One Event, Many Headlines

George Tenet's testimony before the Senate Armed Forces Committee gave matter for the widest possible interpretations, ranging from non-news headlines like Tenet says Bush administration didn't misrepresent facts on Iraq (AP) to some rather important headlines like CIA director disputes Cheney assertions on Iraq (Knight Ridder).

The two headlines offer entirely different views, but they are both correct and the articles themselves are extremely similar. How can this be, you may ask? George Tenet told Ted Kennedy that he didn't think that the Bush administration misrepresented the facts, but then went on to say that he corrected Dick Cheney "privately" on three important occasions.

The Knight-Ridder article seems to sum-up the affair:

Tenet at first appeared to defend the administration, saying that he didn't believe the White House misrepresented intelligence provided by the CIA.

The administration's statements, he said, reflected a prewar intelligence consensus that Saddam had stockpiled chemical and biological weapons and was pursuing nuclear bombs.

But under sharp questioning by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., Tenet reversed himself, saying there had been instances when he had warned administration officials that they were misstating the threat posed by Iraq.