NEW YORK (Reuters) — A former U.S. spy chief accused President Bush’s administration of ruining his reputation by misusing a “slam dunk” comment he made during a White House meeting ahead of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

Former CIA Director George Tenet told CBS Television’s “60 Minutes” that the administration leaked his comment as opposition to the war grew when no weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq.

“You don’t do this. You don’t throw somebody overboard just because it’s a deflection. Is that honorable? It’s not honorable to me,” Tenet said in an interview to be broadcast Sunday.

Tenet said his comment did not refer to whether Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, but related to what information could be used to make a public case for the war.

The “slam-dunk” comment first surfaced in journalist Bob Woodward’s 2004 book, “Plan of Attack,” which portrayed Tenet as assuring Bush that finding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq would be a virtual certainty.

“We can put a better case together for a public case. That’s what I meant,” Tenet told “60 Minutes.”

“I’ll never believe that what happened that day informed the president’s view or belief of the legitimacy or the timing of this war. Never!” said Tenet, whose memoirs “At the Center of the Storm” are due to be published next week.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said she had not seen the book and would not comment on it.

The expression “slam dunk,” used originally to describe a basketball move, has come to mean something that can be done with near certainty.

The 2003 Iraq invasion was justified largely by intelligence that Hussein had such weapons. No such weapons were found, and the prewar intelligence effort has since been condemned by a presidential commission as one of the most damaging failures in recent U.S. history.

Tenet, who served under Bush and former President Bill Clinton, resigned in July 2004 amid widespread criticism over intelligence lapses that also involved the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington. Tenet had been appointed in 1997.

Tenet — whom Bush awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest U.S. civilian award, in December 2004 — said he does not know exactly who leaked his comment, but that “it’s the most despicable thing that ever happened to me.”

He said the most difficult part was continuing to hear senior administration officials such as Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice refer to his comment as though they had to hear him “say ’slam dunk’ to go to war with Iraq.”

“You listen to that and they never let it go. I mean, I became campaign talk. I was a talking point. ‘Look at the idiot (who) told us and we decided to go to war.’ Well, let’s not be so disingenuous,” Tenet said.

“Let’s everybody just get up and tell the truth. Tell the American people what really happened,” he said.

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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — Nine American soldiers were killed Monday when a suicide car bomb struck near their patrol base in Diyala province, the U.S. military said in a statement.

Twenty other U.S. soldiers and one Iraqi civilian were wounded in the attack, the statement said.

Earlier, in a separate incident, the military said a U.S. soldier was killed in Muqtadya, northeast of Baghdad, by a roadside bomb.

Muqtadya is a city in Diyala province located about 25 miles (40 kilometers) northeast of the provincial capital of Baquba.

Earlier Monday, a suicide car bomber targeted a gathering of police vehicles in Baquba, killing six police officers, including a police general, a Diyala province police official said.

Despite the daily attacks across Iraq, thousands of Iraqis took to the streets Monday to protest a concrete wall surrounding Adhamiya, a Sunni neighborhood in Baghdad.

The U.S. and Iraqi militaries say the wall is a temporary structure to prevent insurgent attacks.

But many Baghdad residents fear walls will exacerbate the sectarian divide that is fueling the insurgency in the Iraqi capital.

“The aim of this wall is to isolate Adhamiya,” one resident told CNN. “It’s a step we think that is not for the good of the people, but it’s to isolate them like Falluja and other Sunni cities.”

Police estimated 7,000 Iraqis peacefully took to the street to voice their disapproval with the wall around Adhamiya, a Sunni enclave surrounded by Shiite neighborhoods.

Video showed the streets crowded with demonstrators, some carrying banners that read in English, “No to the sectarian barrier.”

While it is a known insurgent stronghold, Adhamiya has also been the target of Shiite death squads.

On Sunday, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki expressed outrage, saying “the construction will stop.”

In response, the U.S. military issued a statement Monday saying “the construction of the wall is under review” and vowing to “coordinate with the Iraq government to establish effective appropriate security measures.”

But at a joint news conference later Monday, spokesmen for the U.S. and Iraqi militaries said there are no plans to stop erecting the security barriers, which they stressed are temporary.

The spokesman for the Baghdad security plan, Brig. Gen. Qassim Atta said al-Maliki was responding to “groundless” media reports that a permanent wall — 40 feet (12 meters) high and 3 miles (5 kilometers) long — is being constructed.

