By Jason Leopold, t r u t h o u t
With the publication of his memoir, “At the Center of the Storm,” former CIA Director George Tenet joins a growing list of former Bush administration officials who have written books accusing the White House of cooking intelligence immediately after 9/11 to win support for a US-led invasion of Iraq.
Tenet is the highest-ranking administration official to level such charges against senior White House members, claiming that there was a coordinated effort within the Office of the Vice President, the National Security Council and the Pentagon to fix intelligence related to the so-called Iraqi threat around Bush’s policy toward the country. He claims that the 9/11 terrorist attacks were used to justify an invasion, despite the absence of intelligence showing Iraq was an imminent threat.
The ex-CIA chief’s assertions support similar claims over the past few years by other, former high-ranking officials. Among them are Richard Clarke, the counterterrorism czar, and Paul O’Neill, the treasury secretary, who provided reporter and author Ron Suskind with detailed information about the White House effort to overthrow Saddam Hussein prior to 9/11.
(Original Article)