WASHINGTON, June 3 (UPI) -- U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage spoke Thursday with CIA chief George Tenet before the agency head resigned.
"... He (Armitage) represents the views of all of us when he says that George Tenet is a great patriot and has been a great director of the CIA," Deputy Spokesman Adam Ereli said.
Tenet was head of the agency when it presented U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell with faulty intelligence linking Iraq and mobile biological weapons labs. The evidence was a key part of Powell's bid to sell the Iraq war at the United Nations. Ereli defended Tenet and the evidence, however.
"It is our belief that the (CIA) ... under the great leadership of their director has served our nation well and served the State Department well," he said.
President Bush announced Thursday that Tenet had resigned for personal reasons.
