Ex-CIA officer: Troops should get some of Tenet's book royalties
A former CIA analyst and counterterrorism expert has called on George Tenet to give some of the proceeds from his just-published memoir to families of US troops wounded or killed in Iraq.
"I think George Tenet owes the soldiers and their families who have died or been killed or wounded in Iraq part of the proceeds of his book because now he could have stood up and spoke out when he had the chance, when he had the job. He could have changed the course of American history," four-year CIA veteran Larry Johnson told CNN's John King on Monday's broadcast of American Morning. "Instead, he kept silent and now he wants to get a $4 million pay day and $50,000 speaking engagements. The man is profiting from the blood of American soldiers and I think he owes Americans more than just an I'm sorry."
Johnson was in the CIA from 1985 to 1989, before going on to serve as Deputy Director in the U.S. State Department’s Office of Counter Terrorism. He was a registered Republican and voted for President Bush in 2000 before emerging in recent years as an administration critic. Johnson has accused the Bush administration of misusing intelligence to lead the US into war with Iraq.
On Saturday, Johnson and five other former intelligence officers wrote a letter to Tenet, calling him a "willing participant in a poorly considered policy to start an unnecessary war" and declaring him "the Alberto Gonzales of the intelligence community -- a grotesque mixture of incompetence and sycophancy shielded by a genial personality," according to CNN.
Tenet appeared on 60 Minutes Sunday to promote his book and defend criticism of his actions leading up to the war. Specifically, he said his "slam dunk" assurance that the intelligence indicating Iraq had a stockpile of weapons of mass destruction was taken out of context to use him as a scapegoat.
A video of George Tenet's 60 Minutes interview can be viewed here.
The following interview with ex-CIA Chief, Larry Johnson, is from CNN's American Morning.
Excerpts from the transcript:
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ROBERTS: Larry Johnston is one of six former CIA officers who have written a letter to Tenet calling his book quote an admission of failed leadership. Larry Johnson joins us now live. Larry, you and your five colleagues in this letter called George Tenet the quote, Alberto Gonzales of the CIA. Why?
LARRY JOHNSON, FMR CIA INTELLIGENCE OFFICER: He seems to have trouble remembering what he was doing when he was out at the CIA. His account in his book is at great odds with some of his other actions.
ROBERTS: Now, earlier today we had Tony Snow on, who I asked this question about slam dunk and was Tenet hung out to dry and made a scapegoat? Here's what Tony Snow said about that. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It seems to that that there is a lot of umbrage taken with the term slam dunk. That was in Bob Woodward's book, but on the other hand, there doesn't seem to be any dispute about the fact that the best intelligence available to the United States, to the intelligence committees on Capitol Hill, to intelligence services around the world was that Saddam had some weapons of mass destruction and was pursuing further weapons of mass destruction.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Tony Snow claiming that everybody was on the same page with the weapons of mass destruction, but in your letter you say, that's not the case at all.
JOHNSON: It's not the case on several fronts. Number one, it is true that Saddam had chemical weapons. But what intelligence analysts do is say, under what circumstances are those used? When would they be used? The fact of the matter was Saddam always used them on the battlefield in military engagements. He did not line people up in gas chambers and gas them like the Nazis doing the Jews in concentration camps in World War II.
Secondly, he was specifically wrong on his issues about Saddam and Osama. He correctly said last night that the CIA had no link between Saddam and Osama with 9/11 and that he said that early on. Yet he went before Congress in February of 2003 and, in fact, laid out what he said were linkages which, in fact, were not really relevant associations. And the intelligence analysts who followed it were saying, there is no, there there, George. So it is very disingenuous of him at this point to say that.
ROBERTS: Condoleezza Rice yesterday on the Sunday morning talk shows said that really no one is to blame here. Take a listen to what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: It was not just an intelligence problem with George Tenet. It was not just an intelligence problem with U.S. intelligence. It was an intelligence problem worldwide. We all thought, including UN inspectors, that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: She says no one was to blame. Everybody was on the same page. But in your letter, you said that Tenet should have resigned in protest rather than taking part in a build-up to a war he now claims he didn't totally support.
JOHNSON: Correct. He knew at the time it was a problem. I've talked to seven different officers, senior officers who were in there at the time. Number one, in the fall of 2002, he was told specifically that there was a high-level source in Saddam's government that was saying, we don't have WMD and, yet, remember, it was also George Tenet who was at the summer meeting with Richard Dearlof (ph), the head of British intelligence and Dearlof came out and said the Americans are going to fix the facts and intelligence around the problems. People I know who were in that meeting said that was the message George Tenet was delivering. So George Tenet's hands are just as bloody as everybody else in this administration in helping gin up what was an unfounded case for war.
ROBERTS: So he says the White House made him look stupid by taking his slam dunk comments out of context. What do you say to that?
JOHNSON: As Forest Gump said stupid is as stupid does. You know, he looks stupid because what he was admitting to there was he was willing to tell the president, I'll go out and help manipulate public opinion to build this case for war. That's not the role of an intelligence chief. The role of the intelligence chief of the United States government is to tell the facts to the president and to the Congress regardless of what the political import is.
ROBERTS: One part what George Tenet says in the book and has said in these interviews is very troubling to the American people. He said that he firmly believes that it's al Qaeda's goal to get its hands on a nuclear weapon. You can go out and you can bomb here and there and make news, but if you get hold of a nuclear weapon and set it off in a major population center, you're making history.
JOHNSON: Sure. I think it is correct that they would like to do that. I would like to win the Publisher's Clearinghouse lottery, as well. You can counter bin Laden's desires with effective intelligence, effective law enforcement and cooperation with other countries. It can be done out of the limelight.
ROBERTS: So what is your overall assessment with this whole book?
JOHNSON: I think George Tenet owes the soldiers and their families who have died or been killed or wounded in Iraq part of the proceeds of his book because now he could have stood up and spoke out when he had the chance, when he had the job. He could have changed the course of American history. Instead, he kept silent and now he wants to get a $4 million pay day and $50,000 speaking engagements. The man is profiting from the blood of American soldiers and I think he owes Americans more than just an I'm sorry.
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FULL TRANSCRIPT CAN BE READ AT THIS LINK
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