Slamming Tenet

"In a few days, former CIA director George Tenet's new book goes on sale. For $30.00, a reader will be able to find out what really happened in that December 2002 meeting at the White House when Tenet used the phrase 'slam dunk.' Or what really happened with the prewar WMD intelligence and how it was used--or abused--by George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and others...

"But here's an out-of-the-box question: don't the citizens of the United States deserve to know what happened in the run-up to the war (and to 9/11) for free? Tenet may feel--as he claims--damn lousy about the screwed-up National Intelligence Estimate that helped pave the way to war in Iraq. But he did not feel bad enough to resign--or to disclose earlier what had gone wrong. He sat on the story and now is peddling it for personal profit.

"Tenet should have long ago been questioned openly by a congressional committee about all this--though no Republican committee chair would have dared--or he should have spilled all to 60 Minutes and other media, as a public service, not as an advertisement for his book."

Ex-CIA agent Larry Johnson has posted an open letter to the author:

"If you are committed to correcting the record about your past failings then you should start by returning the Medal of Freedom you willingly received from President Bush in December 2004. You claim it was given only because of the war on terror, but you were standing next to General Tommy Franks and L. Paul Bremer, who also contributed to the disaster in Iraq . . .

"If reflection on these matters serves to prick your conscience we encourage you to donate at least half of the royalties from your book sales to the veterans and their families, who have paid and are paying the price for your failure to speak up when you could have made a difference. That would be the decent and honorable thing to do."

Dinesh D'Souza joins the criticism:

"Tenet got the WMD issue completely, disastrously wrong. And now this fellow is back with a new book that seeks to divert attention from his own failures by charging that the Bush administration had its own unrelated reasons to invade Iraq. Not just the fear of WMDs, you see, but other motives."

By the way, in response to e-mails I've been getting with such subject lines as "America Hater," I misspoke yesterday on Washington Post Radio. When I said that Tenet's insider account validated years of stories by journalists of questionable patriotism, I meant that's how some in the administration might view the media reports. I believe that patriotism actually requires journalists to aggressively question what government does, especially on a grave matter like war, despite the inevitable criticism.

At last, to spice up the campaign, courtesy of Mike Allen, a Fred Thompson story with a sex angle:

"Advisers to Fred Thompson have begun exploring a range of staffing options -- including talking to potential campaign managers -- as the actor and former Tennessee senator firms up his plans to enter the Republican presidential contest, according to people involved in the conversations.

"Thompson has not made a final decision but is on track to be ready to announce his candidacy in June or July, his advisers say. Thompson has already been polling better than some of the announced GOP candidates, and his entry would shake up a field that has left many Republican faithful dissatisfied.