Lack of courage facilitated Iraq's invasion »
Posted By populist 1 year, 8 months ago in Arts & EntertainmentHis anticipated book written; now it's Professor Tenet's turn to make the pilgrimage route in the promotion of his narrative of events in hope, one guesses, that with a little luck, and a small measure of persuasion, he might enhance not only his pocketbook but also his foggy image with the American public.
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david_nwpa1 year, 8 months ago
Absolutely right. If Powell and Tenet had resigned simultaneously and spelled out to the American public why they were stepping down, the President would have been hard-pressed to move forward with his ill-fated and poorly planned fiasco that is now Iraq.
Do not get my wrong, I support the troops. Why is it that people would claim, I do not support the troops, when what I want to see is their survival. The neocons simply want to see them die in a war none of us understand.
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johnkamis641 year, 8 months ago
You got it;Pop!!!
They enabled treason.They committed treason. They should have all honors stripped from them,and stand trial,and if convicted, go to prison or death row.
To SUPPORT the troops, would be to ensure they were fully equipped, fully supported, with a RELIABLE food& water supply, and not have to risk thier A$$e$ for contractors making several TIMES thier pay shooting up cars at random, filming it and putting it to music and putting it on the NET!!!
Anyone enabling these traitors, refusing to even look at the evidence with an open mind,and smearing those who demand accountability;deserve a couple of 9mm aspirin.
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donald511 year, 8 months ago
...only from the party that has so few that have actually heard the sound of cannon or the whiz of a bullet over their head!
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nakedtruth1 year, 8 months ago
But in a democracy war depends at least initially on support of the people. It would have made a difference because it would have put more pressure on liars like Hillary who now want to claim they were "deceived" into voting for the war.
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Blackacereturn1 year, 8 months ago
While Tenet Knew I think it's safe to say Colin didn't, Tenet said as much in his 60 min report. Colin quit there after. Thes guys are men that get things done for the power that be, to hold them to the fire for what Bush and his VP did in my eyes, this is wrong they are there to serve the president not the people. Bush and the friend shooter on the other are there for the people, and they did this, make no mistake they lied or conived their way into this so-call war.
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johnkamis641 year, 8 months ago
Colin gave EVERYTHING in the name of DUTY. He threw away his credibility,his sympathy,and his honor,all because he picked the wrong horse. I don't know why he joined the neoconartists;
but I will bet he regrets it bitterly.
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populist1 year, 8 months ago
i don't think he pulled any punches on Tenet, either...here's what the author said about Tenet after his 60 minutes interview:
"[Tenet came] out of that interview with less credibility than the paltry amount he had going in."
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samsara151 year, 8 months ago
If the kind of people a nation produces for its leaders is any indication, America is in decline. Fortunately, Rome survived for hundreds of years, in spite of inept leadership, so poor leadership does not necessarily doom a society. Rome, however, had the good sense to change course at times in its history when bad leadership threatened its survival. Are we that wise? Tenet's break with the administration does not excuse him for his previous part in its actions.
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ningyo1 year, 8 months ago
powell and tenet should have been FIRED years ago--we would have been much better served without these spineless appeasers--powell is a gutless wonder who should have retired long ago--tenet is just another dick clarky trying to re-write his legacy--everybody knows so much better in hindsight--i voted for the resoloution but then i found out that what i would have voted for the bill if i knew then what i didnt know now but it was the presidents responsibility to show us the real reasons for his evidence that we voted for--and i stand firmly behind that position today--....baloney
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donald511 year, 8 months ago
Ning, please explain any explanations you may have to validate Powell's gutless wonderment before the UN presentation of WMD? I think your comments are unfounded to that point! Powell asked to be involved and was intentionallly left out and bypassed in many cases until his world respect and renown were used to further butresse the administrations lies at the UN!
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Searchbeam1 year, 8 months ago
Men of integrity do not lend their names to lies and deceits.
Powell and Tenet are opportunists! They won't know honesty if it stood next to them!
Indeed CIA to CYA is a short hop for Tenet.
I didn't think he had any credibility to begin with. After his
debacle on 60 Minutes, he has gone into the negative territory.
As far as Powell goes, he had been a brown-noser all his life. He is a straw hero, basically created and manipulated by mass media. I haven't seen an ounce of courage from him. Compare him to Gen. MacArthur and see how shallow and spineless he looks!
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ybdogsct1 year, 8 months ago
NINGYO:
"powell is a gutless wonder who should have retired long ago"
Gutless? Powell is a 4-star general who has served this country for 35 years, risked his life for this country on the front lines of combat, was awarded the Purple Heart, Soldier's Medal, and Legion of Merit for. Somehow, I doubt your record compares favorably to Powell's.
