Tenet, Bremer and Franks - Oh My!

In 1945, Harry Truman created The Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award, to recognize notable service during World War II. In 1963, President Kennedy reintroduced it as an honor for distinguished civilian service in peacetime, and the list of recipients since then has been long, varied and often distinguished.

Statesmen, artists, athletes, a couple Popes and the occasional war criminal (or two) (or three?) have been honored by the White House over the years:

Jesse Owens, MLK, Jonas Salk, Margaret Mead, Neal Armstrong, Edward R Murrow, Bear Bryant - quite an interesting, and diverse, group.


Today, three more Great Americans have joined the august company:

Paul Bremer, General Tommy Franks and George Tenet.

Paul Bremer - PNAC-loving neocon who disbanded the same Iraqi Army that we're now trying to reconstitute, then apparently misplaced $11 Billion while serving as Regent Administrator in Iraq.

General Tommy Franks (Ret) - Chased Bin Laden all over Afghanistan and finally "cornered" him at Tora Bora... where he may or may not still be. He then lied about it while campaigning for Gee-Dubya. He also did a (you should excuse the expression) bang-up job in Iraq; from determining the level of troop strength needed to spearheading Operation Hearts and Minds.

And then there's Former DCI George "Slam Dunk" Tenet. Remind me again, wasn't there some controversy leading up to his retirement earlier this year? Something about massive, egregious intelligence failures...

Yup, truth is indeed stranger than fiction - Bremer, Franks and Tenet. Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom today by George Walker Bush. Guess it's only fair, really, since he already gave Incompetenzza the plum job at State.

Ahh, Gee-Dubya... the sorry fucker really has a gift for cheapening everything he touches, doesn't he?