Take former CIA chief George Tenet. When no weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq, and when it was made clear that there was no connection between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida, President Bush needed an alibi for taking us to war, so Tenet fell on his pick. He took the fall to save Bush by saying that the administration relied on bad intel furnished by his CIA and intelligence community in general. He resigned in disgrace. For this, Bush awarded him this nation’s highest civilian decoration.

Now comes Scooter Libby. He, too, has resigned in disgrace after allegedly perjuring himself in the Valerie Plame outing investigation. You wonder why he lied? I think I know.

After Sept. 11, Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and the inner circle of the administration were in a frenzy to use that attack as a justification for invading Iraq and whacking Saddam. They rejected any and all intel which said that Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction and no ties to Osama Bin Laden. They were grasping at straws. They listened to a self-serving Iraqi thief who told them what they wanted to hear. They latched on to a false rumor that Saddam was looking to buy yellow cake in Niger. Cheney, the second most powerful man in the world, ordered the CIA to check the story out.

For whatever reason, the CIA choose former Ambassador Joseph Wilson to go to Niger and have a look-see. He came back and reported that the story was bogus.

Now the claim is made that Wilson’s report never reached Cheney’s desk.

Stop and think for just an instant. Can you believe that when the second most powerful man in the world orders an investigation that the results of said investigation would not reach him? Oh, come on! Well, maybe the report didn’t actually land on his desk. Maybe he was just briefed on it in the hallway by some underling. But to believe that Cheney didn’t get the message before Bush’s State of the Union speech, wherein he lied to the nation and the whole world about it, one would have to be either a complete fool or a true neoconservative believer. I know, some would say I am repeating myself.

So Scooter lied to save his boss Cheney. Just as Tenet lied to save his boss, Bush. Both men went down in flames to save their bosses.

Yes, I do admire loyalty.

— Patrick S. O’Malley, Oxnard