Thursday, June 03, 2004

Isn't It Funny...

This is just my observation, but it seems that the unrelenting coverage of the "failure" in Iraq has suddenly died down now that the hand over to the Iraqi Governing Council took place as planned. Don't get me wrong, you still see some blips on the screen about continuing fighting in Kufa, but it's only quick 2 minutes reporting with a film clip that actually appears to be the same one they show over and over again every time they mention "fierce fighting". LOL!

Now we are starting to get back to the attacks on the economy and the other supposed administration failings. CIA Chief George Tenet resigned today, ostensibly for "personal reasons". I don't doubt that is true in the basic sense of the word. I am positive the administration was not going to force him to resign or fire him because this would be "admitting" a mistake in their intelligence operations. Not something Bush was likely to do in an election year. Don't need one more bullet in the Dems gun. But, I suspect that Tenet knew he was done for after November anyway if the President got re-elected. He probably would have been quietly replaced 6 mos after the elections.

Basically, he was a "good manager" who let good management get in the way of "managing the business". He put a lot of trust in his subordinates and let them run with some things hoping to jump start the limping "company" back to it's old abilities to really run down good intel. But, as I have learned in the business, you can't assume anything your people are telling you is right before you starting spitting it out at meetings. You better check and double check or you will end up with egg on your face. I know a few people who had to learn that lesson the hard way and I believe George Tenet is one of them.

As it is, I think he decided to take his fate into his own hands and resign on his own. Saving face and, at the same time, taking the sword for Bush before the campaign really got underway.

Now, the question is, who can really run the CIA the way it should be run? Maybe Condi Rice? She would probably make sure that she only got the right stuff and wouldn't allow anybody to spill out garbage. If they did, she would give them one of those "you disappoint me" speeches like your Mom used to give, quietly close the door and then have the guy fired a few days later. Nothing like a woman to make things all nice and tidy.

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