TENET SPEAKS OUT--FINALLY!

seconddraft

In today’s Washington Post (October 1, 2006), page A-17, ("Two Months Before 9/11, an Urgent Warning to Rice), George Tenet, former Director of the CIA, and J. Cofer Black, counter-terrorism chief, spill the beans about Condoleeza Rice and others.

Tenet probably still is smarting from the mistake of his life, having allowed the White House to politicize his agency’s intelligence about Iraq. Life’s too short to be silent about principles, don’t you think?

Expect a lot of nastiness ahead, especially between the Jewish Right and the Christian Right; and between the Jewish Right and their allies and the retired generals.

I don’t read the luminaries of the Jewish or the Christian Right. But I heard that Thomas Friedman had expressed disappointment in the President about Iraq. That’s a sign that the Jewish Right is trying to wash its hands off the quagmire it helped (substantially) create, and to shift the blame for the failure of its ideas to the Christian Right, as represented by the President.

(It’s not the mediocre idea of invading an Arab country and de-stabilizing the regional balance of power; it’s the way the President applied it. Ditto for the hooray-for-war-orphan-Arab-and-Muslim-children Washington Post. It’s been back-pedaling along the same lines.)

The Christian Right probably will retaliate. Unlike the Jewish Right, it doesn't have the luxury of retreating to the relative safety of the liberal camp. Its back is against the wall.

Bill Clinton brought it all out when he accused President Bush’s “neocons” and other Republicans of ignoring bin Laden. Didn't you love that performance? Mr. Clinton once again has shown us that he is a genius politician.