In case you haven’t heard, George Tenet is taking the blame for the Niger info :

CIA Director George Tenet acknowledged Friday his agency wrongly allowed President Bush to tell the American people that Iraq was seeking nuclear material from Africa when analysts had doubts about the quality of the intelligence.
. . .
Tenet said the responsibility for vetting the allegations included in Bush’s State of the Union address about Iraqi efforts to get uranium from Africa beloing to the CIA and ultimately with himself.

“Let me be clear about several things right up front,” he said. “First, CIA approved the president’s State of the Union address before it was delivered. Second, I am responsible for the approval process in my agency. And third, the president had every reason to believe that the text presented to him was sound.”

But if you read his whole statement, Tenet basically reiterates what we knew : The Bush Administration changed the wording of the Niger claim to put the responsibility on the British government.

Portions of the State of the Union speech draft came to the CIA for comment shortly before the speech was given. Various parts were shared with cognizant elements of the Agency for review. Although the documents related to the alleged Niger-Iraqi uranium deal had not yet been determined to be forgeries, officials who were reviewing the draft remarks on uranium raised several concerns about the fragmentary nature of the intelligence with National Security Council colleagues. Some of the language was changed. From what we know now, Agency officials in the end concurred that the text in the speech was factually correct ? i.e. that the British government report said that Iraq sought uranium from Africa. This should not have been the test for clearing a Presidential address. This did not rise to the level of certainty which should be required for Presidential speeches, and CIA should have ensured that it was removed.

So, the Niger lie was put in the speech, the CIA “raised several concerns”, the speech was changed to reference the British government, and the CIA said “Well, I guess it’s technically correct”. How is this George Tenet’s fault again? Shouldn’t the blame be going to the people who changed the wording of the speech to reference the British government?

The question remains : Who is ultimately responsible for the accuracy of the State of the Union? Shouldn’t it be the Commander in Chief, since he’s (1) the guy in charge and (2) the one actually giving the speech?