Today’s American History Lesson
President Bush awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, to former CIA Director George Tenet, saying he had played a “pivotal roles in great events,” an allusion to the 9/11 attacks and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Also receiving the medal are retired General Tommy Franks, who oversaw combat in Afghanistan and the initial invasion of Iraq, and former Iraq administrator L. Paul Bremer.
A report released by the CIA includes new details of the agency’s missteps before the 9/11 attacks, including the failures to grasp the role being played by terror mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and to assess fully the threats known to 50 to 60 intelligence officers.
It is recommended that Tenet be held accountable for the failure of top agency officials to put in place a strategy to dismantle Al Qaeda in the years before the attacks.
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5 Responses to “Today’s American History Lesson”
While I have no idea why Bush decided to keep Tenet, let alone reward him as he did, the CIA is so dysfunctional and prone to intramural backstabbing that I wouldn’t give too much credibility on anything coming out of that place.
The main point is that the administration has greatly weakened this country by protecting and rewarding those who have massively failed us, merely because the perpetrators were Bush loyalists. We see this pattern with the three Shaun mentioned, as well as with Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and Gonzales.
In the light of hindsight, I would not label Tenet a “loyalist” as much as not worthy to hold the position. What intelligence Tenet did not internally coordinate well and what he failed to say more forcefully at a time it would have done some good is hardly a buck that can be passed to Bush.
I watched the Moyers piece last night……now that “everyone” (Rather, 60 Minutes, Washington Post) is claiming they knew things were being cooked up, where is the liberal venom for them? Yes, they were afraid to go against the polls and appear like outcasts…………yes, that apparently exonerates them in your view.
And what’s wrong with Tommy Franks now? As I recall the initial armored divisions rolled up from landing to outside Bagdad within 4 weeks or so? Didn’t he put in Garner and the other guy from State before the installation of Bremer? Isn’t Franks the only guy on record in 2003 saying Iraq was a 4 year minimum event? An even better than that, he called Doug Feith an idiot…….a litmus test for liberal approval if I ever heard one.
Bush has rendered the Presidential Medal of Freedom meaningless. Although it may never have had any meaning
Tenet let Bush off the hook in his kiss and tell book, while blaming others around him for the CIA’s failures. He also defended Bush to the 9/11 Commission, receiving the Medal of Freedom in return. Most reports describe Tenet’s relationship with Bush as close. I believe that qualifies him as a loyalist.