Tenet says he regrets 'slam dunk' comment ("dumbest words I ever said")

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/04/28/tenet.weaponsremark.ap/index.html

KUTZTOWN, Pennsylvania (AP) -- Former CIA Director George Tenet said he regretted assuring President Bush in 2002 that he had "slam dunk" evidence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

"Those were the two dumbest words I ever said," Tenet told about 1,300 people at a Kutztown University forum Wednesday. The theory was a leading justification for the war in Iraq. Such weapons were never found.

Tenet, who left the CIA in July after seven years as director, also said apathy toward terrorism -- including congressional restrictions and budget and personnel cuts -- had sapped U.S. intelligence efforts for most of the last decade.

"The atrophy was tremendous," said Tenet, 52. "We were nearly bankrupt." The CIA's assessment of Iraq's capabilities was not developed "for political reasons or a craven desire to lead the country to war," he said.