And that, my friends, is basically what George Tenet's new book is: a recounting of how he played like shit and helped the president take us into a catastrophic war. At least, that's apparently what his former colleagues at the CIA think. In a letter published on Alternet, Tenet is chided and scolded and downright tongue thrashed for his appalling lack of leadership and courage.
We write to you on the occasion of the release of your book, At the Center of the Storm. You are on the record complaining about the "damage to your reputation." In our view the damage to your reputation is inconsequential compared to the harm your actions have caused for the U.S. soldiers engaged in combat in Iraq and the national security of the United States...
...It now turns out that you were the Alberto Gonzales of the intelligence community -- a grotesque mixture of incompetence and sycophancy shielded by a genial personality. Decisions were made, you were in charge, but you have no idea how decisions were made even though you were in charge.
...Most importantly and tragically, you failed to meet your obligations to the people of the United States. Instead of resigning in protest, when it could have made a difference in the public debate, you remained silent and allowed the Bush Administration to cite your participation in these deliberations to justify their decision to go to war. Your silence contributed to the willingness of the public to support the disastrous war in Iraq, which has killed more than 3300 Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.
And they even use the "hundreds of thousands" figure for Iraqi deaths.
Yep, he played like shit and here's his book. Though, I can't take credit for knowing the Joey Barton quote. While I do know more about English football than any girl from Oregon should and therefore know of Joey Barton because he plays for Manchester City -- the team A. supports -- A. was the one who made the comparison between Barton's quote and Tenet's book.
I have such a witty boyfriend...
2 comments:
> a grotesque mixture of
> incompetence and sycophancy
> shielded by a genial personality
I LOVE IT! It's the perfect Washington surivival personality! They should teach this at Georgetown. Fuck it, they should bottle it and distribute it! If only I'd realized! I could have saved my pathetic career in government!!
LOL!
Seriously, I think your formula spells out how to survive as a bureaucrat. I can see why Tenet is pissed. I mean, he's probably not all that different from many of the other bureaucrats. God knows I met my share who meet your description at USAID. So, from his vantage point, why should he have to be held responsible?
There are dozens more just like him running around inside the Beltway. None of them are forced to give up their positions.
I think that's what's really sad. People will draw some sort of lesson here and say, "See? If you are dishonest, timid, worthless piece of shit, you'll pay the price. Be moral." But Tenet's really the exception. Think about it, had Paul Wolfowitz not been there to sell Bush et alia on the Iraq War, Tenet would never have had to spinelessly acquiesce to this stupid war. His career would have been like all the other worthless pieces of shit who work in the bureaucracy. He's the same worthless person as before, but then, only those who worked directly with him knew about it.
The lesson for the bureaucrat to learn is to maintain his or her grotesque mixture and sycophancy, keep shielding it with his or her genial personality and just be a little luckier than Tenet. That done any worthless piece of shit bureuacrat can prosper and retire happy.
It's a viable strategy.
It's the perfect Washington surivival personality!
LOL -- isn't it just?
Though, I'm glad you didn't have the Tenet Trifecta to survive at USAID. I mean, you might very well be in Baghdad right now! Hmm...though you might have had access to some great research, you know, as long as you didn't get kidnapped or anything.
Also, I should note, the formula isn't mine but the authors of the letter I quoted from Alternet. It is such a brilliant line I wouldn't feel right taking credit for it. :)
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