Slamming Tenet

"' On the day after 9/11, he [Tenet] adds, he ran into Richard Perle, a leading neoconservative and the head of the Defense Policy Board, coming out of the White House. He says Mr. Perle turned to him and said: 'Iraq has to pay a price for what happened yesterday. They bear responsibility.'

"Here's the problem: Richard Perle was in France on that day, unable to fly back after September 11. In fact Perle did not return to the United State until September 15. Did Tenet perhaps merely get the date of this encounter wrong? Well, the quote Tenet ascribes to Perle hinges on the encounter taking place September 12: 'Iraq has to pay a price for what happened yesterday.' And Perle in any case categorically denies to THE WEEKLY STANDARD ever having said any such thing to Tenet, while coming out of the White House or anywhere else."

Power Line's John Hinderaker sounds like he was never a fan:

"So, it appears that, along with his other failings, George Tenet is a liar. Some will say that President Bush's biggest mistake was trusting the key post of Director of Central Intelligence to a Democrat."

Captain Ed is in fact-checking mode:

"Tenet has yet to see his book hit the stores, and it already has serious credibility issues. He misidentifies a Defense Department analyst as a 'naval reservist' in an attempt to belittle her credentials. Tenet can't seem to understand that Iran-Contra involved arming the mullahs, not the dissidents. It's a great display of why the CIA seems to have been rather incompetent during the years of his leadership. If the boss can't get his facts straight, how can he have advised two presidents with any degree of competence at all?"

Arianna says Tenet should have fallen on his sword:

"Does this sound familiar? A senior Bush administration official plays a key role in selling the Iraq war debacle to the American public, resigns a few years later, and then tries to distance himself from Bush and the war by writing a book or talking to Bob Woodward, portraying himself as a poor, hapless victim who knew the truth at the time and really, really wanted to tell it, but, somehow, just had no choice but to go along . . .

"He's about four years too late. Tenet seems to believe there's a major distinction between lying and standing by silently while others lie, and then proudly receiving a Medal of Freedom from the liars.

"He could have simply resigned and freed himself to 'tell the truth.' Tenet acts as if resignation were not an option. But it was. And the passion and anger he displays now in the service of book sales could have been used then in the service of his country."

The Nation's David Corn doesn't like the cover price:

"Should Americans have to pay to get the truth about how their government failed them?