If a married Republican wants to call a madam and arrange for massage that is his personal business or at least the business of a small circle of people that would include his wife and the hired help as it were. Some people might, on a personal level may think its sleazy and I would tend to agree, but in ordinary circumstances has little to do with good governance. On the other hand when USAID Administrator and Director of Foreign Assistance Randall Tobias paints a public picture of himself as yet another example of Conservative perfection and propriety, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Tobias Defends Emphasis on Abstinence and tries to justify absurdly unrealistic AIDS prevention based on abstinence while carrying on trysts with prostitutes while married is yet another case of RepubliSpeak – do as I say not as I do. Being holier then thou is a tough job, but it is after all a task that conservatives assigned to themselves.
In book, ex-CIA chief assails Cheney on Iraq invasion
“There was never a serious debate that I know of within the administration about the imminence of the Iraqi threat,” Tenet writes in a devastating judgment that is likely to be debated for many years. Nor, he adds, “was there ever a significant discussion” about the possibility of containing Iraq without an invasion.
Back when Tenet got his Medal of Freedom many people thought that while it was deserved, it was also a kind of payoff for being the administration’s fall guy for intelligence on Iraq. I wondered at the time whether Tenet would ever write a book and what his side of the story might be. While he drops the blame bomb back where it belongs in Bush and Cheney’s lap, he still claims that he believed that Saddam did possess some WMD capabilities. Tenet might still be hedging on that part of the pre-war equation. Tenet hung on to his job with administration changes in large part because he and Bush were either on the same page about Iraq or Tenet was willing to lean in that direction to please his new boss. That doesn’t make Tenet a bad guy, as a matter of course most people at some level acquiesque to their bosses style and POV. Spy chief’s book to spill Bush’s Iraq secrets
Tyler Drumheller, the former head of the CIA’s European division, told Mr Tenet on the eve of General Powell’s speech not to rely on the evidence of Curveball, an Iraqi informant handled by German intelligence who was deemed to be a mentally unstable alcoholic.
Mr Tenet has denied receiving such a warning and kept Curveball’s claims about the presence of mobile biological weapons laboratories in Iraq in General Powell’s presentation.
He also gave Mr Bush the go-ahead to assert in a State of the Union speech that Saddam was trying to acquire uranium yellowcake from Africa for his nuclear program – a decision the CIA chief later said he regretted.
Mr Drumheller writes in his own memoir that his former boss “was driven by the urge to prevent another attack happening on his watch (after 9/11) … and had really bought the idea that Iraq was a legitimate target”.
“He was a very good guy and we were friends. He wasn’t perfect but he did a good job,” said Mr Drumheller.
“But at the most critical juncture in his career he made some very bad decisions.”
[ ]…”But that raises the question: why didn’t he resign and say something about it?”
Like some of those retired generals Tenet didn’t speak up when he should have or if he did he didn’t make his case strongly enough. That doesn’t make Tenet one of the bad guys, but maybe serves as a lesson in letting personal politics get in the way of doing the right thing or getting caught up in a tide of crowd thinking and not listening to that inner critic. For outright audacious lies you can always rely on the Bush Whitehouse,
“The president made the decision to remove Saddam Hussein for a number of reasons, mainly the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq and Saddam Hussein’s own actions, and only after a thorough and lengthy assessment of all available information as well as congressional authorization,” the spokesman said.
from Paul Pillar – National Intelligence Officer for the Near East and South Asia from 2000 to 2005 – Intelligence, Policy,and the War in Iraq
(According to several congressional aides responsible for safeguarding the classified material, no more than six senators and only a handful of House members got beyond the five-page executive summary.) As the national intelligence officer for the Middle East, I was in charge of coordinating all of the intelligence community’s assessments regarding Iraq; the first request I received from any administration policymaker for any such assessment was not until a year into the war.
The October 2002 NIE also judged that Saddam was unlikely to use WMD against the United States unless his regime was placed in mortal danger.
And of course he didn’t use them even then because he didn’t have any.
In addition, the intelligence community offered its assessment of the likely regional repercussions of ousting Saddam. It argued that any value Iraq might have as a democratic exemplar would be minimal and would depend on the stability of a new Iraqi government and the extent to which democracy in Iraq was seen as developing from within rather than being imposed by an outside power.
But when you run a faith based foreign policy you send Americans to their deaths based on what you believe , not the best analysis of professionals. Devilstower at DailyKos takes a look at Doug Feith and the Bush administration’s politicization of the intelligence community in Feith-Based Intelligence (SUPER-SIZED)
Delusional RepubliNik U.S. Rep. Rick Renzi, R-Ariz. spreads rumor about himself and then calls its ” conjecture, and false attacks”, Renzi responds to resignation rumors
U.S. Rep. Rick Renzi, R-Ariz. shunned swirling speculation Friday that he would soon resign his congressional seat in the wake of a federal investigation.
“For several weeks, I have been the subject of leaked stories, conjecture, and false attacks about a land exchange. None of them bear any resemblance to the truth, including the rumor that I am planning on resigning,” said Renzi, a Republican representing Flagstaff, Prescott and Casa Grande, in a statement.
Rick Renzi meet Rick Renzi, the guy that was spreading rumors about your resignation, Amid FBI investigation, Renzi steps down from 2 more panels
Renzi told The Hill earlier yesterday that he was “looking at” the prospect of resigning.
We’re all too familiar by now with conservative’s passion to paint themselves as poor beleaguered martyrs at any opportunity, but to spread rumors about yourself and then complain about how unfair they are reaches new heights of spin.
“Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people.” – Theodore Roosevelt
The Long Goodbye 