A few days after Niger-gate really started hitting the fan, the White House crafted a strategy Bush officials were sure would keep blame away from the president: the whole thing was the CIA’s fault.
It was, to say the least, an unpersuasive argument. The administration’s line was, in essence, that the CIA, and by default, CIA director George Tenet, didn’t fight hard enough to stop the White House from making a false claim about Iraq and Niger in the State of the Union. On Monday, for example, Bush said three times that the CIA had “cleared” the text of his remarks. Translation: if the Niger claim was mistaken, the CIA should have said something sooner.
We’ve since learned, however, that the CIA did say something sooner — much sooner.
In a word, Tenet became the scapegoat. He took responsibility like a good soldier, but the blame wasn’t necessarily his to take. Nevertheless, he quickly and conveniently became the man to shoulder the responsibility for the “mistake” in Bush’s speech.
Most Democrats, meanwhile, didn’t lose focus. This wasn’t Tenet’s screw-up, they said, it was the White House’s. Bush shouldn’t pass the buck; he should step up, show some leadership, and accept responsibility for what happened. Bob Graham phrased it perfectly: “[W]e do not have a George Tenet problem, we have a George Bush problem.”
With this in mind, why are Joe Lieberman and Howard Dean calling for Tenet’s resignation? I can’t figure it out.
Dean was actually the first Democrat to insist that Tenet resign, a fact which the campaign is oddly proud of. Dean said in a statement, “George Tenet has accepted responsibility for this egregious act and must bear the consequences.”
Which “egregious act”? Bush lying in the SOTU and then lying again trying to explain it? Tenet may have accepted responsibility, but I have no idea what Dean means by saying he must “bear the consequences.” It was Tenet and the CIA that urged the White House not to repeat the Niger claim. Seems to me Dean should be defending Tenet against White House scapegoating, not calling for his resignation.
Dean later told the AP, “The reason the director should step aside is that he is now part of the shifting of the blame.”
This makes absolutely no sense. The White House has tried to shift the blame to Tenet, but that doesn’t mean Tenet deserves the blame. Dean seems to be saying that he supports Bush’s scheme to pin this scandal on Tenet, despite any evidence of actual wrongdoing by Tenet or the CIA.
As the New Republic explained yesterday, it’s the White House who wants Tenet to take the fall to help avert the entire scandal — and Dean appears to be trying to help in that endeavor.
“[Tenet’s] resignation would give Bush an opportunity to make a speech where he would admit contrition over the 16 little words; he would express pain at having to accept George Tenet’s resignation; and he would then call on the nation to move forward from this error,” the New Republic said. “It seems highly likely with Tenet’s scalp taken the nation would indeed move forward.”
In other words, Dean is arguing the Bush line for him, giving the White House the patsy Bush officials need. Whose side is Dean on?
Unfortunately, Dean isn’t the only one making this mistake. Lieberman is just as bad.
“The White House doesn’t accept responsibility,” Lieberman said. “Tenet steps forward and accepts responsibility. And then the president says he hasn’t lost confidence in the CIA. Something’s wrong here.
“I guess I’d say under these circumstances, if I was president and I was put in a position to make a statement in a State of the Union to the American people that was not truthful and the CIA director came forward and accepted responsibility, I’d ask him to leave,” Lieberman added.
This is just as dumb as Dean’s take on the controversy. Lieberman seems painfully unaware of the politics at play. At the White House’s behest Tenet “came forward and accepted responsibility.” Does this lead Lieberman to believe the White House is right? Lieberman, like Dean, is making Bush’s case for him, giving Bush the out he’s looking for.
Look, if Tenet and the CIA knew the Niger documents were fraudulent but didn’t tell the White House, then perhaps Dean, Lieberman, and Bush would have a point. Under those circumstances, the CIA and Tenet would be responsible for failing to fully inform the White House, and Tenet’s resignation may be warranted. But that’s just not what happened.
So can anyone explain why Dean and Lieberman are giving Bush a hand in getting out of this mess? I can’t.