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Tenet Testifying on Capital Hill
Aired July 16, 2003 - 13:05 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.
PHILLIPS: Capital confidential -- what does CIA Director George Tenet know? Well, he's set to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee this afternoon. Tenet is taking the heat for the disputed line in the State of the Union speech. Lawmakers also want to know what else might be questionable in the case made for the war with Iraq.
Let's go to CNN Congressional Jon Karl -- Jon.
JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, Tenet is in the hot seat here. He has taken responsible for that one questionable line, those now famous 16 words in the president's State of the Union Address, saying that he should have insisted, his agency should have insisted that that line be taken out of the president's speech.
But Republicans are especially expected to ask some very tough questions of Tenet as he goes forward on this wondering why it is that if Tenet insisted a similar line was taken out of a speech the president gave back in October, he allowed it to go through in January in the State the of the Union Address?
They say there was very sloppy intelligence work done by the Central Intelligence Agency and the president, in a sense, is a victim here of faulty guidance on this, of not getting the kind of service that he should have gotten from the Central Intelligence Agency and its director.
Democrats are also asking questions. The top Democrat in that committee, Jay Rockefeller, spoke to CNN a short while ago and had this to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JAY ROCKEFELLER (D-WV), VICE CHMN., INTELLIGENCE CMTE.: ... when the president gave his State of Union Address was the information available not just to us but in a sense more importantly to him because he's the ultimate consumer intelligence, was it accurate? Was there any attempt to take what was either accurate or inaccurate intelligence and shape it in a way which help the president make his case he wanted to go into Iraq? I don't charge him with that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KARL: And for Democrats, this goes far beyond those 16 words in the State of the Union Address. They look at the situation in Iraq now, point out no weapons of mass destruction have been found yet, and wonder about the comprehensive case made to go to war. Not just about the alleged nuclear program, but where are the alleged vast stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons that were cited by the president and by his senior officials in the administration in going to war?
Also, it's not just George Tenet in a sense that's in the hot seat here. Democrats, especially that Democrat that you just heard from, want to know about the president's other senior advisers, including National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and the vice president.
They say that Rice and the vice president both had access to information that made it clear that that line about Iraq's alleged attempts to get uranium in Africa was faulty, was inaccurate intelligence, or at the very least, unsubstantiated intelligence. Democrats want to know why didn't George Tenet didn't pull it out, also why didn't the vice president, and why didn't Condoleezza Rice?
So, Kyra, you can expect some fireworks at these hearings. But let me remind you, it is a closed hearing. We will not be allowed in. The senators when they come out technically will not be allowed to talk about the details of what took place. Public hearings are coming, but it's going to be a while.
PHILLIPS: All right, out Jonathan Karl on the Hill. Thanks so much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired July 16, 2003 - 13:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PHILLIPS: Capital confidential -- what does CIA Director George Tenet know? Well, he's set to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee this afternoon. Tenet is taking the heat for the disputed line in the State of the Union speech. Lawmakers also want to know what else might be questionable in the case made for the war with Iraq.
Let's go to CNN Congressional Jon Karl -- Jon.
JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, Tenet is in the hot seat here. He has taken responsible for that one questionable line, those now famous 16 words in the president's State of the Union Address, saying that he should have insisted, his agency should have insisted that that line be taken out of the president's speech.
But Republicans are especially expected to ask some very tough questions of Tenet as he goes forward on this wondering why it is that if Tenet insisted a similar line was taken out of a speech the president gave back in October, he allowed it to go through in January in the State the of the Union Address?
They say there was very sloppy intelligence work done by the Central Intelligence Agency and the president, in a sense, is a victim here of faulty guidance on this, of not getting the kind of service that he should have gotten from the Central Intelligence Agency and its director.
Democrats are also asking questions. The top Democrat in that committee, Jay Rockefeller, spoke to CNN a short while ago and had this to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JAY ROCKEFELLER (D-WV), VICE CHMN., INTELLIGENCE CMTE.: ... when the president gave his State of Union Address was the information available not just to us but in a sense more importantly to him because he's the ultimate consumer intelligence, was it accurate? Was there any attempt to take what was either accurate or inaccurate intelligence and shape it in a way which help the president make his case he wanted to go into Iraq? I don't charge him with that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KARL: And for Democrats, this goes far beyond those 16 words in the State of the Union Address. They look at the situation in Iraq now, point out no weapons of mass destruction have been found yet, and wonder about the comprehensive case made to go to war. Not just about the alleged nuclear program, but where are the alleged vast stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons that were cited by the president and by his senior officials in the administration in going to war?
Also, it's not just George Tenet in a sense that's in the hot seat here. Democrats, especially that Democrat that you just heard from, want to know about the president's other senior advisers, including National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and the vice president.
They say that Rice and the vice president both had access to information that made it clear that that line about Iraq's alleged attempts to get uranium in Africa was faulty, was inaccurate intelligence, or at the very least, unsubstantiated intelligence. Democrats want to know why didn't George Tenet didn't pull it out, also why didn't the vice president, and why didn't Condoleezza Rice?
So, Kyra, you can expect some fireworks at these hearings. But let me remind you, it is a closed hearing. We will not be allowed in. The senators when they come out technically will not be allowed to talk about the details of what took place. Public hearings are coming, but it's going to be a while.
PHILLIPS: All right, out Jonathan Karl on the Hill. Thanks so much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
