Negroponte and George Tenet, sitting behind General Colin Powell at Senate Hearing

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell used electronic intercepts, satellite photographs and other intelligence sources Wednesday in an effort to convince skeptical members of the U.N. Security Council that Iraq is actively working to deceive U.N. weapons inspectors. (Watch the video of the entire UN hearing)

February 5, 2008—It is a difficult anniversary to “celebrate” – Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity’s first publication, a same-day critique of Colin Powell’s Feb. 5, 2003, UN address – since what he said helped grease the skids for incalculable death and destruction in Iraq and brought shame on our country.

Little did we know at the time (CIA - Little did they know!! Have you looked at the expressions on Negroponte's face lately?? I know this facial expression and I don't like it, especially for an INTELLIGENCE SPECIALIST. This expression is referred to as a SMIRK.) that a month later Colin Powell, with then-CIA Director George Tenet sitting conspicuously behind him, would provide the world a textbook example of careerism and cowardice in cooking intelligence to the recipe of his master. (OK I get it nobody else in the CIA could see this and therefore sat on their hands, how appropriate is that? Don't want to lose that fat paycheck and the pension..)

Yesterday was the fifth anniversary of Colin Powell’s speech to the United Nations Security Council to push for war with Iraq. Powell’s speech, as we now know, was full of lies. His speech was entitled: Iraq, failing to disarm. He even had a nifty slide show for the attendees. Behind him sat George Tenet, then head of the CIA.

No one fact-checked Powell, no one bothered to ask questions. It was accepted as fact by pretty much everyone. Bush had been beating the war drums for quite some time prior to Powell’s speech and the MSM fell right in line.

Tenet Answers Criticism from Retired CIA Officers

by Mary Louise Kelly

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Scroll through a timeline of Tenet's years as CIA director.

All Things Considered, May 1, 2007 · A group of retired CIA officers have accused former CIA Director George Tenet of hypocrisy and failed leadership. They wrote an open letter that read, in part, "By your silence you helped build the case for war."

Tenet's book, At the Center of the Storm, prompted the complaints. The former intelligence officials have called on him to dedicate part of his book royalties to U.S. soldiers in Iraq and their families.

But Tenet said that none of the letter-writers worked for him — and that they are not speaking from firsthand knowledge of events. Tenet called them "people who were not within 100 miles of me."

Criticism also has come from Michael Scheuer, the first head of the CIA's Osama bin Laden unit. Scheuer said his old boss should take a lot more responsibility than he has for what's gone wrong in Iraq.

Tenet argued that the CIA was mostly correct in predicting how things might play out after the invasion. And Tenet denied that his analysts bowed to political pressure.