Now we know why Tenet got the Medal of Freedom

Tenet got the Medal of Freedom from Bush for his creative Intelligence-creating support for the already planned invasion of Iraq.

Juan Cole provides the full text of the Secret internal UK memo (dated 23 July 2003) that told Tony Blair that Bush had already decided on war and was manipulating the Intelligence to support the war. Note this paragraph:

"C reported on his recent talks in Washington. There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy. The NSC had no patience with the UN route, and no enthusiasm for publishing material on the Iraqi regime's record. There was little discussion in Washington of the aftermath after military action."

Tenet got the Medal of Freedom for making sure that the intelligence and facts were fixed around the policy, not for providing reality-based facts and intelligence on which a reality-based policy could be established.

professor Cole documents the lie Bush was telling the public in the Summer of 2002:

"Bush was lying to the American people at the time and saying that no final decision had been made on the war.

"Godfrey Sperling of the Christian Science Monitor could write on August 27, 2002, "Indeed, Bush has said he welcomes a 'debate' on Iraq from those in Congress and from the public. But he has made it clear that he will make his decision based on what his intelligence people are telling him."

"But Dearlove's report [The Secret internal UK memo. Sir Brian Dearlove was "C", the head of British foreign Intelligence known as MI 6.] makes it clear that Bush had already decided absolutely on a war already the previous month, and that he had managed to give British intelligence the firm impression that he intended to shape the intelligence to support such a war. So poor Sperling was lied to twice. Any "debate" was meaningless if the president had already decided. And he wasn't waiting to make his decision in the light of the intelligence. He was going to tell the intelligence professionals to what conclusion they had to come. "But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."

"Why would it even be necessary to turn the intelligence analysts into "weasels" who would have to tell Bush what he wanted to hear?

"It was necessary because the "justification" of the "conjunction" of Weapons of Mass Destruction and terrorism was virtually non-existent."