Bush Yet to Face up to Reasons for Tenet's Exit
Gandalf Grey
Mr. Tenet's Exit
Friday, June 4, 2004; Page A22
GEORGE J. TENET, who will be remembered in part for his skill in the
tradecraft of Washington, made a relatively artful departure yesterday from
the position of CIA director. For months, Mr. Tenet has faced mounting
demands that he accept accountability for the agency's failures in assessing
the threat of al Qaeda before Sept. 11, 2001, and in estimating Iraq's
capacity in weapons of mass destruction. Calls for his resignation seemed
sure to escalate in the coming weeks, with the release of reports by the
Sept. 11 commission and the Senate intelligence committee that are expected
to be highly critical.
Mr. Tenet partly preempted the brewing storm by announcing that he was
resigning, and only for personal reasons. In a stroke, he deflected some of
the heat from himself, the agency to which he has been so dedicated and
President Bush, who himself is refusing to acknowledge mistakes on al Qaeda
and Iraq. Predictably, Mr. Bush gave no hint that he has anything to regret
about the intelligence chief who told him the case on Iraq's weapons of mass
destruction was "a slam dunk"; instead, the president praised Mr. Tenet for
"a superb job on behalf of the American people." It's doubtful that
historians will render the same verdict, but Mr. Tenet has at least
mitigated the appearance of a departure under fire.
It's not that a shamed resignation was entirely called for. In the course of
seven years at the head of the CIA -- the second-longest tenure in
history -- Mr. Tenet did much to improve the agency and the overall capacity
of U.S. intelligence. He inherited an underfunded, directionless and
demoralized organization; by most accounts, he greatly improved training and
recruitment, obtained new resources, and refocused on fighting terrorism.
Mr. Tenet recognized the threat posed by Osama bin Laden before Sept. 11,
although the CIA, like the rest of the bureaucracy, did not respond with
sufficient aggressiveness. Agency operatives played a major role in the
successful campaign to overthrow the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and in
the exposure of the rogue nuclear programs of Libya and Pakistan.
Yet Mr. Tenet's agency mishandled Iraq in ways that undoubtedly will shadow
his legacy and may undo some of his success. While there is no proof that
CIA reports on Saddam Hussein's weapons were falsified to please Bush
administration hawks, the available facts suggest that crucial parts of them
were, as postwar arms inspector David Kay put it, "almost all wrong." After
months of prickly defensiveness, Mr. Tenet barely acknowledged that reality
in a single speech last February; like the administration he serves, he has
never fully accepted responsibility for what will surely be remembered as
one of the most significant intelligence failures in U.S. history. The
ongoing damage of that failure is only compounded by the conspicuous absence
of accountability. Yes, Mr. Tenet is going, but Mr. Bush has yet to face up
to the reasons why his departure was inevitable.
© 2004 The Washington Post Company
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"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so
long as I'm the dictator." - GW Bush 12/18/2000.
"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that
we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic
and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."
---Theodore Roosevelt
"For us to get bogged down in the quagmire
of an Iraqi civil war would be the height of foolishness."
---Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, 1991