This scene certainly has the air of plausibility. Patrick Tyler paints the picture in his new book A World of Trouble: The White House and the Middle East–From the Cold War to the War on Terror. DCI George Tenet is in Riyadh at Prince Bandar’s place. He’s drunk, he’s in the pool, and he’s feeling besieged.
A servant appeared with a bottle. Tenet knocked back some of the scotch. Then some more. They watched with concern. He drained half the bottle in a few minutes.
“They’re setting me up. The bastards are setting me up,” Tenet said, but “I am not going to take the hit.”
…”According to one witness, he mocked the neoconservatives in the Bush administration and their alignment with the rlght wing of Israel’s political establishment, referring to them with exaxperation as, “the Jews.”
You know what came next. It made Firedoglake famous, smacked Scooter Libby with a conviction for perjury and obstruction of justice, and nearly cost Bush-Cheney their reelection. The Bush administration tried to restore order by placing Porter Goss in charge of the CIA and taking away the CIA’s power in favor of a new Director of National Intelligence.
