Rove: Take This, Tenet says Iraq War was Wrong

Scoop for Local Reporter: Ex-CIA Chief Tenet Calls Iraq War 'Wrong' By E&P Staff Published: October 21, 2004 5:30 PM EDT
NEW YORK The guest speaker was famous, and he was visiting a small town far from the spotlight of network TV cameras and the reach of big-name reporters from national newspapers. In other words: It was a perfect scenario for a local reporter to snag an exclusive. And Anna Clark, correspondent for The Herald-Palladium of St. Joseph, Mich., was there to grab it.Addressing the Economic Club of Southwestern Michigan Wednesday night, George Tenet, former director of central intelligence, called the war on Iraq "wrong," according to Clark's article today. Tenet added that while the Iraq war was "rightly being challenged," the CIA was making important strides toward success in the greater war on terrorism.Tenet also said that while the CIA boasts "tremendously talented men and women," the agency "did not live up to our expectations as professionals" regarding the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the search for WMDs in Iraq, according to Clark."We had inconsistent information, and we did not inform others in the community of gaps in our intelligence," Tenet said, with surprising frankness, as recorded by reporter Clark. "The extraordinary men and women who do magnificent work in the CIA are held accountable every day for what they do, and as part of keeping our faith with the American people, we will tell you when we're right or wrong."Tenet spoke before 2,000 members of The Economic Club at Lake Michigan College's Mendel Center.In a wide-ranging speech, he said the United States is "winning the war on terror" due to the CIA's efforts to "capture or kill" three-quarters of al-Qaida's leaders, and that he expects to see Osama bin Laden captured.Just this week, news emerged that Tenet had been appointed a professor at Georgetown University.