Cheney, Other Top Officials Authorized Waterboarding

Staff / Truthdig Apr 12, 2008 Bush administration officials Vice President Dick Cheney, current Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her predecessor, Colin Powell, and then-Attorney General John Ashcroft were among those who deliberated over, and eventually approved, the use of "harsh interrogation techniques" (which some would call torture) at meetings following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Source of Faulty Iraq Weapons Claims Revealed

Staff / Truthdig Nov 4, 2007 Meet Rafid Ahmed Alwan, otherwise known as "Curve Ball" in intelligence circles. He's an Iraqi defector who apparently won himself a green card with his fabricated claims about Saddam Hussein's regime harboring biological weapons, which became the CIA's (and Colin Powell's) key justification for the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

CIA Report Blames Tenet for 9/11 Failure

Staff / Truthdig Aug 22, 2007 A newly released internal CIA report lays the "ultimate blame" for a lack of strategy to combat al-Qaida before 9/11 on former Director George Tenet, who calls the charge "flat wrong." Congress ordered the declassification of the scathing document, which was completed in 2005. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Bush Alums Reap Their Rewards

Robert Scheer / Truthdig May 9, 2007 It's no wonder that an administration that celebrated and rewarded liars and opportunists would produce the likes of Paul Wolfowitz, who followed up the Iraq disaster with a scandal at the World Bank, and George Tenet, who held his tongue until the price was right. But how do they sleep at night? Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

’60 Minutes’ Grills Tenet

Staff / Truthdig May 5, 2007 George Tenet's combative interview with "60 Minutes" is as fascinating as it is upsetting. The former CIA director careens between defensive ire and finger-pointing at an administration he says distracted us from the biggest threat to our nation's security. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Tenet’s Share of the Shame

Joe Conason / Truthdig May 3, 2007 While the natural human fascination with gossip and backbiting among our rulers guarantees media coverage and best-seller status for George Tenet's new memoir, the former CIA director cannot achieve absolution in print or on television. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Railroading Democracy

Mike Luckovich / Truthdig May 3, 2007 Dig deeper

After Thousands Have Died, Tenet Comes Clean

Robert Scheer / Truthdig May 2, 2007 The three short sentences at the beginning of Chapter 17 of former CIA Director George Tenet's memoir, "At the Center of the Storm," tell it all: "The United States did not go to war in Iraq solely because of WMD. I doubt it was even the principal cause. Yet it was the public face that was put on it." Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Tenet: Cheney Distorted His ‘Slam Dunk’ Remark

Staff / Truthdig Apr 27, 2007 In a new memoir, former CIA Director George Tenet accepts some responsibility for his intelligence assessment of Iraq in the buildup to war, but he also blames the Bush administration for its ill-founded determination to invade. He takes particular issue with Vice President Dick Cheney for citing Tenet's "slam dunk" statement as justification for war: "I remember watching and thinking: 'As if you needed me to say "slam dunk" to convince you to go to war with Iraq.' " Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )