Who is Bill Harlow and why did he leave his job ?

This link has been posted elsewhere on DU and there is an excellent synopsis by Josh Marshall at www.talkingpointsmemo.com
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/26/AR2005072602069_pf.html
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Behind the scenes, the White House responded with twin attacks: one on Wilson and the other on the CIA, which it wanted to take the blame for allowing the 16 words to remain in Bush's speech. As part of this effort, then-deputy national security adviser Stephen J. Hadley spoke with Tenet during the week about clearing up CIA responsibility for the 16 words, even though both knew the agency did not think Iraq was seeking uranium from Niger, according to a person familiar with the conversation. Tenet was interviewed by prosecutors, but it is not clear whether he appeared before the grand jury, a former CIA official said.

On July 9, Tenet and top aides began to draft a statement over two days that ultimately said it was "a mistake" for the CIA to have permitted the 16 words about uranium to remain in Bush's speech. He said the information "did not rise to the level of certainty which should be required for presidential speeches, and the CIA should have ensured that it was removed."

A former senior CIA official said yesterday that Tenet's statement was drafted within the agency and was shown only to Hadley on July 10 to get White House input. Only a few minor changes were accepted before it was released on July 11, this former official said. He took issue with a New York Times report last week that said Rove and Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, had a role in Tenet's statement.

...more
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My opinion:

Who is Bill Harlow? He is mentioned in the WashPost article. He was the Director of Communications at the CIA but left when George Tenet left.

More and more, it appears the CIA is directly connected to this scandal. It goes back to the 16 words in the SOTU speech. Initially, the CIA told the White House there was no proof of yellowcake or nuclear materials going to Iraq.

But Bush looked at the CIA as a propaganda arm of his government, to be used as he needed and as he liked. George Tenet worked for him. He would follow orders.

The White House was in the middle of the "Big Sale" of selling the war in Iraq to the American people. They needed Tenet to come out and accept responsibility for not vetting Bush's speech before he gave it. In fact, they went to Tenet and demanded it.

Tenet and Harlow did not like being used in this manner but the guy that hire and fire them demanded they walk the line. So, Tenet made a public statement that the speech should have been vetted moe closely by the CIA and accepted responsiblity and took the heat off George W Bush for not reading his own speech.

There was great tension between the White House and the CIA at this time. Tenet resigns and Harlow follows. But what does that have to do with Joseph Wilson and the war in Iraq? It was all parts of the plan to lie and deceive the American people. Not unintentionally, but with deceit and malice aforethought. This government conspired with other Depts, such as the CIA and the Defense Dept of Rumsfeld, to deceive the American people into a war under false pretenses. How serious is that? That is a legal question.


--Edited to correct spelling of name....