[snippy]

16. This reads like Bush could not quite remember his lines.

Reminds me of:

There's an old saying in Tennessee -- I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee -- that says, fool me once, shame on -- shame on you. Fool me -- you can't get fooled again.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/09/20020917-7.html



Link to video of Bush trying to say this. http://media.brainthink.com/video_temp/bushfool-low.mpeg

[BadGimp]

17. look that way...

[DrBB]

18. No incompetence goes unrewarded

...in the Chimp's administration. Long as you're loyal, you've nothing to worry about no matter how badly you fuck up. Conversely, of course, nothing will be more viciously or immediately punished than disloyal competence and truth-telling.

That, after all, is how all medieval aristocratic courts worked.

[The_Casual_Observer]

19. Tenent looked like a peripatetic corpse

Waving his arms, covering his stupid ass, telling lies.

The story keeps changing. Why does this guy still have a job?

[ngGale]

20. Why do any of them still have a job...

????

[FrankBooth]

21. CIA George is no longer grounded ...

... and if he's really good next week, he might even get his allowance back.

[Sagan]

22. No one ever loses their job in the Chimpministration...

Well, unless you tell the Chimperor something he doesn't like to hear, such as O'Neill did.

But as long as your colossal fuck-ups only cost American lives, like on 9/11 or in the Iraq invasion and occupation, well that's just fine!

No accountability.

[Dulcinea]

23. Tenet's not going anywhere.

"Agreed to stay in his job till the end of the year?"

Hmmm, until AFTER the election? Because he knows where all the bodies are buried? Good God, America, when will you wake up & realize what a bill of goods you've been sold?!

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

24. Because he knows where all the bodies are buried?

Yep.

[bushwakker]

25. Can't break the circle

they're petrified of a full blown cia revolt. tenet could be caught in motel room with a sheep in a garter belt and still keep his job.

[leesa]

28. Same as the mock testimonies after 9-11. It's their fault but they did

a great job. Will our traitorous press promote this BS again?