Of course, there's always time to fix that, so I suggest you log off your computer, enlist in the military, grab a rifle, and ask for front line duty.
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Teagen1 year, 8 months ago
In the early 1980s, Powell served at Fort Carson, Colorado. It was there that he had a major clash with General John Hudachek, his commander. Hudachek said in an efficiency evaluation that Powell was a poor leader who should not be promoted. My last assignment was the Building and many feel that way.
His Purple heart was from a punji stick not from live fire. On his second tour he showed valor in saving the crew of a downed chopper, so he isn't gutless. But I wouldn't mention the Purple Heart.
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white-pawn1 year, 8 months ago
But what if Ningyo doesn't want to kill people?
This war has amounted to nothing more than the killing of innocent people for the sake of the uber-wealthy and the control of energy resources. That's all our troops are doing over there is acting as henchmen or armed guards for a very successful crime syndicate. And the private military contractors could be up to even worse, but who knows because they are accountable to nobody.
My take on this is that Colin Powell served his country with honor and distinction, and when he found out what was really going on he had no choice but to quit. Tenet quit because he was the fall-guy.
So Tenet is doing what people of little character do at times like these. Writing "tell-all" books and doing the talk show circuit, way after the point when it would have done anybody any good.
Too little, too late!
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donald511 year, 8 months ago
I like the German proverb quoted in the article! The proverb states: wealth lost, something lost; honor lost, much lost; courage lost, all lost. Interesting and valid to put Colin and Tenet in the same category as far as being able to deter going into Iraq had they stood up; but, Cheney knew this and kept Colin purposefully in the dark, particularly so by giving Rummy all the recovery mission in Iraq (a normal state department mission)! But, Colin should have questioned his brief to the UN better, a day which he now admits was the worst in his life! Courage and honor were lost by both men to the detriment of the country!
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donald511 year, 8 months ago
...or a vain attempt to correct what he knew he was doing wrong before! You have to remember that Cheny visited the CIA more than any other VP and still wasn't getting what he wanted so he had Rummy creat the intel link through the Pentagon to get the same intel that had already been debunked by the CIA (Curveball, Al Libi abd Chalibi rants).
Had we been greeted as liberators, had the Iraqi oil paid for the war, had we only been there 6 months, Tenet would have never spoken up and would have had no need to. But, now he has perhaps 600,000 Iraqis, 3 and a half million Iraqis who have left their country, over 3,000 fine dead Americans, 50,000 maimed Americans on his conscience and no end in sight to the debacle.
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spellbreak1 year, 8 months ago
Good oh, my friend.
I think most of the noise and confusion is a matter of pigs flying, crapping on us in a snow storm.
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donald511 year, 8 months ago
Goldrush, why would you tube a story like this? Why was your greatest single participation in an issue on this forum to fallaciously try to debunk global warming? Don't you believe in the goodness of America and that it should be an honorable and wholesome place for your kids and grand kids to grow up in? If so, your comments on this forum are not indicating so!
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Sabretooth1 year, 8 months ago
My guess is KOunT is an old bitter girlfriend of Bill who was jilted.
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edromar21 year, 8 months ago
One of the primary methods of providing deniability to bosses black as sin that I was taught in intelligence work was the method of "coming clean" by admitting what it would bne absurd to deny and spinning it to one's boss's advantage. At the same time, to be effective, that mode of providing deniability to one's boss requires the appearance of an attack on him/her and fake protests claiming that boss was at fault in every non-crucial matter. That is just what TENET IS DOING--APPARENTLY.
Tenet is still lying to make the American dupes believe that our intelligence services were duped by the claims he pretends he provided to the President. The fact is that the people in the trenches said then and they say now, that no one who dealt with the actual data bought thye silliness Tenet claims he passed on to the White House.
The fact is he is still fallen on his sword--but thinks it will be more convincing to wiggle it around just a little bit.
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elel1 year, 8 months ago
Sounds like a standard kid's manipulation technique. For instance "If I had my own car, then I wouldn't be at that place you[the parent] said I couldn't go, I was just a passenger in the car when it went to that place and not the driver. My cell phone, oh, the battery went dead." Uh huh, of course my excuses as a teenager where simpler for being late for curfew, my watch stopped or I forgot to wind it or wear it, oh look, it's off by 15 mins.
