WASHINGTON, April 26 (UPI) -- Former CIA Director George Tenet, in a new book, accuses Vice President Dick Cheney and others of taking the United States to war in Iraq without a debate.
"At The Center of the Storm" hits bookstores next week.
In the book, Tenet suggests that Cheney tried to make him the scapegoat for failures of intelligence before the invasion of Iraq. He said that in one "Meet the Press" appearance, Cheney quoted Tenet's "Slam dunk" remark, which Tenet says was taken out of context.
"There was never a serious debate that I know of within the administration about the imminence of the Iraqi threat," Tenet said.
In an interview with "60 Minutes," set to air Sunday, Tenet defended the U.S. "High Value Detainee" program and said its interrogations of terror suspects have saved lives.
"Here's what I would say to you, to the Congress, to the American people, to the president of the United States: I know that this program has saved lives. I know we've disrupted plots," Tenet told CBS. "I know this program alone is worth more than the FBI, the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency put together, have been able to tell us."
