Tenet the patsy

CIA director George Tenet, we're supposed to believe, acted in such a horribly sloppy manner he forced the President to lie to the American people. What is his reward for this behiavor? Bush's absolute trust.

ABUJA, Nigeria July 12 —
President Bush said Saturday he still has faith in his intelligence chief after CIA Director George Tenet accepted blame for Bush's erroneous claim about Iraqi weapons.

Asked in Nigeria whether he continued to trust Tenet, Bush said, "Yes, I do. Absolutely."

"I've got confidence in George Tenet," he added.

Doesn't this seem a little fishy? I don't know, if someone brought a political controversy (as much of one as is possible with today's passive media and sleeping populace) down on my head, I'd at least ask them to resign. I don't think Tenet's taking the blame means anything besides an attempt to mark a scapegoat for the distracted American public to focus their displeasure on. Howard Dean thinks so, too.

"I think the hasty taking of blame by George Tenet is an attempt, really, on the part of a loyal person to the president, to try to deflect the problem," Dean said.

"We've got a lot more information that needs to be disclosed by this administration about why we went to war in Iraq," he said. "... The question is what other information did they (White House officials) then use that was not true to send us to war."

It's pretty obvious, really. You know, I've heard this Administration described as "not very transparent". I think that's completely incorrect. Their motivations, at least in this instance, are as plain as the noses on their faces.