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Gotitright1 year, 8 months ago
Tenant and Powell will sell books the best way they know how. There is actually one man that could have prevented the war in Iraq, Saddam Hussein. He started it by entering Kuwait and not following the treaty. Everyone else did what they had to do. Where do liberals want to fight the war on terror? or do thay want to wait for the next attack in this country? Live and learn or live and repeat the same mistake. My favorite German proverb: Bad bread is not bad. No bread, that is bad.
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cushi1 year, 8 months ago
Whatever Clinton and Kerry believed, they would've let the UN inspectors finish their job, I'm sure, and they would've made damn sure their intelligence was on the up and up if it ever did become necessary to send our troops into harms way. Furthermore, they wouldn't have ******ed off our allies so that we had to send the bulk of the fighting force in ourselves, and consequently suffer the largest number of casualties outside of the Iraqis themselves.
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elel1 year, 8 months ago
Alfalfa, Clinton and Kerry are just two of the Senators that believed what the President told them. Correct me if I'm wrong, but is it the responsibility of the Senators to check everything that the President tells them is so? I would think they should, but I'm not all that trusting. Come to think of it, the President is still telling them [the Senators] what todo.
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1-2-Oscar1 year, 8 months ago
Ben Tansoborn, the author of the book review "populist" thinks is so great, has absolutely no experience in the CIA or any other intelligence agency. In fact, his interests include "the treatment, in either short story or novella form, of historical fiction, myths and legends, contemporary romance and narrative poetry." This information is derived from his own biography, located at http://www.populistamerica.com/ben_tanosborn.
A perusal of articles submitted to this forum from that source will reveal that many are dependent upon "historical fiction, myths and legends." There is no semblance of accurate reporting or rational and unbiased analysis in populistamerica.com, only a succession of partisan diatribes. But what I most resent is that the honorable term, "populist," has been preempted and misused by socialists.
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Candida1 year, 8 months ago
Since the author is not trying to describe or analyze the workings of the CIA, what difference does it make whether he has any experience in it? Anyone can express an opinion on any topic. If you find his opinion baseless or wrong, you can point it out, but I don't see anything in your post that addresses the merits of his arguments.
It seems to me that he has a very simple argument: a head of an organization who allows the spread of misinformation attributed to his organization has no credibility. I find it difficult to argue with that.
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1-2-Oscar1 year, 8 months ago
The author, Tansoborn, DOES postulate "a lack of courage" as a root cause for Tenet's failure. That would necessarily assume knowledge of exactly what you deny, "the workings of the CIA."
Are you supposed to be the "first team" for the left wing on this board? Do you, like Tansoborn, derive all your "knowledge" from Tenet's "tone of voice and mannerisms?" Surely that is the most subjective and least factual msort of evaluation imaginable. but, so long as Tansoborn parrots the party line, your sort will defend him.
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Gatsby1 year, 8 months ago
Let's forget about Tenet. His ass is toast. His credibility is lower than Bush's approval rating.
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Searchbeam1 year, 8 months ago
Not so fast, Gatsby!
This guy is responsible for hiding the intelligence that would have made difference and saved hundreds of thousands of innocent lives. He has blood of the innocents on his hands. An independent Prosecutor is what is needed to straighten out his and Powell's mess! Let us also not forget Dummy Rummy and Shotgun Dickie- the two major villains of this dark chapter of history. And Paul Bremmer should not escape the wrath, either.
If you impeach one, the rest will fall down like broken limbs of a diseased tree.
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liberty1 year, 8 months ago
I believe Tenet is telling the thruth in the behind the scenes before the war, but it does not excuse that he is a trator to United States and to Humanity. He could have saved hundred of thoursands of people, now I wish he would just be sent to guantanamo bay, where cheney has says there is no "toture".
we should send cheney, bush, rumsfeld and powell there too. Maybe not powell, he at least has not continued to lie or used the thruth to make money yet...but he should be judge and be sent to jail too
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Teagen1 year, 8 months ago
How does anyone read anything from this guy and consider it credible. Under his lead we bombed an aspirin plant in Africa and launched practice missiles into Afghanistan. The other problem, his book mentions OBL and other dangers. The only thing the press reports is the lack of nukes in Iraq. We've found the chemical and biological weapons along with the bodies of the Kurds he used them on. Listening to him is like getting advice from Albright. Another Clinton staffer to busy covering up for Willy's willy.
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liberty1 year, 8 months ago
stop blaming clinton, in case you have not notice, he has not been president for over 6 years. Let see here was it clinton who authorised war?..hmmm. This one might be hard for some but the factual answer is still no.
