Hero in Error
President Bush will be awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom at a White House ceremony tomorrow, December 14th, to L. Paul Bremer III, General Tommy Franks, and George Tenet.
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is "the nation's highest civilian award," recognizing "exceptional meritorious" contributions to national security, world peace, culture or other areas of public interest. Ronald Reagan, a former recipient of the PMF, said of the award:
What the Olympic Gold Medal is to athletes, what the Congressional Medal of Honor is to the military, the Presidential Medal of Freedom is to the private United States Citizen.
So why oh why, you may be asking, is the PMF being awarded to George Tenet?
Because he is a "hero in error."
Sure, if you wish to get technical, he presided over two of the worst intelligence failures in the history of our country, the 9/11 attacks and the faulty Iraq-WMD connection.
But those "failures" eventually led to the march of Freedom over larger swathes of the globe. Thus, if we Americans value Freedom above all else, George Tenet's tenure at the CIA is a resounding American success.
How could President Bush not award the Medal of Freedom to one who has made such an enormous contribution to the cause of Freedom at home and abroad?
Postscript: Since we've long since given up waiting on results before declaring success and handing out awards, why should President Bush wait for the next president to award him the Presidential Medal of Freedom (the way Ronald Reagan waited for George H.W. Bush) when he can simply award the medal to himself?
5:29:05 PM 
|
