Next step: I think Dems should ask for Tenet's resignation

[diplomats]

Why is the WH not asking him to step down? And this will keep the stort alive.

[Homer12]

1. He will step down after the congression inquiries.

He has to blow a few wistles, first.

[AnnabelLee]

2. I don't think they should ask

for Tenet's resignation directly; they need to keep putting pressure on in order to cause bushco to cause Tenet to resign (in order to spend more time with his family, of course:eyes:). If the Dems call for it directly, it will be spun that they are responsible for it, not that Tenet was booted by bushco.

[w13rd0]

3. Why are incompetence and failure and conflict of interest...

...required line items on the resume to serve in the Bush administration. No, Democrats should be asking why Bush isn't asking for Tenet's resignation. The answer is pretty obvious. This is a cover-up. Tenet takes the fall, but keeps the job. Pearle resigns from the chair, but stays on the Defense Board. Kissinger withdraws from the S11 coverup, but is still an evil bastard. I'd say the American people have good reason to questions the Bush regimes ability to judge character and their propensity to excuse and accept conflict of interest, criminal corruption and gross negligence.

[bunnyhop]

4. BS - that would mean absolving bush

I agree it's crazy that tenet is taking the blame but no punishment, but the democrats should be getting on bush for not taking the blame himself. They should demand that since bush started an illegal war, bush must resign. They're not gonna get it, but they should be demanding it. Of course, they won't do anything.

[diplomats]

6. I know Bush is responsible

but Tenet is a means to get to Bush.

[lkinsale]

7. Graham says blame Bush

CNN-7-11-03

"Now the Bush White House and the Bush CIA are pointing fingers at each other over the president's misleading claim about Iraqi uranium purchases from Niger," U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, D-Florida, said in a written statement. "Mr. President, stop trying to pass the buck. You made the baseless claim; you should take responsibility."

CNN 7-10-03

CROWLEY: Well, Senator, as you know, the president scores fairly high
among the public for being trustworthy and honest. This, obviously, is
an attempt to say, Wait a second. But when you say misleading and his
administration is misleading, aren't we talking about the president?
And is this an actual accusation from Democrats, yourself included,
that the president deliberately lied? I mean, isn't that what
everybody is sort of dancing around?

GRAHAM: Well, I believe in the old admonition if you're the captain of
the ship and the ship goes aground, you're responsible.

The administration, President Bush appointed all of the key people who
are running our intelligence agencies. He appointed the people in the
Department of Defense and the Department of State which reviewed the
information. And in spite of all that, in his State of the State Union
-- message, he had a statement that was clearly untrue. And that is
that Niger had supplied nuclear materials to Iraq.

(my boldface)

[diplomats]

11. I also think that point needs to be hammered home, too

Bush is supposed to be this strong, decisive leader, and he hides behind his CIA director? How wimpy can you get. This kind of reminds me of when the Branch Davidian disaster happened, Janet Reno won all kind of kudos for taking the blame when Clinton should have. It doesn't reflect on any president when he won't step up to the plate and accept blame.

[Cocoa]

5. a few should ask for it

and like the posters above said, the dems running the investigations should be more magnanimous, giving him the benefit of the doubt while they get as much out of him as they can.

Just a reminder, Carl Levin has Tenet nailed on the matter of whether the CIA shared its intelligence with the UN inspectors. Levin came right out and said Tenet's testimony was a lie. A reporter asked him why he's not calling for Tenet's resignation, and Levin kind of smiled to himself and said he didn't want to prejudge him before the investigation.

But there's nothing stopping Dean, for example, from calling for Tenet's head.

[diplomats]

9. That's a good point

I like the way Levin is handling all this.

[kentuck]

8. I think he should be asked to step down until investigation is completed..

The appearance of impropriety and incompetence is just too strong to keep him in his position at this time.

[Stoic]

10. No, no. Keep him out front and center.

Until the real truth comes out. Tenent is the fall guy that they hope will kill the controversy before anyone elst has to fall on their sword.

[Birthmark]

12. I think that the next step...

...is to find out who insisted that the Niger reference be included in the SOTU. All Tenet has done is confirm (allegedly) why it wasn't taken out.

[kentuck]

13. It would be nice to know who created the forged document ?

But I guess we the people, or Congress, do not have the right to know that information??

[Birthmark]

14. I want to know that, too.

The problem is that that can be drawn out into a wild goose chase by the Administration. Who insisted that that line be included in the SOTU (after the CIA had said it was bad info) is a simple question that is known by the White House beyond any doubt. They can't point overseas or to another agency or anywhere else. No wiggle room and an easily understood question.

Once we have that person's name, we can use him/her to branch off into the more difficult (and probably more productive) questions such as "Who forged the Niger papers?"

For now, I think that it is more important to engage the media and the public in a simple question.

[DagmarK]

15. Lord.......the LAST thing we need is for Tenet to step down

or be forced to resign.

That gets Bush off the hook (in the drooping eyes of America's sheeples).

This "story" is total BULLCORN! It's a cover for Bush*. Rove and the Cabal *had* to come up with some sort of blame and cause someone to fall to take the eyes off the maladministration.

The president lied...people died. He is 100% responsible.