If bush was president for the next 10 years some would still blame clinton for everything wrong...what about the responsability of bush in all this...or I forgot: the voice in his head told him to go to war..He is not the only crazy person out there either, one must wonder how does he get poeple like teagen to not hold him accountable for the war and how it is going
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Teagen1 year, 8 months ago
It's very clear you never read Tenent book. He did cover his ideas on the war, that's fine. But you're missing the dozens of times he sights the mistakes made during Clinton's time. I don't really blame Clinton, he wasn't a leader who lead. He was a person directed by polling. If the wind blew one way, he went that way.
What Clinton should be asked is why he trimmed the military down so far. Granted he hates us but it would be nice to have a few more troops. We can win but it's a little more work. But again, he ran the nation controlled by the polls and press.
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Teagen1 year, 8 months ago
Sorry, my area came under fire and was off line. So much for down time.
As to the weapons, there have been over 5000 found and several times the weapons you claim don't exist have been used or attempted to be used in IED's. The press and most of the libs have taken the WMD and made them only nuke. WMD and CBNW cover all chemical, bio, nuke weapons.
The good news or bad depending upon if your a democrat or republican is that the terrorists don't know how to set off the gas warheads. They are a different design than standard percussion fuses. It's a good thing Iran never added that to the terrorist training handbooks.
21st century? I'm based in Qatar and often end up working in Iraq. We're happy to be in the 16th century.
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Teagen1 year, 8 months ago
So what you're saying is he used chemical weapons before so he never would again. Saddam never struck me as someone who cared. He's responsible for around 1,000,000 deaths not including the Iran/Iraq war or Gulf 1.
The rounds we continue to find buried were just land fill? Yea right. Given a chance he would have used them again.
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slate1 year, 8 months ago
I never cared if Clinton or any Fallible human falls short and has an affair, sure it would be best if it didn't happen but reality just isn't that way. Clinton should have been more discrete and it would have never been an issue that could have been used against him in the hard hitting venue of politics (both sides have their share of witch hunts),,, if he would have said yeah I did it so instead of telling a lie then it would have ended there.
There are so many other things that Clinton did that are far worse than having an affair. Ties to China and Nuclear programs,,,,, his lack of focus on the impending storm of Islamic threats,,,, but hey he was riding the wave of a good economy and in the end that's all some in this country care about, why rock the boat.
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SonOfTheMask1 year, 8 months ago
Agreed. Reading the populistamerica "articles" always conjures up an image of an unkempt rabble-rouser standing on a soapbox, shaking a fist, and decrying the imminent end of the world.
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spellbreak1 year, 8 months ago
So much left out. History, for example. Saddam didn't just pop up in 2001, or in 1990. Check the U.S. history re Iraq and what happened with the Inspections under Clinton. What about April Gillispie, Saddam's approach and what we said? Review the W H Press Secretary (what was her name? -- she is on tape) on our relationship with Kuwait before the invasion. Check the statements / books by Scott Ritter and others. Check the Yellow cake story against what the International Atomic Energy Agency Director said (It was absurd on its face.) and the Brit's admissions about the 10 year old plus student paper which they plagurized complete with typos and claimed it was current, correct intelligence. We said we believed it. And on ...
How could anyone believed any of this? How can anyone now believe denials and claims by the Congress or the Administration or the Press of "being mislead"?
It isn't as if no one was told or that the facts weren't available and clear.
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nahual1 year, 8 months ago
UHm so Tenet is spilling the beans finally. Colin Powell is no innocent by stander in this little fiasco and dont forget Ms Condolezza Rice,she is in it up to her ears as well.
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nahual1 year, 8 months ago
Tenet, traitor or not, was at the time working for the Bush Administration.Receiving orders and instructions directly from Dick Cheney,Vice President,in the Bush Administration.
If Tenet is a traitor, liberal or othewise, certainly George W. Bush and Dick Cheney ar equally guilty of treason.
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HannibalBarca1 year, 8 months ago
Talking to the Sibfondl** is useless and a waste of time,The way everyone is deserting shrub he will be all alone.
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pongping1 year, 8 months ago
And that foreign agent, Richard Perle, said something like "those generals are not qualified to make political decisions."
There were voices, but they were blowing in the wind. I think the media was just as cowardly, or had its own agenda.
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questionseverything1 year, 8 months ago
well here in illinois we saw the un begging the us to let the inspectors finish......i hollared long and loud but didnt change anything,i thought we should of followed obl and finished the job
but then what do i know i figured we would be at war days after the inaugration ,as we had just received proof about al quida and the us cole,but bush went on vacation and acted like terrorism didnt excist
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