Back in Dec 2004, George Bush presented George Tenet the Presidential Medal of Freedom. This medal is the
Nation's highest civil award presented by the President of the United States to persons who "have made
especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to
cultural or other significant public or private endeavors."

There was much discussion and derision back then with people wondering why retired General Tommy Franks,
Paul Bremer and George Tenet, as the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, were honored with this medal.
These men who the president said "played pivotal roles in great events and whose efforts have made our
country more secure and advanced the cause of human liberty." Indeed. In 2007, we know now the pivotal role
each of them played in accommodating the march into Baghdad. We also know now that our country is not more
secure and the condition of human liberty worldwide has suffered.

These supposed men of honor should go directly to Section 60 in Arlington National Cemetery Pand place those
medals at any one of those headstones, where more than 300 of our nation's best and brightest who were killed
in Iraq & Afghanistan are buried. Any of those men & women will always have been more honorable than the 3
men who stood with the president that December day in 2004.

On 60 Minutes tonite, George Tenet complains that the administration used him as a scapegoat to make their
case for the invasion of Iraq. He accused Andrew Card of this:

You've gone out and made me look stupid. It's the most despicable thing I've ever heard in my life. Men of honor
don't do this.

and

You don't do this. You don't throw people overboard. You don't call do this — you don't call somebody in. You
work your heart out. You show up every day. You're going to throw somebody overboard just because it's a
deflection. Is that honorable? It's not honorable to me. OK and that's how I feel. Now had it
happened and who orchestrated it and what happened, you know, at the end of the day the only thing that you
have is trust and honor in this world. It's all you have. All you have is your reputation built on trust and your
personal honor.

No one in the Bush adminIstration is a man or woman of honor, period. That word is not in their dictionary. What
is despicable is the devastation that this war in Iraq has caused to our country. My only child, Lt Ken Ballard and
3340+ other US soldiers have been sacrificed because Tenet and others wouldn't stand up to the President and
tell the country the truth. For 3 years until Tenet signed a book contract, the truth was held close to Tenet's cold
heart. How many lives could have been saved had Tenet had the courage to stand up and be the honorable man
that he presents himself to be?

It was George Tenet who threw all of our military overboard when he didn't stand up before this country and tell
us the truth that there was no planning. George Tenet complains about his loss of reputation, but where is his
concern for the loss of life his silence caused?

Tenet, who for four years briefed the president nearly every day, acknowledges that the CIA made grievous
errors in its assessment of Baghdad's alleged weapons programs, but argues that the agency was dismayed by
equally disastrous mistakes that took place after the invasion."Our analysis assumed there was a plan for
ensuring the peace," he writes in one section of a chapter called "Mission Not Accomplished," a pointed reference
to Bush. "In fact, there was no strategy for when U.S. forces hit the ground."

In 2003, our military was sent into battle without adequate training and protection or a clear and defined mission.
In the 5th year of the war, our military is still without the resources they need to complete the mission; whatever
that mission may be.

George Tenet has a new tell all book out, so he's telling the truth now, spilling his guts. Where was the truth back
in 2002-2003 when his conscience would have saved 3300+ US soldiers and countless Iraqi citizens? Now he
tells us what he knew and when he knew it. Until the price was right, he chose to keep that to himself. He
followed Paul Bremer's lead, who did the same thing when his book, My Year in Iraq was published a few years
back. I have no patience for people whose conscience comes clean only when signing a book contract.

The money that George Tenet is receiving for writing this book and baring his pathetic soul is blood money, plain
and clear. In California there are laws to prevent a criminal from profiting off his crimes. George Tenet should
donate all of the profits from his book to support the troops and their families.

Tenet is not the only one who betrayed this country and betrayed the troops. He's not the first one to come clean
and he won't be the last. My only question is why they waited so long and the common answer is clear- money.
Tenet seems to be asking for our forgiveness, but there are some things that are unforgivable.

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GOLD STAR OPINION-  No Tears for George Tenet- KAREN MEREDITH 4.29.07