CIA Finds Holes in Pre-9/11 Work - washingtonpost.com
Former central intelligence director George J. Tenet and his top lieutenants failed to marshal sufficient resources and provide the strategic planning needed to counter the threat of terrorism in the years before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, according to a summary released yesterday of a long-secret CIA report.
The fact that Bush kept Tenet on instead of firing him before the ashes had even settled at the WTC is an excellent example of why Bush has been such a failure as a leader. He kept trying to apply MBA principles to an intensely political situation - both a public political situation, and an internal one. The people whose failures permitted 9/11 needed to be shown the gate immediately, both to reassure the public that the government was doing everything it could to make sure such mistakes were not repeated, and, further, heads needed to roll to get that same message across to the bureaucracies themselves.
One of Bush’s biggest problems is that he politicizes things he shouldn’t, and ignores politics when he shouldn’t.
The usual Bushwah Chorus (folks suffering from Bush Worship Syndrome) are busily at work today claiming Bush made no mistake in keeping Tenet and the others on, but the fact remains that Tenet should have been axed, probably along with the head of the FBI, immediately after the 9/11 attacks.
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As we try to find silver linings in the Bush clouds, I hope one outcome of his administration is that future Republican presidents recognize the futility of trying to “reach out” to the left “in the spirit of bipartisanship”.
I think Bush really believed that he would get some credit from the Democrats if he kept Tenet, worked with Kennedy on education, expanded Medicare, and so on. That was a delusion from the start.
Today’s left cares nothing for policy - it’s all about power. So they love power-sharing as long as someone else is the sucker sharing the power. And that’s how they treat you if you reach out - as a sucker.
I think Bush kept Tenet after the transition as a gesture to Democrats and because Tenet is a Bush kinda guy — a team player who understands that his real job is political, not kicking sleeping dogs or making things happen.
Further, Bush intended to build a legacy around a domestic agenda of spending (”compassionate conservatism”) and thought he could tolerate an empty-suit in a position that dealt mainly with outward-looking issues.
After 911, keeping Tenet on helped insulate the Administration from criticism by Democrats. Bush also knew that Tenet would never put him in the hot seat by running into the Oval Office with negative evidence on the Saudis, Iranians or anyone else. Bush could count Tenet to use the bureaucratic process to slow-roll and water down findings and recommendations on any issue that might interfere with the Administration’s relationships and always-political way of working.
Similar comments apply regarding Norm Mineta. Fundamentally, Bush and Mineta agree about big-tent politics, and no one is going to get profiled at an airport no matter how many Americans have to die. Ever. Period.
So, George Bush did not make a mistake by keeping these guys on. He made a choice, and did it with both eyes open and then stood behind it until the pain of not making changes became worse than sticking with his original, 100% political decisions about who would be a good fit for his team.
This goes to the heart of who the current president is. George Bush is not a Chief Executive or a Commander in Chief. George Bush is a politician and a fake. Right-wingers looking elsewhere for the fundamentals driving his conduct are looking in the wrong place. That’s why they keep shaking their heads in amazement at his betrayals and “errors” while wondering when the principled George Bush they halucinate will return to the conservative outlook he never had.
A mainstream, Bush-backing pundit would have to be very tough to say, “I was wrong — not about this or that, but about the man himself, and I’ve been wrong from the beginning.”
One little point about Mineta, the token democrat: when he was in California government, one reporter described him as capable of speaking with reporters for two solid hours, without notes. The reporters came away with the impression he knew transportation issues inside and out. They also noted that he never produced a memorable quote, and never said anything that could possibly get his boss in any kind of trouble. In DC, that’s gold.
The reports and intel on the issue were predetermined by regional/area supervisors to be overexaggerated and the common feeling about the subect was it was 90%bark and 10%byte. So would preventing instead of creating the situation have changed anything in time???? 9/11 Did not occur like the public on the other side sees it. Spinning is by no means helping anything. The truth is, we all live and die..some people almost die, and by some miraculous, or intentional act almost die, but still live on. Which is worse? If a firefighter or med tech ignores abuse or inflicts abuse, should they be punished? Of course. On the other side, they were. I dont know that this brings any closure, nor does it remove any phsycological pain. Similar to the leash incident…..people where the helldoes this end? Fmily fighting, interagency fights?? The fact is, it could have easily been avoided alltogether. Ive seen the closed hearings and know what data we did know at the time. Look we can allways move forward, water under the bridge-lest we don’t drown in it.
Nellis, you miss the point entirely. The Agency has been riven by ideological infighting for decades, and it taints the product. If you’re as much of an insider as you claim, that is no secret to you.
When a major bureaucracy utterly fails in its mission, as CIA and FBI did with 9/11, then it must pay a price, if only to convince the survivors to do a better job the next time around. The usual price is to fire the guy in charge - you know, the buck stops here sort of thing.
Yeah, you can say the same thing about Bush, but it’s up to the voters to fire him. Tenet’s job does not come with the same prerogatives, and it was Bush’s duty to fire him. The single biggest problem with GWB as a person is that he lacks the essential toughness it takes to be a successful US President in time of war.