Now this is only a smattering of what’s been going on in the last week. I
thought the Bush Gang looked sick to their stomachs back in March but things
have just gone steadily downhill since then. First the 9/11 commission, the
Iraq hearings, a string of damning books by former insiders, Abu Ghraib (Aboo-Garriby
in Bush speak) and the revelation that it wasn’t just a "few bad
apples" nor was it just Abu Ghraib – one wonders what else is hiding
around the corner for these bozos. It also makes you wonder how many tap shoes
these folks have worn out trying to stay out of trouble.
Right about here is where I’ve usually blasted away at the media for
downplaying – if not outright ignoring – the dubious doings of this
corrupt group of people, but I have to admit I haven’t seen much of Scott,
Kobe or Martha today. It’s been quite refreshing, thank you. Even so, I’m
sure while Junior is away in his European bubble far away from any mean things
which might upset his widdle head or tummy, the actual powers in the White
House will be hard at work to "fix" everything yet again. And Tenet’s
ouster seems like a good place to start.
The Bush Gang’s relationship with the CIA has always been a matter of
convenience. Intelligence was there to serve the misguided policies and that
was pretty much that. And when things don’t pan out for the Bushies' version
of reality, the CIA (or fellow fall-guy, Colin Powell) usually gets the blame.
It’s kind of a strange way to treat your dad’s former employer, don’t
you think?
Just like Richard Clarke, another Clinton holdover in the new Bush
administration, Tenet was obviously not taken seriously enough by his new
bosses as he wasn’t sufficiently obsessed with all things Iraq. In the
months prior to September 11, according to Clarke, Tenet was the guy in the
running suit and the book of matches tearing up the White House halls with his
"hair on fire" trying to warn anyone who would listen that something
big was going to happen soon. And when the first tower was hit that
terrible morning, it was Tenet whose worst fears ended up being confirmed. It’s
a shame nobody listened to him.
"Sure, George, but what have you guys got on Saddam? He’s the real
bad guy!"
So, in the months after 9/11, Tenet’s gang tried to follow orders and
fill out the shopping list on Iraq that Wolfowitz, Cheney and Rumsfeld so
desperately wanted. They needed a connection to al Qaeda via Iraq and back to
9/11 in order to give some firm foundation to all the saber-rattling they’d
been doing since the tragedy. Bush, by his own admission, had "hit the
trifecta" and, by golly, they were going to get their money’s worth out
of it no matter what the facts were!
Well, we all know that the facts the CIA assembled didn’t quite work out
the way the Bush Gang wanted so they basically told Tenet that if his people
couldn’t get the information they needed, then they would start their own
intelligence department deep inside the Pentagon. This would allow them to
read existing intelligence the "right way" and, thus, give them what
they needed to invade Iraq. Of course, now that Iraq has proven to be a
complete botch up in these guys’ hands, they turn around and blame Tenet’s
intelligence.
Although I doubt there are any angels in the CIA, including Tenet, I don’t
think he deserves the treatment he will most likely receive in the coming
months. We can be sure that his resignation will be the Rovian
"cure-all" for the ever-increasing mess the Bush White House finds
itself in. With what promises to be searing condemnations of the intelligence
community coming out of the 9/11 and Iraq reports, the Bush people can simply
step out of the shadow of duplicity and announce, "Yeah, well, he’s
gone now so let’s move on." If Tenet is guilty of anything, it’s
that he allowed himself to be reduced to little more than a "slam
dunk" messenger in an effort to tell all the president’s men what they
wanted to hear.
The most curious thing about this latest development is the timing. We’re
supposed to be facing the Summer of Terror and, as it stands right now, we’re
still having an election this fall. The excuse of "personal reasons"
just doesn’t pass the Dan Burton smell test. And when you mix in the fact
that Bush needs a lawyer because someone in his White House committed a
federal crime by outing Valerie Plame, one of Tenet’s people, things begin
to smell even worse. Now, deputy director for operations, James Pavitt,
has announced that he’s "outta here" too? And just because these
two guys resigned within hours of each other, don’t go thinking there’s
any connection. Besides, administration officials said there was no
connection, so just drop it. We’re at war, y’know?
Between 9/11, Iraq, prison tortures, a botched up invasion and now, the
ongoing investigation into White House activity that the president’s
"Poppy" described as traitorous years ago, it’s become quite
obvious that the Bush Gang has overwhelmingly failed at the "impression
of impropriety" goals they set for themselves. And I’m sure that the
Bush squawkers will spend the summer a la South Park’s officer
Barbrady with their "Move along! Nothing to see here!"
routine. I don’t know but if you ask me, I think we’re in for one hell of
an interesting summer.
Go ahead, sniff the air. Do you smell that?
