Feith’s non-denial denial.
Feith’s non-denial denial.
Doug Feith becomes the latest neoconservative to express his outrage against George Tenet. He writes:
Mr. Tenet makes a peculiar claim of detachment, as if he had not been a top official in the Bush administration. He wants readers not to blame him for the president’s decision to invade Iraq. He implies that he never supported it and never even heard it debated. Mr. Tenet writes: “In many cases, we were not aware of what our own government was trying to do. The one thing we were certain of was that our warnings were falling on deaf ears.”
Mr. Tenet’s point here builds on the book’s much-publicized statements that the author never heard the president and his national-security team debate “the imminence of the Iraqi threat,” whether or not it was “wise to go to war” or when the war should start. He paints a distorted picture here.
But even if it were true that he never heard any such debate and was seriously dissatisfied with the dialogue in the White House Situation Room, he had hundreds of opportunities to improve the discussion by asking questions or making comments. I sat with him in many of the meetings, and no one prevented him from talking.
Fair point. But Feith never explains what was “distorted” about Tenet’s claim that there was no serious debate over going into Iraq. As Feith says, he was in those meetings too. We await the evidence.
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog Roll
So, Dougie, you sat with him in many of the meetings?
May 5th, 2007 at 10:48 pmI'm looking forward to your day in front of a Congressional panel, seeing as you perhaps have a better memory of past events than some others...
I know this is trite, but I can't resist: FEITH-less.
May 5th, 2007 at 10:52 pmHe thure ith Feithty for thomeone with tho many thkeletons in hith clothet ......
May 5th, 2007 at 11:01 pmFeith = Jail time.
May 5th, 2007 at 11:06 pmAnything less will be a miscarriage of justice.
Now the attacks start.
May 5th, 2007 at 11:14 pmAnyone against Bush is an open target for lies and distortions.
The usual pattern in these matters.
Perhaps it was a malfunctioning hearing aide. Wish I sold hearing aides in DC. Bet they’re having a run on them. That’s a hell of an excuse. Squeeeeeeeek Huh?
May 5th, 2007 at 11:20 pmIt's Feith's "But even if it were..." that makes my blood run cold.
AF
If broken, still strong.
May 5th, 2007 at 11:43 pmFeith is just another war criminal in the Bush Crime Family. Enough said.
May 5th, 2007 at 11:48 pmHe thure ith Feithty for thomeone with tho many thkeletons in hith clothet ……
Comment by Raven — May 5, 2007 @ 11:01 pm
Good one Raven!
May 5th, 2007 at 11:55 pmFeith and Tenet both are no stranger to the fate of speaking up:
Shenseki
May 5th, 2007 at 11:55 pmRichard Clarke
Paul O'Neill
It is not clear that the Bush administration is really doing anything all that outrageous. It seems, by the way, that despite all of the criticism and condemnation from "the People" (all but 28% that is) Bush and crew are running things the way that they feel is best. How could something like that go on in a country that was founded on the belief that: the people have a right to destroy a corrupt government and to start afresh? I feel that some of "the People" are developing an unhealthy attitude, in that, criticizing the president has become "in". Luckly we have sober, clear thinking, rational people in charge of the country, otherwise, from what I read here, we would be in a state of utter anarchy. (Bush, by the way, is not one of the "sober, clear thinking, rational" leaders whom I refer to).
May 6th, 2007 at 12:47 amSome people would do better to keep their mouth shut and be thought a fool, than to open it and remove all doubt. Feith is one of them.
In trying to shoot down Tenet's account, Feith ends up saying that he is also to be blamed for the invasion of Iraq. He also produces insights such as:
[...]the people he disliked he treated harshly and smeared. His loyalty is to tribe rather than truth.
No, he is not talking about the president, but George Tenet. Once again, a Bush loyalist accuses others of exactly what the Bush administration has been doing all these years.
This is the man Tommy Franks once called "the dumbest man on the planet". Now you know why.
May 6th, 2007 at 2:37 amFor a guy that headed an "intelligence" group tasked by Cheney to manufacture the justification for this war- specifically by culling only the intel that agreed with the WH's line- for Feith to say ANYTHING about Tenent distorting the record- leaves me seething.
Feith's role in the run up to this war was key- he is a war criminal. It is amazing that he can stand in the light of day and question ANYONE"S honesty without turning to a pillar of salt.
To #11: There's a reaon it's become so "popular" to criticie the president: His whole lying sack of shit administration has spent six years shreding the constitution, our democracy, our treasury, and our international standing. If none of this seems "outrageous" to you then not even the rapture can save you.
