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NPR News

George Tenet on Life 'At the Center of the Storm'

Former CIA chief George Tenet
Former CIA chief George Tenet
(
Tim Sloan
/
AFP/Getty Images
)

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With his famous "slam dunk" comment about Saddam Hussein and weapons of mass destruction, George Tenet helped shape the arguments that led the United States into the Iraq war. A holdover from the Clinton administration, he was director of the CIA when the White House made the decision to invade, and in 2004 President Bush awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his service.

Now, though, Tenet is arguing that the Bush administration used him as a scapegoat after questions about pre-war intelligence began to multiply — and he's saying there "was never a serious debate" about whether to go to war. In his new memoir At the Center of the Storm, the former CIA chief tells his side of the story about the events leading up to September 11 and the war in Iraq.

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