Rice Suggests Former CIA Director’s ‘Slam Dunk’ Comment Was Clear Idea
WASHINGTON — Former CIA Director George Tenet may go easy on President Bush in his new book, but he is very critical of Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
In the book titled “At the Center of the Storm” out Monday, Tenet writes that the Bush administration was in a rush to take down Saddam Hussein and stretch intelligence to justify the action.
Tenet also claims that he told Rice in the summer before Sept. 11, 2001, that a significant terrorist strike on the United States was in the works.
He defends his now famous line that pre-war intelligence on Iraq was a “slam dunk,” saying the remark was taken out of context “and has haunted me ever since it first appeared in Bob Woodward’s book ‘Plan of Attack.’”
“Woodward quotes the president in his book as saying that my ’slam dunk’ comment was a very important moment. I truly doubt President Bush had any better recollection of the comment than I did. Nor will I ever believe it shaped his view about either the legitimacy or the timing of waging war. … ‘Slam dunk,’ [Woodward] said, ‘was the basis of this incredibly critical decision the president and his war Cabinet were making on, do we invade Iraq?’” Tenet wrote.
Source: www.foxnews.com
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