May 6th, 2007 at 2:52 amdoesn't this feith guy have to say something? Neocons only know how to lie.........
May 6th, 2007 at 6:03 amOn Diane Rehm there was a general concensus among Republicans and Democrats that the "Slam Dunk" remark was Tenet saying "this is your chance"[to invade Iraq].
I agree with this view.
May 6th, 2007 at 6:57 amFeith = Foreign Agent.
Arrest him.
May 6th, 2007 at 7:40 amDoug Feith may just be the "stupidist persion on earth" as General Franks alluded. Feith has just goaded Tenet into revealing even more in order to the his ill-deserved view of himself as a patriot and leader.
Let's go George, let's hear more.
May 6th, 2007 at 7:58 amBut Feith never explains what was “distorted†about Tenet’s claim that there was no serious debate over going into Iraq. As Feith says, he was in those meetings too. We await the evidence.
There was a lot of good healthy debate, as Feith implies. It ranged from discussions of whether invading Iraq was just a super-colossal great idea, to whether it was the best gosh-darnedest idea in the history of the universe.
Worst thing about these guys is that they lie to themselves and believe their own lies. That's why they're so shocked when they find themselves accused of lying.
May 6th, 2007 at 8:47 amAnd exactly how much of this crisis in the American Federal government, really in the American constitutional republic is making its way into the court of public opinion? Why was it that the truest monster in Richard Nixon's administration, Zionist Henry Kissinger, a Machiavellian thug and mass murderer walked the freeist of all Nixon's cronies? The U.S. corporate media. Anybody remember when the U.S. media marketed Hank as a sex symbol?! Meanwhile he was busy helping murder 100s of thousands.
May 6th, 2007 at 8:53 amThe media downplay this the way they downplayed, distorted or ignored the fact of Israel rolling a bulldozer over a 23 year old American peace activist, resulting in no mass uprising of anger and resentment against Israel. But look how they marketed Gilad Shalit! (A bulldozer no less! As though they couldn't have lifted Rachel Corrie up and physically moved her out of the way? All 110 pounds of her...wouldn't want those IDF soldiers to put out their backs now would we?)
Doug Feith isn't going to jail, not now, not soon, not ever, despite his complicity along with Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, Ken Adelman et al in lying the republic into a financial and human catastrophe. All for the glory of a greater Israel. But hey! the Evangelicals are lovin' it too! America is screwed. La Chaim! BTW Clinton managed to actually catch and jail or execute REAL TERRORISTS who actually attacked American soil and he did it without murdering a half million or more innocent bystanders!
this weekend: Ayman al-Zawahri, Al Qaeda's second in command:
This bill reflects American failure and frustration," Zawahri said. "But this bill will deprive us of the opportunity to destroy the American forces which we have caught in a historic trap."
Both Cheney and al-Zawahiri want us to stay the course in Iraq. Al Qaeda thinks it can win by Bankrupting America.
May 6th, 2007 at 9:10 amThe fact that there's been no terrorist attack within the U.S. since we went into Iraq proves enough for me.
May 6th, 2007 at 9:34 amExactly, Jake.
May 6th, 2007 at 9:38 amWhy come over here when Bush/Chainee sends Americans directly to them, and bankrupts the country to do it?
Jake...read the Looming Tower. Al qaeda was planning a poison gas attack on America, and called it off because it was not Spectacular enough. The war in Iraq is bankrupting the country, destroying the military, and radicalizing the Arab World. Sept. 11 was Al Qaeda's bait...the trap has been sprung..... And if you think the war in Iraq has been stopping terrorism, you haven't been following the news in Europe.
May 6th, 2007 at 9:43 amFor the record, as long as terrorists don't attack within the UNITED STATES again, I'm fine with that.
May 6th, 2007 at 9:54 am"For the record, as long as terrorists don’t attack within the UNITED STATES again, I’m fine with that."
Apparently Jake doesn't care if non-U.S.-citizens suffer.
May 6th, 2007 at 9:55 amyes, well at least you are safe, that's all that matters....
May 6th, 2007 at 9:56 amBernard:
Just as much as I "cared" when Truman dropped A-bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Care to answer my question from the other thread now?
May 6th, 2007 at 10:01 amI'm not so sure... as I recall, upon W's Iraq invasion Tenet had never been told about activities, sources, or conclusions of the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans: eg. Feith's shop. My impression at the time was Tenet was being used by the WH as cover for their Iraq ambitions, selectively quoting both Tenet and various CIA memoranda while carefully omitting caveats and suspicions of various WH claims: "mushroom cloud", aluminum tubes, NIGER, Al Qada connections etc. etc.