“The prime minister is in agreement with the work of the security forces and the issue of security barriers,” Atta said at the news conference in Baghdad. “We will continue to set up these barriers in Adhamiya and other areas.”

A combination of sand barriers, trenches, barbed wire and concrete barriers will be put in place temporarily to secure certain areas within the 10 Baghdad security districts, Atta said. They will be moved after each area is secure, he said.

“We have noticed a big drop in terrorist attacks in areas where we already set up these security barriers,” he said.

The U.S. and Iraqi militaries have started setting up security barriers in Baladiyat, Zafaraniya, al-Shu’la, Baya’a, Adhamiya, and the outskirts of Sadr City, Atta said.

“It’s a fluid situation and none of these barriers that we’re erecting are permanent,” U.S. military spokesman Rear Adm. Mark Fox said during Monday’s news conference. “We will be able to employ them as necessary.”

At a news conference in Cairo on Sunday, al-Maliki said he expressed his “fear (that) this wall might have repercussions, which remind us of other walls we reject.”

He was apparently referring to the wall Israel constructed in the West Bank, and to the wall that divided Berlin during the Cold War.

49 killed in insurgent attacks

Insurgents targeted Iraqis eating at restaurants, police patrolling the cities, a Kurdish political office and a Sunni mosque in a string of attacks in Iraq on Monday that left at least 49 people dead and 93 wounded, according to Iraqi officials.

The deadliest attack happened when a suicide car bomber struck a restaurant in Ramadi, west of Baghdad, killing 20 civilians and wounding 35, an Interior Ministry official said.

Earlier, a suicide car bomber struck a police checkpoint just outside Ramadi, killing four and wounding six civilians and police, a police official said.

In Baghdad, seven people were killed and 16 were wounded when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive vest inside a restaurant near the Green Zone, Baghdad police said.

The restaurant, which is near a police station, is frequented by Baghdad police officers.

About a half-mile away from the restaurant, two parked car bombs struck an area near Iran’s embassy within hours of each other, police said.

One Iraqi civilian was killed and another was hurt in the first attack, which happened around noon in a parking lot about 200 yards from Iran’s embassy.

The second car bomb detonated in the same area at 4:30 p.m., wounding two police officers, an interior ministry official said. The bomb was targeting an Iraqi police patrol.

Insurgents also bombed a Sunni mosque in the southwestern Baghdad neighborhood of al-Baya’a, killing the mosque’s guard to gain entry, then rigging the mosque with explosives, an Interior Ministry official said. No one was injured in the bombing, but the al-Kawthar mosque was damaged, the official said.

Outside the northern city of Mosul, a suicide car bomb detonated outside the Kurdish Democratic Party office in Tal Uskuf, killing at least 10 people and wounding 20, according to KDP official Abdul Ghani Yahya.

In the southern city of Basra, insurgents opened fire on an armored vehicle on routine patrol, killing one British soldier, according to the British Ministry of Defense.

CNN’s Jomana Karadsheh and Arwa Damon contributed to this report.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — Insurgent bombers launched a series of attacks across Baghdad on Wednesday and killed at least 164 people and wounded scores — a particularly violent day in a bloody capital city enduring sectarian warfare and an aggressive government crackdown against insurgents.

Further south, British forces transferred security control to Iraqi troops in Maysan province, a sign that Iraq is taking another step toward “self-reliance.” However, the spate of Baghdad blasts reflects the stiff challenges posed by what has been a resilient insurgency.
The Interior Ministry issued this update:

• 119 dead, 116 wounded in Sadriya market in central Baghdad;

• 28 dead, 44 wounded in an attack near an Iraqi Army checkpoint at one of the entrances to Sadr City, the official said.

• 11 civilians were killed and 13 others wounded when a parked car bomb detonated in central Baghdad’s Karrada district. The car was parked near a hospital and a market.

• 4 police officers were killed and 6 civilians wounded shortly when a suicide car bomber exploded at an Iraqi police checkpoint in southern Baghdad.

• 2 civilians were killed and 9 others wounded when a roadside bomb detonated at a busy intersection in central Baghdad.

The U.S. military was on the move against insurgents.

Coalition raids in and around the Iraqi cities of Falluja, Taji, and Mosul on Wednesday led to the killings of six insurgents and the detention of more than 40 others, the U.S. military said.

