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President Asserts He Still Has Faith in Tenet and C.I.A.
A day after the director of central intelligence, George J. Tenet, took responsibility for approving the use of unsubstantiated information about Iraq's nuclear program in the State of the Union address, President Bush said today that he retained confidence in Mr. Tenet and that he considered the matter closed.
Another example of compassionate conservatism.
Is it going to work? Will the matter stay closed? Perhaps not. From the same NYTimes story:
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Mr. Bush's comments followed a strikingly open effort by the White House on Friday to place the blame on Mr. Tenet for not stripping from the State of the Union speech a line, later found to be based on unreliable intelligence, asserting that Iraq had tried to acquire uranium in Africa for a nuclear weapons program.
Speaking to reporters here at the conclusion of a five-nation tour of Africa, Mr. Bush said he "absolutely" had faith in Mr. Tenet and in the Central Intelligence Agency generally.
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Mr. Fleischer said that the White House had corrected the statement in March, when the International Atomic Energy Agency concluded that documents that had provided much of the basis for the claim about Iraq's attempts to purchase uranium were forged. But White House officials had said throughout the spring that there was other evidence to back up the claim.
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The White House acknowledged only this week that the evidence that Iraq had tried to acquire uranium in Africa was not solid enough to have justified citing it in the State of the Union address.
Even today, the administration continued to suggest that the information about Iraq's activities in Africa might ultimately be proved correct.
Huh? Let me try that again:
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Even today, the administration continued to suggest that the information about Iraq's activities in Africa might ultimately be proved correct.
Well, I guess that does take cojones of a sort.
It's just possible that this President's simple, direct, visceral inability to admit not merely error, but even the need to rethink one's position based on new evidence, may be his undoing.
Can't you just hear Howard Fineman saying, "the irony is that it's this President's greatest personal and policy strength that may turn out to be his biggest political liability. Hey, I'll settle for that.
Edited for spelling error.