Tenet Goes Soft? Or Jumps Ship?

Another one bites the dust. Despite a barrage of criticism over 9/11 and other major intelligence failures, not to mention the lack of WMD and CIA involvement in the Abu Ghraib scandal, CIA Director George Tenet insists he is resigning for (ahem!) "family reasons".

"'I did not make this decision quickly or easily, but I know in my heart that the time is right to move on to the next phase of our lives,' Mr Tenet said.

Mr Tenet, visibly choking back tears, said his resignation 'has only one basis in fact: the well being of my beautiful family'.

Addressing his son Michael, a teenager who was sitting in the audience, he said: 'You've been a great son, and now I'm going to be a great dad.' "

I guess there is only so much you can stomach before you can't even look yourself in the mirror, let alone your family. But is that the real reason why Tenet has resigned?

The Washington Post says Tenet's departure was "choreographed to demonstrate he was not being blamed for any of the intelligence failures that occurred on his watch."

The Washington rumour mill, on the other hand, says Tenet and the CIA are going to be blamed heavily by the up-coming reports on 9/11 and Abu Ghraib scandal, not to mentions the leaking of top government secrets to Chalabi.

Was Tenet the "drunk American" who blabbered to Chalibi that the US had broken Iran's secret communications code?

Bottom line is, the CIA has now sunk so low, someone had to go. I wonder if Tenet has a good book in him?