by Larry C. Johnson

Sorry George. Too little and way too damn late. You had ample opportunity to blow the whistle on the Bush bullshit but you played ball. I do not give a damn whether you did or did not say the case for war was a "slam dunk". You signed off on Colin Powell's presentation to the United Nations. You, more than any other U.S. Government senior official, were in the unique position to know that the Secretary of State was selling a pack of lies. And you sat behind him nodding affirmatively like a bobblehead doll.

You were asleep at the switch in January of 2003 as the Bush Administration pushed and cajoled analysts and managers to let them make the bogus claim that Iraq was on the verge of getting its hands on uranium. You said nothing until your July 11, 2003 statement, which concluded with the following:

Portions of the State of the Union speech draft came to the CIA for comment shortly before the speech was given. Various parts were shared with cognizant elements of the Agency for review. Although the documents related to the alleged Niger-Iraqi uranium deal had not yet been determined to be forgeries, officials who were reviewing the draft remarks on uranium raised several concerns about the fragmentary nature of the intelligence with National Security Council colleagues. Some of the language was changed. From what we know now, Agency officials in the end concurred that the text in the speech was factually correct — i.e. that the British government report said that Iraq sought uranium from Africa. This should not have been the test for clearing a Presidential address. This did not rise to the level of certainty which should be required for Presidential speeches, and CIA should have ensured that it was removed.

You were the Alberto Gonzalez of the intelligence community—a grotesque mixture of stupidity, incompetence shielded by a genial personality. Decisions were made, you were in charge, but you have no idea how decisions were made even though you were in charge. Curiously, if Ignatius is correct, you focus your anger on the likes of Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld, and Condi Rice but you leave George W. out of the line of fire. If that is true you are a genuine coward.

This is not a case of Monday morning quarter-backing. You demonstrated in October of 2002 that you understood the game when you called the White House and stopped the President from using a speech in Cincinnati to make the case that Iraq was buying uranium. Somewhere between October 2002 and January 2003 you rolled over and decided to play ball.

You could have gone to Senator Rockefeller or Senator Daschle or Congresswoman Harman or any number of legislators and briefed them on the truth. But you remained quiet. By your silence you helped build the case for war. You betrayed the CIA officers who collected the intelligence that made it clear that Saddam did not pose an imminent threat. You betrayed the analysts who tried to withstand the pressure applied by Cheney and Rumsfeld. You betrayed the CIA itself by allowing active duty employees like Michael Scheur to write books critical of Bush, which contributed to the perception that the CIA was a politicized gang eager to embarrass the Bush Administration.

Most importantly and tragically, you betrayed your country. Instead of resigning in protest you provided the Bush Administration the pretext of respectability and became the scapegoat for their misdeeds. Your silence contributed to the willingness of the public to support the disastrous war in Iraq which has killed more than 3000 Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.

So now you are going to correct the record with your book? Not so fast George. Why don't you start by returning the Medal of Freedom hung around your neck by George W. in December 2004? Bush claimed you received the award because you:

played pivotal roles in great events, and [your] efforts have made our country more secure and advanced the cause of human liberty.

The reality of Iraq demonstrates that fruits of your efforts have in fact made our country less secure. The damage to the credibility of the CIA is serious but can eventually be repaired. The U.S. soldiers who died or have been maimed in the streets of Fallujah and Baghdad cannot be fixed. The dead have passed into history. Many of the wounded will live the rest of their lives missing limbs, blinded, mentally disabled, and physically disfigured. I second Brent Budowsky's suggestion—if you have any shred of decency left you should dedicate the proceeds of your book to the veterans and their families who are paying the price for your failure to speak up when you could have made a difference. That would be the decent thing to do.
 

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