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At the Centre of the Storm My years at the CIA George Tenet With Bill Harlow
In the whirlwind of accusations and recriminations that emerged in the wake
of 9\11 and the Iraq war, one man's vital testimony has been conspicuously
absent. Candid and gripping, " at the Center of the storm" recounts George
Tenet's time at the Central Intelligence Agency, revealing look at the inner
workings of the most important intelligence organization in the world during
the challenging times in recent history. With unparalleled access to both the
highest echelons of government and raw intelligence from the field, Tenet
illuminates the CIA's painstaking attempts to prepare the country against
new and deadly threats, disentangles the interlocking events that led to 9\11,
and offers explosive new information on the deliberations and strategies that
culminated in the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Beginning with his appointment as a director of Central Intelligence in 1997,
Tenet unfolds the momentous events that led to 9\11 as he saw and
experienced them: his declaration of war on al-Qaida; the CIA's covert
operations inside Afghanistan; the worldwide operational plan to fight
terrorists; his warnings of imminent attacks against American interests to
white House officials in the summer of 2001; and the plan for a coordinated
and devastating counterattack against al-Qaida laid down just six days after
the attacks.
Tenet's compelling narrative then turns to the war in Iraq as he provides
dramatic insight and background on the run-up to the invasion, including a
firsthand account of the fallout from the inclusion of "sixteen words" in the
president's 2003 state of the union address, which claimed that Saddam
Hussein had sought to purchase uranium from Africa; the true context of
Tenet's own now-famous "slam dunk" comment regarding Saddam's weapons
of mass destruction(WMD)program; and the CIA's critical role in an
administration predisposed to take the country to war. In doing so, he sets the
record straight about CIA operations and shows readers that the truth is more
complex than suggested in other versions of recent history offered thus far
Through it all, Tenet paints an unflinching self portrait of a man caught
between the warning forces of the administration's decision-making process,
the reams of frightening intelligence pouring in from around the world, and
his own conscience. In "at the center of the storm", George Tenet draws on
his unmatched experience within the opaque mirrors of intelligence and
provides crucial information previously undisclosed to offer a moving,
revelatory profile of both a man and a nation in times of crisi