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Fall Guy for the Bush Regime? CIA Director George Tenet Resigns
Imperial America: Gore Vidal Reflects on the United States
of Amnesia
Fall Guy for the Bush Regime? CIA Director George
Tenet Resigns
Geoge Tenet resigned as director of the Central Intelligence
Agency for "personal reasons," but many analysts
say that Tenet is a fall guy for an administration plagued
by accusations of misconduct. We speak with two longtime CIA
analysts, Mel Goodman and Ray McGovern.
CIA Director George Tenet resigned yesterday citing "personal
reasons." Tenet, who was the second longest serving director
of Central Intelligence, informed Bush of his decision in
an hour-long White House meeting Wednesday night. In what
The New York Times describes as an "almost bizarre"
announcement, the president revealed the news in a hurriedly
arranged appearance before television cameras before leaving
on a trip to Europe.
Later in the day, Tenet addressed CIA employees to tell them
of his reasons for stepping down: "This is the most difficult
decision I have ever had to make. And while Washington and
the media will put many different faces on the decision -
it was a personal decision - and had only one basis in fact
the well being of my wonderful family. Nothing more and nothing
less."
Despite his claims, many analysts say that Tenet is a fall
guy for an administration plagued by accusations of misconduct.
In recent months, the Bush administration has attempted to
lay much of the blame for its false claims about Iraqi weapons
of mass destruction, its handling of 9/11 and its justification
for the war in Iraq on Tenet. The move also came amid a storm
over an alleged Pentagon leak of highly classified intelligence
to US-backed Iraqi exile leader Ahmad Chalabi. After the announcement,
Chalabi charged that Tenet himself was behind the allegations
against him.
In his speech to CIA employees yesterday, Tenet praised President
Bush: "I want to say a word of special thanks to President
Bush. On entering office he immediately recognized the importance
of rebuilding our intelligence capabilities. He spends time
with us almost every day. He has shown great care for our
officers. He is a great champion for the men and women of
US Intelligence and a constant source of support. It has been
an honor for me to serve as his Director of Central Intelligence."
We speak with two longtime CIA analysts about Tenet's resignation.
- Ray McGovern, 27-year career analyst with the CIA. He
is co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for
Sanity.
- Melvin Goodman , former CIA and State Department analyst.
He is a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy
and director of the Center's National Security Project.
He is the author of the new book: "Bush League Diplomacy:
How the Neoconservatives Are Putting the World at Risk"
(Promethues)
Imperial America: Gore Vidal Reflects on the United
States of Amnesia
In his latest book Imperial America: Reflections on the
United States of Amnesia acclaimed author Gore Vidal writes
that, "Not since the 1846 attack on Mexico in order to
seize California has an American government been so nakedly
predatory." Gore Vidal joins us in our firehouse studio
to discuss President Bush, elections and much more.
Our guest for the program is a national icon. He is the author
of more than 20 novels and five plays. He is one of the best
known chroniclers of American history and politics and his
works have been translated into dozens of languages across
the globe. He once told a magazine interviewer, "There
is not one human problem that could not be solved... if people
would simply do as I advise." And for more than a half
a century, he has done just that." I am talking about
Gore Vidal.
He published his first novel, Williwawa, in 1946 at the age
of 21. He began writing poems and stories as a young teen-ager
and began his first novel while he was still in high school.
His grandfather was a senator and his father worked for the
Roosevelt administration. But rather than pursuing a family
career of politics and privilege, Gore Vidal dedicated himself
to writing and critiquing the injustices of American society.
Following the publication of the first two of his latest trilogy
of books examining the American empire, Vidal was described
as the last "noble defender" of the American republic,
America's last "small-r" republican. The third and
final book of the trilogy has just been published. It is called
"Imperial America: Reflections on the United States of
Amnesia."
In his latest book, Gore Vidal writes that "Not since
the 1846 attack on Mexico in order to seize California has
an American government been so nakedly predatory." He
describes the current president as being like "a man
in one of those dreams who knows he is safe in bed and so
can commit any crime he likes in his voluptuous dream. No
one can stop him."
Gore Vidal joins us in our firehouse studio.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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