Bill O'Reilley apologizes

In sort of a half-hearted way, but he does apologize.

SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Nation -- Conservative U.S. anchor now skeptical about Bush

WASHINGTON – Conservative television news anchor Bill O'Reilly said Tuesday he was now skeptical about the Bush administration and apologized to viewers for supporting prewar claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

The anchor of his own show on Fox News said he was sorry he gave the U.S. government the benefit of the doubt that former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's weapons program poised an imminent threat, the main reason cited for going to war.

"I was wrong. I am not pleased about it at all and I think all Americans should be concerned about this," O'Reilly said in an interview with ABC's "Good Morning America."

But later in the article, he places all of the blame on George Tenet. To answer his question, why does George Tenet still have a job? Because he and the CIA gave the administration good data. Frequently, and loudly. The administration didn't want it. The office of the Vice President sexed it up, not the CIA. Rumsfeld's special intelligence section at the Pentagon made stuff up, not the CIA. And if Bush fires Tenet, then the CIA would begin an intermural war against the Defense department and the office of the Vice President, and all hell would break loose.

This has already started with the Valerie Plame investigation, and Scooter Libby may soon be under indictment because of it. This would turn out to be worse than Iran-Contra, possibly worse than Watergate, and there would be no one left in government that the American people would trust.

Also, if he fired Tenet, in addition to the consequences above, Tenet might start citing every time he came to the Oval Office warning about terrorism before September 11. And that wouldn't look good.