The White House, having (as Seymour Hersh reported)put outrageous pressure on the CIA to cook its intelligence to support the pre-made decision to go to war, now thinks it can turn around and blame the CIA for all the things it said about Iraq that turned out to be false. The Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee are apparently ready to issue a report saying as much. The Republicans say that it would be impossible to examine the White House performance as a consumer of intelligence, because “it would be impossible to reach a consensus” (i.e., the truth is too painful for them to confront). The Democrats aren’t buying.
Tenet, the lightning rod
There could be only one reason why George Tenet still runs the CIA. And it must be because he’s willing and able to deflect heat away from the White House for some of the most telling gaffes of this administration….