Beyond that, Feith says...
Not AFAIC. Rather this was precisely my experience of pre-invasion buildup: exaggerated claims, sliming of Blix, (mostly forgotten now) dishonesty by W's people w/the UN security council, Powell's "clear and convincing evidence" before UN... it's a long list, and the "picture" I got both then and now is precisely what Feith calls "distorted".
It was true...
Again, the CIA's "caveats" were omitted. The WH promoted Feith's "intelligence" while wrapping Tenet's authority (and later mistakes) around their garbage for validation.
Indeed, AFAIC Tenet didn't stand up for the truth back then. Just as US attorneys didn't (until recently) stand up against all the DOJ's shenanigans. And just as "Browny" didn't stand up to W's FEMA political operatives until Junior's machine scapegoated him. Same thing happened during FERC's slow walk "investigation" on the "California Energy Crisis" which was a self evident scam from the git-go, & which bilked Ca. out of $32b +.
There's a consistent theme to these processes, reflected throughout most everything this administration does. I never cease to be amazed how each successive debacle seems to conveniently forget the preceding ones... all well establishing a consistent modus operandi which, contrary to Feith's claim ("distorted picture"), is the precise means by which this WH executes policy which it routinely denies.
It's madness AFAIC.
May 6th, 2007 at 10:05 amFor the record, as long as terrorists don’t attack within the UNITED STATES again, I’m fine with that.
Comment by Jake — May 6, 2007 @ 9:54 am
That's the PROBLEM. There is a reason why the Iraq War supporters think Sept. 11 is a greater threat than World War II. 56 million people died in World war II.....half a million of them were Americans.But they were soldiers and sailors. The American homeland was largely untouched....no civilians died here. America used to be protected by "Fish to the East and Fish to the West. Now Globalization has made US vulnerable at home. Terrorism may be a greater threat to the American Homeland, but hunger and disease are still the main threats Worldwide.
May 6th, 2007 at 10:07 amBut Tenet served at "the Pleasure of the Commander Guy" and had to do as he was told.
May 6th, 2007 at 10:10 amYeah, yeah, jdmckay, but you forgot that the EPA refuses to deem carbon dioxide (what every human being EXHALES) as "air pollution" . . .
May 6th, 2007 at 10:11 amFor the record, the U.S. Constitution does not grant the FEDERAL government the power to solve world hunger and disease. Try something like this instead:
http://www.thepeaceplan.org
May 6th, 2007 at 10:13 amI believe that I would concur with Doug Feith on this one. George Tenet has an axe to grind, that's clear. He appears to be speaking with forked tongue, however, as he exonerates himself by saying that what he thought has proven to be inaccurate now but excoriates BushCo for their lack of logical dialogue about the pretext for this war. Besides, George Tenet was there during this time so why didn't he vocalize his opinions then???
Also, knowing what he knew all along the way in the process, why didn't Tenet come forward before now? Before thousands of our children died in this illegal war? Where was Tenet's voice then?
Sorry, George....you're as complicit as Bush and Feith and the rest of the criminals in the international war crimes which have been committed by everyone involved....including PNAC members!! Time will tell this story and I believe we will live to see Bush & Co. walking in handcuffs toward prison in the near future.
May 6th, 2007 at 10:17 amYes, it's that "even if it were true..." line that makes the blood run cold. Because you just know that it was true. Those guys sat around and talked with one mindset, fully in the grip of GroupThink. No one asked hard questions, no one was skeptical, no one doubted. It doesn't sound like anyone painted the worst case scenario. And absolutely NOBODY thought this was a totally immoral and illegal thing to be planning.
May 6th, 2007 at 10:20 amThere goes The Chimp's "Feith-based policy"!! Couldn't resist either. Happy Sunday to all TP posters!
May 6th, 2007 at 10:20 amDoug clean break Feith had advised Bibi Netanyahu to attack Iraq, Syria and Lebanon as far back as 1996 and shred the Oslo Accords.
As well;
In an interview and a four-page written statement, Tenet defended the NIE prepared under his supervision in October. In that estimate, U.S. intelligence analysts judged that Hussein was intent on acquiring a nuclear weapon and was trying to rebuild the capability to make one.
"We stand behind the judgments of the NIE" based on the evidence available at the time, Tenet said, and "the soundness and integrity of our process." The estimate was "the product of years of reporting and intelligence collection, analyzed by numerous experts in several different agencies."
Tenet said the time to "decide who was right and who was wrong" about prewar intelligence will not come until the Iraqi Survey Group, the CIA-directed, U.S. military postwar study in Iraq of Hussein's weapons of mass destruction programs is completed. The Bush administration has said this will require months or years.
