Former CIA Director George Tenet is using a new book and media
appearances to accuse the White House of making him a scapegoat for
the Iraq war, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.
In an interview taped to air on CBS on Sunday, Tenet said US
President George W. Bush had made up his mind to invade Iraq long
before the CIA director made his infamous Oval Office remark that
it was a "slam-dunk" case that Saddam Hussein's government had
weapons of mass destruction, according to the report.
He was even more critical of US Vice President Dick Cheney and
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, saying the two have destroyed
his reputation by repeatedly using the "slam-dunk" line to pin
blame on him for the decision to go to war.
"It's the most despicable thing that ever happened to me," Tenet
said in the "60 Minutes" interview, according to a portion of the
Interview transcript.
Speaking about the December 2002 meeting in which he sought to
assure Bush that the evidence against Iraq was solid, Tenet said:
"I'll never believe that what happened that day informed the
president's view or belief of the legitimacy or the timing of this
war. Never."
Tenet's comments represent a new and potentially politically
damaging source of fire in a battle among Bush administration
officials over blame for the Iraq war.
The former CIA chief's entry is remarkable because he previously
had been seen as excessively loyal to the White House.
Tenet's book, titled At the Center of the Storm, is
scheduled for public release next Monday.
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A White House spokesman said that administration officials had not
seen the book or Tenet's interview but defended the decision to
invade Iraq.
"The president decided to remove Saddam Hussein for a number of
reasons, because of mainly the National Intelligence Estimate on
Iraq and Saddam's own actions," spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.
(Xinhua News Agency April 28, 2007)
