Wanna see some seriously interesting info about Washington? George Tenet paints an ugly picture of VP Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and Presidential Advisor Richard Pearl.
I listened to George Tenet’s book, "At the Center of the Storm" on AudioCD and it’s every bit as fascinating as this video clip from CBS’s 60 Minutes. Based upon what I heard/read/gleaned, he implies, among other things:
- Dick Cheney was at the center of most of the deception around Iraq and drove US policy with Machiavellian fervor.
- Condoleezza Rice is a political animal that even when told, dropped the ball around executing defenses for 9-11 and was more about deflecting blame than anyhing.
- Former White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card was an straight shooter caught in the middle of some very underhanded dealings.
- Bill Clinton’s budget cutting of the CIA was the reason for the US’s lack of global intelligence coverage.
- The invasion of Iraq and destablization of the middle east was the ultimate goal of a small group of 4 Washington folk who had believed it necessary for unknown reasons, including Presidential Advisor Richard Pearl.
- Former Secretary of State Colin Powell was a good man with a lot of bad people around him that got screwed in the end.
- Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was a politician worse than Condoleezza Rice, was twisted morally by his own jockeying for power, and was otherwise a very scary individual.
- Bob Woodward was a lackey and a podium for the White House party line.
The topic of President George W. Bush is covered and he really doesn’t have anything bad to say about him except basically that his cabinet is filled with snakes and that his administration didn’t react quick enough to CIA warnings after being getting settled into office in April 2001. He’s actually a little complimentary to President Bush stating that while he’s portraryed as a moron in the press, W is quite lucid, thoughtful, and makes shrewd decisions daily. He sort of implies that he either a) doesn’t know what his staff is doing a lot of the time as they inform him on a need to know basis, or b) he could be purposefully removed from much of the tactical decision making for the purposes of plausible deniability.
Either way, he doesn’t impune President Bush’s integrity… but he doesn’t hold back on the rest of the White House. This was one interesting book.
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Video: CIA’s George Tenet on 9-11 & Iraq
kurtsh
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