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Tenet Testifying Before Senate on State of the Union Cited Intelligence
Aired July 16, 2003 - 11:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Embattled CIA chief George Tenet is on Capitol Hill today. He might feel like he's been taken to the Congressional wood shed for allowing a dubious claim about Iraq's nuclear ambitions to get into the State of the Union Address this year.
Well the Senate Intelligence hearing is closed to the public and the media as well. Our Congressional correspondent Jon Karl is standing by on Capital Hill. And, Jon, please explain to us this morning, why is this such a sensitive and politically explosive issue? It just won't seem to go away.
JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Certainly not, Leon. This may the close -- the most closely closed hearing that we've had in some time.
George Tenet is the person on the hot seat here because although the CIA director has taken responsible for that faulty material getting into the president's speech, saying he should have taken it out, he has also made quite clear that the CIA had long expressed reservations about that specific piece of intelligence, long before the president's State of the Union Speech.
In fact, the CIA director says, that back in October of last year when the president was going to include it in his speech on Iraq, he personally ,intervened said there were questions raised about it, did not rise to the level of the kind of material that should be in a presidential speech. So you can expect Tenet to get some very tough questions here.
But perhaps the toughest question will come from Republicans, because although Democrats have been pointing the finger at the president indirectly and at his inner circle, Republicans are saying what happened here is that the Central Intelligence Agency, and some are saying Tenet specifically, simply did not serve the president well.
One of those Republicans spoke on CNN this morning, one of those Republicans on the committee, and had this to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. SAXBY CHAMBLISS (R), GEORGIA: George Tenet, it's been said, had his people scrub the speech in January. And if they took it out in October, allowed it in January, then why did they? Why has nobody been forthcoming since January if in fact the information was not correct? So there are a number of issues that are going to be out on the table today and I expect we'll have some good answers to them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KARL: And, Leon, you ask why the issue is so explosive. One of the reasons, quite simply, has to do with -- in addition to the substance, the politics of this going into a presidential election year next year. The Democrats who running for president, many of whom supported the war in Iraq, are bringing up this issue intensely.
One of them is John Kerry. John Kerry was a supporter of the war in Iraq. He is giving a speech today in New York where he is going to very directly take on the president on what has been the president's strongest suit until now, the question of national security. He previewed what he will say this morning on CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERR (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's not just the 16 words, it's all of our intelligence. I mean we were told they had weapons that could be deployed within 45 minutes. We were told they had unmanned vehicles that had the ability to deliver. I mean there are a series of things here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KARL: And there you hear Kerry essential articulating what has become the new Democratic theme here, which is it's not just about whether or not Iraq went to buy uranium in Africa and how that information got in the president's speech, but was the entire case against Iraq hyped? Was it exaggerated? Did Iraq really have the weapons of mass destruction that we were told going into the war? If so, why have no weapons been found in Iraq yet? That's the new Democratic theme here.
And, Leon, this will continue tomorrow, especially, because guess who's going to be up here tomorrow? Tony Blair, the British prime minister who is still standing by that allegation that Iraq was trying to get uranium in Africa. He will give a speech to a joint meeting of Congress tomorrow. They will also have a joint press conference with the president. That will be very interesting to watch.
HARRIS: You got that right. That's for sure. And of course, we'll watching and listening. Thanks, Jon. Jonathan Karl on Capital Hill.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Intelligence>
Aired July 16, 2003 - 11:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Embattled CIA chief George Tenet is on Capitol Hill today. He might feel like he's been taken to the Congressional wood shed for allowing a dubious claim about Iraq's nuclear ambitions to get into the State of the Union Address this year.
Well the Senate Intelligence hearing is closed to the public and the media as well. Our Congressional correspondent Jon Karl is standing by on Capital Hill. And, Jon, please explain to us this morning, why is this such a sensitive and politically explosive issue? It just won't seem to go away.
JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Certainly not, Leon. This may the close -- the most closely closed hearing that we've had in some time.
George Tenet is the person on the hot seat here because although the CIA director has taken responsible for that faulty material getting into the president's speech, saying he should have taken it out, he has also made quite clear that the CIA had long expressed reservations about that specific piece of intelligence, long before the president's State of the Union Speech.
In fact, the CIA director says, that back in October of last year when the president was going to include it in his speech on Iraq, he personally ,intervened said there were questions raised about it, did not rise to the level of the kind of material that should be in a presidential speech. So you can expect Tenet to get some very tough questions here.
But perhaps the toughest question will come from Republicans, because although Democrats have been pointing the finger at the president indirectly and at his inner circle, Republicans are saying what happened here is that the Central Intelligence Agency, and some are saying Tenet specifically, simply did not serve the president well.
One of those Republicans spoke on CNN this morning, one of those Republicans on the committee, and had this to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. SAXBY CHAMBLISS (R), GEORGIA: George Tenet, it's been said, had his people scrub the speech in January. And if they took it out in October, allowed it in January, then why did they? Why has nobody been forthcoming since January if in fact the information was not correct? So there are a number of issues that are going to be out on the table today and I expect we'll have some good answers to them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KARL: And, Leon, you ask why the issue is so explosive. One of the reasons, quite simply, has to do with -- in addition to the substance, the politics of this going into a presidential election year next year. The Democrats who running for president, many of whom supported the war in Iraq, are bringing up this issue intensely.
One of them is John Kerry. John Kerry was a supporter of the war in Iraq. He is giving a speech today in New York where he is going to very directly take on the president on what has been the president's strongest suit until now, the question of national security. He previewed what he will say this morning on CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERR (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's not just the 16 words, it's all of our intelligence. I mean we were told they had weapons that could be deployed within 45 minutes. We were told they had unmanned vehicles that had the ability to deliver. I mean there are a series of things here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KARL: And there you hear Kerry essential articulating what has become the new Democratic theme here, which is it's not just about whether or not Iraq went to buy uranium in Africa and how that information got in the president's speech, but was the entire case against Iraq hyped? Was it exaggerated? Did Iraq really have the weapons of mass destruction that we were told going into the war? If so, why have no weapons been found in Iraq yet? That's the new Democratic theme here.
And, Leon, this will continue tomorrow, especially, because guess who's going to be up here tomorrow? Tony Blair, the British prime minister who is still standing by that allegation that Iraq was trying to get uranium in Africa. He will give a speech to a joint meeting of Congress tomorrow. They will also have a joint press conference with the president. That will be very interesting to watch.
HARRIS: You got that right. That's for sure. And of course, we'll watching and listening. Thanks, Jon. Jonathan Karl on Capital Hill.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Intelligence>
