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.
I’ve been imagining the scene since i first read about it this morning, and it makes me smile inside. It’s almost like Franz Liebkind ranting about Churchill or something, but not quite it.
What scene am i reaching for, help a guy out here…
Tony Montana in Scarface, with a pile of coke on the table and an automatic weapon.
yes. YES! THAT’S IT!!!
Thanks.
I would give my left nut to have been a fly on that wall watching tenet as he guzzled scotch (from the bottle!!) and ranted about the jews.
A beautiful thing. i hope he ends up nuts like lady macbeth, constantly rubbing his hands.
Friends don’t let friends drink, swim and rant.
sure they do, but friends don’t tell the press what happened.
Paranoia as a way of life.
Bet on it.
AG
sounds like a deleted scene from the movie Syriana. Which I finally saw for the first time a few weeks ago.
yes, that’s exactly what it sounds like. Great movie.
lovely.
the head of the cia, stewed to the gills, ranting in bandar bush’s pool…speaks volumes about the quality of the organization, eh.
little wonder they got punked with tenet at the helm.
Yeah, and it’s not like Tenet can be blamed on Bush either – Clinton saddled us with him. Though IIRC Clinton wanted someone else and the Republicans blocked him. No way of knowing if “someone else” would have been better or worse had the Republicans not been doing their usual schtick, I guess.
The unmentioned aspect of this is what it tells us about the supposedly uber-religious House of Sa`ud. Quel surprise, eh?
I thought that too, at least the alcohol bit.