This link from La Belle:
The president told his staff he did not want anyone speculating that Tenet was leaving for anything other than personal reasons, a White House official said.
"He told me he was resigning for personal reasons. I told him I'm sorry he's leaving. He's done a superb job on behalf of the American people," the president said at a hurriedly arranged announcement before boarding a helicopter to begin a trip to Europe. Cheney stood outside the Oval Office to watch Bush's announcement.
"He told me he was resigning for personal reasons. I told him I'm sorry he's leaving. He's done a superb job on behalf of the American people," the president said at a hurriedly arranged announcement before boarding a helicopter to begin a trip to Europe. Cheney stood outside the Oval Office to watch Bush's announcement.
Flashback to a post about Paul O'Neill, who got canned for telling the truth, and was offered the opportunity to resign.
Now that's the way a man of honor handles the offer."We'd really like to do this in an amicable and gracious way. The President thinks you should say you decided to return to private life, and you can decide whatever timing is good for you." [Dick Cheney phone call.]
...O'Neill paused and gathered himself. "You know, Dick, this is fine. The President is entitled to have people around him who he wants around him. What I'd like to do is announce it tomorrow morning...I'm not willing to say I want to return to private life, becasue I'm too old to begin telling lies now...I'm not going to say I quit."
pp. 310-311
The phone rang. It was Andy Card.
"The Vice President tells me the President would like to meet with you at four p.m. or four-thirty tomorrow. How does that sound?"
O'Neill thought that through - it took only a second. "Andy, I don't think he needs another meeting, and, for sure, I don't need another meeting with him."
The Price of Loyalty p. 313
All the politicos are now praising Tenet and his fine work and excusing any failings because of all the pressure he's been under. And still discussing whether there was a systemic failure at the CIA.
Blaming Tenet for intelligence failures when the neocon Office of Special Plans was set up to create their own intelligence, which Rumsfiend chose to use over the CIA's conflicting intelligence is really quite blatantly spurious.
It makes me think that Poppy still has more influence in the CIA than I'd like to see. Although I suspected that anyway - otherwise how would things have gotten as far as they have? Somebody in the CIA has been protecting Junior. Scary. But Tenet cooked his own goose. A man without honor.
Retired Adm. Stansfield Turner said he thought Tenet was pushed out.
"I think the president feels he's in enough trouble that he's got to begin to cast some of the blame for the morass that we are in in Iraq to somebody else, and this was one subtle way to do it," said Turner, himself a former CIA director.
"I think the president feels he's in enough trouble that he's got to begin to cast some of the blame for the morass that we are in in Iraq to somebody else, and this was one subtle way to do it," said Turner, himself a former CIA director.
I think I agree with the Admiral. But it wasn't so subtle.
....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.
A list of the Bush administration fallout here.
Addendum: I just read Josh Marshall's account:
What about Tenet? All the chatter -- not to mention simple logic -- says he was fired. The Times gets it right when they say that the way this was announced was "almost bizarre."
Actually, here concision should be the handmaiden of precision. Drop the "almost". It was bizarre.
Actually, here concision should be the handmaiden of precision. Drop the "almost". It was bizarre.
Read the whole post.
