One of the sources for Ron Suskind’s explosive revelation that the White House forged a letter on Iraq-9/11 ties, former CIA official Rob Richer, recently retracted his statements. Suskind has posted the transcript of his interview with Richer, where Richer states that the CIA was asked by the White House via George Tenet to write the letter:
Rob: To characterize it right, I would say, right: it came to us, George had a raised eyebrow, and basically we passed it on — it was to — and passed this on into the organization. You know, it was: ‘Okay, we gotta do this, but make it go away.’ … It was: ‘This is unbelievable. This is just like all the other garbage we get about … I mean Mohammad Atta and links to al Qaeda. ‘Rob,’ you know, ‘do something with this.’ I think it was more like that than: ‘Get this done.’ […]
Rob: What I remember is George saying, ‘we got this from’ — basically, from what George said was ‘downtown.’
Ron: Which is the White House?
Rob: Yes.
“In the next couple days the transcripts will be coming out,” Suskind said yesterday. “[T]he issues, in this matter, are simply too important to stand as discredited in any way,” he added.
Update:
Yesterday, on NPR’s Fresh Air, Suskind said Richer and former CIA official John Maguire told him, “I’m ready to go in front of Senate committees, and House committees, I’m ready to have my moment.”