Bush: CIA Director George Tenet Resigns

MyWay News ^

[Happy2BMe]

WASHINGTON (AP) - CIA Director George Tenet, who weathered storms over intelligence lapses about suspected weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, has resigned, President Bush said Thursday.

"I will miss him," Bush said.

Tenet came to the White House to inform Bush about his decision Wednesday night. "He told me he was resigning for personal reasons," Bush said. "I told him I'm sorry he's leaving. He's done a superb job on behalf of the American people."

Bush said that deputy, John McLaughlin, will temporarily lead America's premier spy agency until a successor is found. Among possible successors is House Intelligence Committee Chairman Porter Goss, R-Fla., a former CIA agent and McLaughlin.

(AP) CIA director George Tenet listens as he is questioned during his testimony before the Sept. 11...
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"He's been a strong and able leader at the agency. and I will miss him," Bush said of Tenet as he got ready to board Marine One for a trip to Andrews Air Force Base, Md., and on to Europe.

"George Tenet is the kind of public servant you like to work with," the president added. "He's strong, he's resolute. He's served his nation as the director for seven years. He has been a strong and able leader at the agency. He's been a strong leader in the war on terror."

"I send my blessings to George and his family and look forward to working with him until he leaves the agency," Bush said.

Tenet had been under fire for months in connection with intelligence failures related to the U.S.-led war against Iraq, specifically assertions the United States made about Saddam Hussein's purported possession of weapons of mass destruction, and with respect to the threat from the al-Qaida terrorist network.

In May, a panel investigating the Sept. 11 attacks released statements harshly criticizing the CIA for failing to fully appreciate the threat posed by al-Qaida before the terrorist hijackings. Tenet told the panel the intelligence-gathering flaws exposed by the attacks will take five years to correct.

During his seven years at the CIA, speculation at times has swirled around whether Tenet would retire or be forced out, peaking after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 and surging again after the flawed intelligence estimates about Iraq's fighting capability.

Even when his political capital appeared to be tanking, Tenet managed to hang on with what some say was a fierce loyalty to Bush and the CIA personnel. A likable, chummy personality, also helped keep him above water.

Conventional wisdom had been that Tenet, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton, did not plan to stay on next year, no matter who won the White House. Tenet has been on the job since July 1997, an unusually lengthy tenure in a particularly taxing era for the intelligence community that he heads.

Tenet is the son of Greek immigrants who grew up in Queens, N.Y.

Some close to Tenet have said the job overseeing more than a dozen agencies that make up the intelligence community has been taxing for him. He suffered heart problems while at the National Security Council during the Clinton administration, although a CIA official said his resignation was not health related.

On Capitol Hill, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., called Tenet "an honorable and decent man who has served his country well in difficult times, and no one should make him a fall guy for anything."

[Happy2BMe]

Not good.

[Constitution Day]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1146843/posts

[Mark in the Old South]

Sorry to disagree but this is long over due. Was he not a holdover from the Clinton regime?

[Happy2BMe]

He was a holdover but not a holdout.

Do you think the president is pleased by this? I can't see how.

[Rummyfan]

Agreed. Not good. Was it because of health reasons? Why else would he resign now and not wait until after the election?

[conserv13]

Could this have to do with Bush hiring a lawyer to advise him on what to do about the fact that someone in his office leaked a CIA agents name?

I am not anti-Bush but I would like to get get to the bottom of this Plame leak incident.

[Happy2BMe]

Rumors are it was over Tenet's handling of WMD intellgence.

TENENT RESIGNATION LINKED TO IRAQ WMD REPORT
			Posted by areafiftyone On News/Activism 06/03/2004 8:03:14 AM PDT with 44 comments Newsmax ^ | 6/3/04 The shock resignation of CIA Director George Tenet Thursday morning comes just days before the release of a devastating report on the CIA's inaccurate assessment that Iraq had stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction before the war. "Apparently there is a prewar intelligence report that is about to be released to the public compiled by the Senate Intelligence Committee," reports ABC News. "We're being told that this report is devastating to George Tenet." The report "relates to some of the prewar intelligence and some of the advice that Tenet gave to the president and to others in the administration in...

[Howlin]

No.

[Howlin]

I went to their web site; there is nothing even close to that on ABC News.

[Happy2BMe]

Apparently, the WMD issue has taken it's toll . . .

Woodward: Tenet told Bush WMD case a 'slam dunk'- Posted by KQQL
On News/Activism 04/18/2004 8:59:17 PM PDT with 24 comments

cnn.com ^ | 04/18/04 | CNN
<p>WASHINGTON (CNN) -- About two weeks before deciding to invade Iraq, President Bush was told by CIA Director George Tenet there was a "slam dunk case" that dictator Saddam Hussein had unconventional weapons, according to a new book by Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward.</

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Tenet's 'slam-dunk'
Posted by fourfivesix
On News/Activism 04/25/2004 9:04:00 AM PDT with 3 comments

worldnetdaily.com ^
Tenet's 'slam-dunk' Ernest Hemingway once defined "sin" as "something you feel bad about, afterwards." On the evidence presented in Richard Clarke's "Against All Enemies," and in Bob Woodward's "Plan of Attack," Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet ought to have a terminal case of the feel-bads. There are sins of omission. If DCI Tenet knew in the summer of 2001 that al-Qaida posed an imminent threat to us and did not adequately communicate that threat to President Bush, shouldn't Tenet now have trouble sleeping at night? Then, there are sins of commission. If DCI Tenet knew in the fall of...

[MamaLucci]

.....I would like to get get to the bottom of this Plame leak incident.

Oh, brother........you've been watching CNN, right?
Plame's identity was common knowledge in DC. The "Plame incident"
is a Joe Wilson/liberal media manufactured scandal.

[NobleEagle2004]

Cheney CIA Dir.!
BushRice 2004!
RiceAllen2008!

[G.Mason]

"Not good."

Very good.

The time to clean out the Clinton vermin is long over due.

Now they should start early retirements for those entrenched Federal employees, who are sworn to allegiance to the Democrat Party.

The next four years will should bring a thorough "house" cleaning.

[CTpatriot]

SecState Powell.... he is next.

[Enterprise]

I wonder if it is related to the latest scandal, in which Chalabi allegedly leaked information to the Iranians about the United States cracking their security communications.

[G.Mason]

"Oh, brother........you've been watching CNN, right?
Plame's identity was common knowledge in DC. The "Plame incident" is a Joe Wilson/liberal media manufactured scandal."

Well said, Mama!

The "smoke bombs" thrown by the "enemy" confuse many.

[Happy2BMe]

I agree on the "house cleaning" but the timing of this is not the best with all the crap going on it's just another plug for the libs.

I would love nothing more than for Dubya to have five more years of "house cleaning" and especially in the DoD and those senior ranking general grade officers appointed by B.C.

Then, there's the federal judge appointee nightmare, the circuit judges, then the . .

[Happy2BMe]

Bush will never scrub Powell. At least not during this administration.

[conserv13]

Is the following true?:

A witness told a Federal Grand Jury that Bush knew about and failed to stop someone (Karl Rove) leaking the name of a covert CIA operative to Robert Novak.

The above is from an email I received from an Bush hater co-worker. This is what is going around.

[Blzbba]

"Very good.

The time to clean out the Clinton vermin is long over due."


Amen, brother. We don't need this assclown ignoring more Al Quaida terrorist data/warnings and giving Bush anymore bogus information that the Dummies ultimately use against him. If this Bozo was in the private sector, he would've been let go for gross incompetence years ago.

Good riddance.