Well, He’s a Son of A Something…
People have been lining up to weigh in on George Tenet’s new book, At the Center of the Storm, about the lead up to the Iraq war. Most predictably among them, his former bosses, who were shocked, just shocked at some of the allegations he made. So shocked that they spent most of Sunday making the rounds on the talk shows to make sure everyone knew that.
But of all who have weighed in, perhaps the most interesting comments come from a group of Tenet’s former CIA colleagues who sent this open letter to him, detailing their thoughts on his willingness to keep his mouth shut about his misgivings about the war just long enough to get a seven-figure advance for said book.
They write:
By your silence you helped build the case for war. You betrayed the CIA officers who collected the intelligence that made it clear that Saddam did not pose an imminent threat. You betrayed the analysts who tried to withstand the pressure applied by Cheney and Rumsfeld.
Most importantly and tragically, you failed to meet your obligations to the people of the United States. Instead of resigning in protest, when it could have made a difference in the public debate, you remained silent and allowed the Bush Administration to cite your participation in these deliberations to justify their decision to go to war. Your silence contributed to the willingness of the public to support the disastrous war in Iraq, which has killed more than 3300 Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.
As a matter of theory, it would seem ludicrous that we as a society would need the equivalent of a Son of Sam Statute for our highest ranking government officials. That we would have to compel them not to profit from the explicit or implicit crimes they commit against the citizens they are supposed to serve.
But the reality, the reality that certain people in Washington are so adept at obfuscating, is that some people quite literally have no shame. And George Tenet is the least of these.
