The Case Against Bush

The CNN special, Dead Wrong: Inside an Intelligence Meltdown is a worthless, distracting perpetuation of services for the Bush Administration. It is a repackaging of information we already knew dispensed in a way that makes Tenet look like the star of the show. This documentary further shows the lack of a "liberal media" and how CNN is as deeply implicated in this mess as any other business, politician or propagandist in support of President Bush.

Perhaps it was my fault for expecting something titled "Dead Wrong" to be hard hitting, something that would smash the foundations of the Bush Administration. I wasted 5 pages taking notes and after program finished I realized I'd wasted an hour watching shallow, old news that deflected your attention away from Bush so you could better focus on an inept and irrelevant intelligence community.

Was it not amazing that specific comments made in the story could run against the current of the story. "Doesn't the ultimate responsibility lie with the President of the United States?" was asked by an interviewee at the beginning of the program. Bush wanted intelligence to find anything against Saddam Hussein that would give them a reason to attack Iraq. Cheney asserted Iraq was still building WMDs. Condoleeza Rice was joining in with the statements that we needed to stop the "smoking gun" from becoming a mushroom cloud. The Bush administration was responsible for the environment that did not accept skepticism from its intelligence officers and Bush is the one who wanted Tenet at his side.

A comment was made in the program that the Intelligence community has been used as a scapegoat for the President of the United States from Kennedy and the "missile gap" through Reagan and the Iran-Contra Affair. Attention is always taken away from President [his name here]. Despite all this, the documentary seems to follow George Tenet like a biography. Not only does the program reinforce Tenet as a scapegoat (who is strangely awarded a medal while after he ruins Colin Powell's career and resigns), but it props up a new scapegoat at the end of the program for the public to keep their eyes on. The documentary begins with Tenet and ends with his new replacement saying John Negroponte must avoid faltering when bad news must be delivered.

So once again a blank check is being written for the President of the United States. The payment is "one John Negroponte and zero sense" and it's waiting to be made out to some scandal. We need to remind ourselves this is not about a director of Intelligence. It is not about Tenet or Negroponte. It is only about CNN through extension. Yes, CNN is deeply implicated in this as much as anyone. This program is another piece of evidence to further the case against the real culprit, George W. Bush.

Note: [added August 22, 2005. 5:55 AM] A blogger reminded me I should give not give credit to Colin Powell by saying Tenet ruined Powell's career. Colin Powell had a chance to stand up to the Bush and ask for real evidence. He didn't.