That survey is complete;
The Iraq Survey Group's main findings -- that Hussein's Iraq did not possess chemical and biological weapons and had only aspirations for a nuclear program ...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/25/AR2005042501554.html
Seems Tenet and Feith, as well as the whole administration was wrong. Tenet and Feith can blame another all they want, the fact is they were both wrong and gave bad advice based on, of all things alumimium tubes (for 81 mm rockets)
May 6th, 2007 at 10:24 am========
Jake man made carbon dioxide is not the same as natural carbon dioxide that we exhale. They do not call it pollution but a greenhouse gas.
Gotta go watch Tim Russert now. See you guys later.
May 6th, 2007 at 10:29 amFor the record, the U.S. Constitution does not grant the FEDERAL government the power to solve world hunger and disease. -Jake
Nor does it talk about speeding tickets or unitary executive theory.
What is the topic of this thread Jake?
May 6th, 2007 at 10:29 amThis Iraq war Gamble made sense, if you thought the war would be a cakewalk. If we had a splendid victory, no one would care about the details . ? Who convinced the war planners that the war would be a cakewalk??? Ahmed Chalabi, a shiite Iraqi exile, and most likely an Iranian double agent. It is Iran and the Shiites that have most benefitted from the toppling of Saddam Hussein.
May 6th, 2007 at 10:32 amI believe that I would concur with Doug Feith on this one ---
This is like watching the three stooges poke each others eyes, pull each others nose and slap each other upside the head.
May 6th, 2007 at 10:37 amJake, you really are one of them: The GroupThink Groupies.
That there has been no terrorist attacks on US soil since 9/11 is proof of nothing. If anything, it's proof that the Bush administration was lax in the months prior. I mean, they knew the names of all those guys with box cutters and had been watching them. People had reported suspicious activity by them and nothing happened. Condi still hasn't answered Bill Clinton's question about the USS Cole: Why did she do nothing once the CIA had identified the culprits? Where were all the FISA wiretaps from Jan to Sept 2001? Why did the WH, the NSA, and the FBI ignore all the warnings?
Personally, I think the heartless attitude of Americans to war and its destruction does come from so little harm having happened on US soil. The Europeans were far more skeptical of this invasion because they knew war wasn't something you read about in the newspaper; war was bombs falling and people dying and horror beyond the imagination. To Americans, war was Rumsfeld saying "Stuff happens" before the sports recap.
Truman did not need to drop the bomb on Hiroshima or Nagasaki. Japan had been trying to negotiate a surrender for weeks before the bombs were dropped. The Japanese knew the war was lost. Incinerating all those people was just a military experiment. And one that was so horrific that the US had to suppress all knowledge of the aftereffects immediately. And the Americans remain in Japan to this day. So much for Peace.
May 6th, 2007 at 10:39 amJake there was a time when I thought that the only reason we haven't been attacked again is because of the Domestic Spy Program and Data Mining. I had visions of the NSA grabbing people in the middle of the night and hauling them off to their deaths. But alas Osama and Zawahri are still alive and taunting the USA and I'm reminded that our current administration is a bunch of goober idiots who couldn't catch a greased pig in a wet paper sack.
May 6th, 2007 at 11:11 amI'm not sure why we haven't been attacked. But the the war and Bush sure as hell ain't the reason.
Jake, dude, you really should be on the Righty blogs pressing them as to why so many eligible Republicans refuse to serve and provide MUCH NEEDED relief to the people over in Iraq and Afghanistan.
If he likes Israel more than American, why doesn't he move there to be with his people?
May 6th, 2007 at 1:43 pmThat there has been no terrorist attacks on US soil since 9/11
Ahem: anthrax, anthrax, anthrax...
That one went right down the memory hole.
May 6th, 2007 at 2:22 pmGee, when are we "allowed" to discuss Israel's role in the run up to WWIII? And the Perle-Wolfowoitz-Feith allegiance there and not here that so readily sacrificed American lives and treasure, joining the nazi-banker's grandson in a sick alliance that continues to ignore Bin Laden?
May 7th, 2007 at 3:34 pmGeneral Tommy Franks says Dougie Feith is the "stupidest mutherfocker on the face of the Earth" and he stands by those words.
As do all of our dead soldiers. Doug never fought, you see. He was busy baking cookies at a commune outside Tel Aviv during college. Or maybe that was his stupider twin.
Meantime, Doug is said to auditioning to teach remedial note taking at Georgetown, where he can compare his notes, as they were, with the other guy that got fired, Georgie Tenet.
May 7th, 2007 at 3:35 pm