Here is Bob Woodward, in State of Denial, talking about the "slam dunk" quote:

"Tenet later claimed he did not remember saying 'slam dunk,' though he did not dispute it. He asserted that the meeting was to determine what intelligence could be made public to 'market' the case for war. That is correct, as I reported in Plan of Attack. But a public case for war could hardly be a 'slam dunk' if the CIA director did not believe that the underlying intelligence was also a 'slam dunk.' Obviously, Tenet had believed it was. Since, the National Intelligence Estimate of three months earlier had flatly asserted that Iraq possessed chemical and biological weapons, it is not surprising that Tenet was a believer."
Blackadder | 04.30.07 - 6:06 pm | #

Heckuva job, Georgie. Here, have a Medal of Freedom.
Mark Shea | Homepage | 04.30.07 - 6:16 pm | #

The NRO folks disagree with McCain about what he said about torture and Tenet, but they provided the following video snippet of an exchange between Chris Wallace and McCain regarding torture:

http:// corner.nationalreview.com...Dg1ZDMxYmYwNzU=
Phil | 04.30.07 - 7:38 pm | #

Yesterday I saw a really good movie, "The Lives of Others". A German film whose story takes place in communist East Germany of the 1980s. In trying to find out more about this film I found an article about its impact in Germany itself. The article had the following passage about a 40-year-old man visiting the place where he was held prisoner and who still has nightmares about the time he spent there enduring interrogation by the Stasi (East Germany's state security agency):

---

He passed rows of solid cell doors to the monotone chamber -- looking like the lair of the blandest of bureaucrats, with its wooden-veneer desk, clunky telephone, and metal file cabinet -- where he was grilled 10 hours a day for five months before being sent to another prison.

``At first you think, `I'll tell them nothing,' " Melster said. ``In the end, you tell them everything. Whatever they want to know, you tell."

Melster's life has never quite gotten back on track. He's nervous. He chain-smokes. His voice is flat, affectless.

``Was I beaten? No, I was never beaten. I have no scars to show," Melster said.

``Stasi torture was psychological. It was sleep deprivation and disorientation," he said. ``It was intimidation through insinuation -- the guard who would start screaming and touching his weapon, as if you were just seconds away from a bullet. The interrogator whose hints of `worse to come' were somehow more terrible than an actual fist to the face.

``It was months of never seeing another human, except for guards and interrogators. It was never hearing your own name, only your cell number," he said. ``It was being stripped of your humanity, layer by layer."

http://www.boston.com/news/world...n_stasi/? page=1

---

We found it repulsive when the communists did it and we called it torture. Now we call it "coercive interrogation".
Phil | 04.30.07 - 9:55 pm | #

I can remember before the invasion reading a CIA release on the whole WMD thing- it said that yes Hussein probably had some, but that the only threat of use would come if we invaded, and the only way Al-Queda would access them is if Hussein was made desperate, he might pass them off even to his own Islamist enemies. The whole case for invading seemed rotten- I compiled every Catholic Hierarchial speech or comment posted on Zenit.org and printed them off in a packet- there was nothing from any national Bishops' body, nothing from the Pope, the Holy See, that ever suggested that this invasion was compatible with a just and necessary war theory.

I cannot believe that there is hardly any heat being applied to the Bishop in charge of our Military Chaplains- it seems likely that this particular Bishop mischaracterized his conversations with the Vatican, that he was acting more like a so-called patriotic American than as a leader of Christ's Church. This Bishop could have made headlines by pleading for selective conscientious objector's status for faithful Catholics. He didn't, he chose to cheerlead the Administration and promote the invasion as just. He needs to be investigated and held to account for misleading his troops. Funny how the conservative Catholic bloggers are all over Bishop Mahoney in LA for staking a position against our government on immigration, but this guy over at the Chaplain's office, he doesn't get a peep of protest. All I can say is that all of you self-proclaimed faithful Catholics who supported the race to this invasion/occupation in the face of all the evidence that our Church Hierarchies around the world, and here in the US and the Holy See, were opposed to this military action. You are ones with literal blood on your hands- just like the pro-abort Catholics, you now must confront your reasons for cheerleading and supporting a war that has killed and seriously maimed thousands of young Americans who trusted their elders, and all of those Iraqi children who have been thrust into a nightmare of bombings, random killings and loss of any semblance of security- this is your work- do you hear me EWTN viewers, pro-life pro-warmongers? This is your war- you have made it a Catholic war by siding with American politicians over the better judgment of the princes of our Church. Do you feel regret? Shame? Self-loathing? Have you confessed your sin? Do you weep for those lives you have ruined? Do you still feel self-righteous in condemning the pro-abort Catholics? They should indeed feel shame and a sense of great sin by standing by or cheeleading "A Woman's Right to Abortion!" But what about you and your "Yes, War, Invade Iraq!". There is a lot of Catholic responsibility for a lot of blood- the Left and Right apparently want to go against the Magisterium and sanction their own pet death projects. Can we break free of these ideologies now- Can we just be Catholics who follow the social doctrine of our Church and reject the liberal and conservative movements? If you are going to be a Democrat or Republican- for God's sake be an independent one- be a true and Catholic leader of reform- not some lock-step puppet of the liberal-conservative puppet masters. Be discerning, read actual papal encyclicals, read the compendium of the social doctrine of the Church- do something radical- become an orthodox Catholic who actually reads the comprehensive social teachings of the Church. And don't cop out like Rod Dreher- bailing out on the Church for the Orthodox- exactly where is the social doctrine of the Orthodox Church? We Catholics have the moral blueprint for building a civilization of Love- we just don't have enough architects and laborers willing to work on the unpopular plan- there is no money in it- the world is united against the Church- and there is no better proof than in seeing how ignorant even Catholics are of their beautiful social doctrine and the advice and counsel of the Holy See.They would rather follow the Holy Me.
Timshipe | 04.30.07 - 10:44 pm | #

Tenet is one of those who says that;
A) We DON'T torture

and,

B) Anyway, torture works and saves lives.

Hearing him the last couple of days has certainly not raised my estimation of his character.
Tim J. | Homepage | 05.01.07 - 1:00 am | #

The key Tenet quote is in the 9/11 commission transcripts. Tenet, upon learning that planes had been flown into the WTC and Pentagon said "That looks like bin Laden...I wonder if it has anything to do with this guy taking pilot training."

The fact that Tenet did not lose his job at 10 am on 9/11/2001 says it all.
Michaelus | 05.01.07 - 8:56 am | #

Take the Pledge

All Presidential Candidates should make pledges like those below. If they
refuse, then you should refuse to vote for them.


1. No More Oil Wars.

2. Work for independence from foreign oil on day one.

3. No more wars for corporate profit.

4. No more secret deals for $4 per gallon gas.

5. No more Chicken Hawks promoting wars of choice when they themselves avoided combat.

6. Make government green--if you can't make what you have the most control over
green, I don't care about your plans to make the country green.

7. No more torture.

8. No more lying about torture.

9. No more re-defining torture.

10. No more drunken hunting.

11. No more secret deals with big corporations to divide up the spoils before the war even starts.
Poetry | Homepage | 05.20.07 - 7:56 pm | #

I hate to inform the people out in left field on this,but sarin gas and VX gas,in the amount Saddam had is a weapon of mass destruction!!!! What is so damn hard to understand about this!!!! Now comes the kicker for everyone....Do you really think Saddam has those weapons to prevent us from attacking them? The answer is no....He wanted to make Iran think twice before invading his country.But,never the less,Saddam is where he needs to be....a rotting carcus in the ground.
JT | 12.03.08 - 2:44 pm | #