Again, Our Failed President

There is important news coming out of the book "Way of the World" written by investigative journalist Ron Suskind, published on August 5, 2008. Suskind reports that the White House ordered George Tenet's CIA to forge a letter (first "revealed" in 12/03) from Saddam Hussein's intelligence chief, Tahir Jalil Habbush al-Tikriti, and politico.com quotes the author:

The White House had concocted a fake letter from Habbush to Saddam, backdated to July 1, 2001. It said that 9/11 ringleader Mohammad Atta had actually trained for his mission in Iraq – thus showing, finally, that there was an operational link between Saddam and al Qaeda, something the Vice President’s Office had been pressing CIA to prove since 9/11 as a justification to invade Iraq. There is no link.

Suskind writes also that, prior to the invasion, an unnamed, top Iraqi intelligence official informed the CIA that there were no "weapons of mass destruction" in Iraq.

There have been denials all around but Suskind assured Keith Olberman on 8/5/08 that his interviews were taped.

It seems, therefore, that the Bush Administration was unsure about the existence of chemical and biological weapons in Iraq and that intelligence was rigged to demonstrate a link between the 9/11 hijackers and Saddam Hussein. And Suskind believes that GW Bush thus may have committed an impeachable offense by violating a statute prohibiting the CIA from conducting covert operations “intended to influence United States political processes, public opinion, policies or media.”

Suskind makes other interesting points, including one about an American President whom, you may recall, on July 16, 2001 at a press conference gushed about former KGB agent Vladimir Putin

I very much enjoyed our time together. He's an honest, straightforward man who loves his country. He loves his family. We share a lot of values. I view him as a remarkable leader. I believe his leadership will serve Russia well.

And who a few minutes later in response to a question said something even more idiotic:

I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy. We had a very good dialogue. I was able to get a sense of his soul; a man deeply committed to his country and the best interests of his country.

Politico reports that Suskind writes:

In the first days of his presidency, Bush rejected advice from the CIA to wiretap Russian President Vladimir Putin in February 2001 in Vienna, where he was staying in a hotel where the CIA had a listening device planted in the wall of the presidential suite, in need only of a battery change...."The CIA had warned him that Putin “was a trained KGB agent … [who] wants you to think he’s your friend.”

From Truman to Bush 41, Democrat and Republican, nine American Presidents served during the Cold War and contributed to bringing down the Iron Curtain. Fortunately, George W. Bush did not occupy the Oval Office during that period. I hear Russian is a difficult language to learn.