WASHINGTON, May 1 (UPI) -- A book written by George Tenet, former head of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, is getting a torrent of criticism, including some from former CIA officers.
A letter written by six former CIA officers called for Tenet to return his Presidential Medal of Freedom and donate a portion of the royalties from his book, "At the Center of the Storm," to families of U.S. soldiers killed or wounded in Iraq.
The authors of the letter took issue in particular with Tenet's portrayal of the intelligence community as a scapegoat for missteps in the lead-up to the war in Iraq.
In his book, Tenet writes that "rather than acknowledge responsibility, the administration's message was: Don't blame us. George Tenet and the CIA got us into this mess."
The former CIA officers found this depiction to be disingenuous. "Your lament that you are a victim in a process you helped direct is self-serving, misleading and, as head of the intelligence community, an admission of failed leadership," they wrote in the letter.
"You are not alone in failing to speak up and protest the twisting and shading of intelligence," they wrote. "But ultimately you were in charge and you signed off on the CIA products and you briefed the president."
The book written by the former CIA director generated ample media hype before it even reached the shelves. Some early reviews commended the candor of Tenet's account in which he admitted that "there was never a serious debate that I know of within the administration about the imminence of the Iraqi threat."
However, others echoed the sentiments of the ex-CIA officers and said that the book revealed no new information; it was merely an attempt by Tenet to redirect some of the blame for the Iraq War.
The letter by the former CIA officers was published on Monday on a number of blogs but could not be independently verified.
