Tuesday, June 15, 2004

A tale of two Georges

The widely-known but as yet unspoken truth in Washington is that Tenet committed perjury in his April 14 statements before the 9/11 Commission. The CIA Director raised his right hand and was sworn-in before that official inquiry. He stated repeatedly he had not met with President Bush in August 2001. When given several opportunities by Commission members to correct or retract his story during his sworn testimony, he did not do so. It wasn't a momentary memory lapse or slip of the tongue. Tenet lied repeatedly under oath. That is the very definition of perjury. But, within hours it was apparent that public records contradicted Tenet's statement about his meetings with Bush. CIA aides called reporters later that afternoon and offered that Tenet had "misspoken." The alternative explanation given was that Tenet had "temporarily forgotten," and that is what was reported in the newspapers. The story was all but buried.

... In her column on the op-ed page the next day, "Head Spook Sputters", [Maureen] Dowd wrote:

" I'm not sure whether Mr. Tenet - a mystifyingly beloved figure even though he was in charge during the two biggest intelligence failures since Pearl Harbor and the Bay of Pigs - has a faulty memory, which is scary. Or if he's fuzzing things up because he told the president more specifics than he wants to admit. But in a town where careers are made on face time with the president, it's fishy that the head spook can't remember a six- hour trip to Crawford ... "

...When his resignation becomes effective July 11, 2004, CIA Director George Tenet will no longer be covered by Executive Privilege. He may then be compelled to testify about what he as a Director of Central Intelligence told the President regarding several matters about which both he and Bush have thus far displayed a startling lack of candor.

Tenet will no doubt be pressed to truthfully answer what he said to George W. Bush in the weeks before the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Owing to his perjury before the 9/11 Commission, Tenet has also forfeited his qualified immunity on topics relevant to his meetings with the President in August and early September 2001. This will give potential prosecutors enormous leverage. In exhange for his true testimony about this, and what he knows about the Bush White House's illegal outing of undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame, we should expect Tenet to ask for and receive immunity from prosecution.

Tenet's perjury and resignation presents Congressional investigators and a special prosecutor with an unexpected opportunity later this summer to finally get to the truth of what the President was actually knew and when he knew it. This is also, of course, the Bush White House and the Republican's worst nightmare.
  Progressive Trail article