"Tenet, anyone?"

Now that former Director (CIA) George Tenet has a book to promote, "At the Center of the Storm", he is out and about trying to put distance between his reputation and the other big guns in the Bush Administration who decided to go into Iraq as either a (a) a precaution, taken in good faith, that Saddam Hussein was about to acquire weapons of mass destruction or (b) a way to take advantage of the 9/11 terrorist attacks by revisiting the first Gulf War back in 1991, a war which ended with Saddam still in power. Now that the war in Iraq is unpopular and we're in this mess really, really, deep, now and only now comes George Tenet on "60 Minutes" last night and the "Today Show" and anywhere else.

The current war in Iraq-which many folks in 2003 thought would be ""Mission Accomplished" by now--has turned into a bloody quagmire. Too few men and women were asked to do too big a job too far away from our shores with too few international allies.

It is a blatant mistake similar to other big rolls of the dice in history like Winston Churchill's Dardenelles Campaign in 1915 to knock Turkey out of the Great War and John Kennedy's acquiesence to Allen Dulles' Bay of Pigs Campaign to the Biggest Dungstorm in American History, the Vietnam War. The Iraq war and the possible democratization of Mesopotemia was a gamble like those were taken by other intelligent people and because of hubris or lack of understanding about what really was to be dealt with on the ground, it too has failed.

But all is not lost. Tenet can spin the mess he helped create into a best-selling non-fiction book. And he can deflect personal blame. Such a deal!

Now Tenet is upon us like an "American Idol" contestant with a one-man spin job, turning against the people he supported. He was silent for too long about what really happened and now that he wants to turn up some big bucks, now, he speaks out. I guess the book wasn't ready yet or he wanted to make sure the 4-year Iraq plan really failed for sure so he could whitewash himself without worrying that he'd lose the credit for anything good that might have come from the invasion.

Sometimes candor comes too late to be much good for anybody or any anything. Except a back account. I suppose I should feel sorry for lonely-at-the-top George Tenet who tried to prevent al-Queda from suceedding in their nefarious plans. But he was the guy who went for the Big Brass Ring and made the wrong call. And there will be no big media deals for those American families who have suffered from his misjudgements.

Too late, George. Too damn late.

pictured above: ( CIA Director Tenet at lunch in 2004, loudly demanding another "bottomless ice tea" refill at a Denney's Restaurant near Hampton Roads, Va. --photo by USA Today)