Read the rest of this entry »

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — A pair of roadside bombs exploded along a commercial street in central Baghdad’s Karrada district Monday, killing eight people and wounding 23 others, police said.

The first bomb detonated around 7:30 a.m. (11:30 p.m. ET Sunday). The second bomb exploded as authorities and people in the area responded to the first attack.

It was the second day in a row that the Karrada district was hit by bombs. On Sunday, a minibus packed with explosives blew up on a commercial road there, killing 11 people and wounding 15 others, a Baghdad police official said.

Separately, police said 30 bullet-riddled bodies were found by Iraqi police across the capital on Sunday. These deaths are typically attributed to sectarian violence in the capital between Shiite and Sunni Muslims.

On Sunday, a string of car bombs and suicide attacks across Iraq killed and wounded dozens to cap a bloody weekend for the war-ravaged nation. Read the rest of this entry »

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — An apparent suicide bomber detonated inside a cafeteria in Iraq’s parliament building on Thursday, killing two lawmakers and wounding 10 others — including three lawmakers, an Iraqi official said.

The parliament building is in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone.

The initial investigation indicates a suicide bomber caused the blast, according to Muhammed Jabbar, an official with Iraq’s speaker of parliament.

The explosion happened around 2:30 p.m. (6:30 a.m. ET) inside the cafeteria, where Iraqi parliamentarians frequently have lunch, lawmaker Mouna Zalzalah said.

Zalzalah and others inside the building — which once served as Baghdad’s convention center — were immediately put in lockdown as a precaution following the explosion.

In addition to parliament, the building also houses Iraqi government offices. Read the rest of this entry »

NEW YORK (CNN) — MSNBC has canceled its “Imus in the Morning” simulcast, the network announced Wednesday.

The decision comes after remarks deemed racist and sexist that radio talk-show host Don Imus made last week about the Rutgers University women’s basketball team prompted a number of advertisers to drop the program. MSNBC will stop airing the program immediately.

MSNBC announced on Monday a two-week suspension of its simulcast of Imus’ show after Imus referred to the Rutgers players as “nappy-headed hos.” But as part of an “ongoing review process,” which included input from its own employees, NBC Universal decided stronger action was necessary, the company said in a statement.

“What matters to us most is that the men and women of NBC Universal have confidence in the values we have set for this company,” the statement said. “This is the only decision that makes that possible.”

NBC Universal apologized to the Rutgers team and MSNBC viewers in its statement.

The head coach of the Rutgers women’s basketball team, C. Vivian Stringer, told CNN’s “The Situation Room” Wednesday that she was “stunned” and “surprised” by MSNBC’s move.

“I think that it’s probably a victory for the people,” said Stringer, who said she was “proud” of corporate executives who “understand that we can do better.” Read the rest of this entry »

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — Thousands of anti-U.S. protesters marched in the Shiite holy city of Najaf on Monday to mark the fourth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad.

Powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called for the demonstration, which Najaf police said included tens of thousands of protesters.

The U.S. Army estimated the crowd size at closer to 5,000 to 7,000 participants based on aerial photographs, said military spokesman Col. Steve Boylan.
“[The] peaceful gathering is part of the right to peaceful assembly and the Iraqi people to voice their views,” Boylan said, calling it an example of the “changes occurring in Iraq.”

Marchers joined the protest from Kufa to neighboring Najaf, 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Baghdad, as Iraqi police watched, according to The Associated Press.

Iraqi flags and leaflets dotted the march route, according to the AP. Some of the leaflets read, “Yes, Yes to Iraq” and “Yes, Yes to Muqtada. Occupiers should leave Iraq,” the AP reported.
One marcher, Iraqi lawmaker Nassar al-Rubaie, told the AP, “The enemy that is occupying our country is now targeting the dignity of the Iraqi people.” Read the rest of this entry »

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — An Iranian opposition group based in Iraq, despite being considered terrorists by the United States, continues to receive protection from the American military in the face of Iraqi pressure to leave the country.

It’s a paradox possible only because the United States considers the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, or MEK, a source of valuable intelligence on Iran.

Iranian officials tied the MEK to an explosion in February at a girls school in Zahedan, Iran.

The group also is credited with helping expose Iran’s secret nuclear program through spying on Tehran for decades. And the group is considered an ally to America because of its opposition to Tehran.

However, the U.S. State Department officially considers the MEK a terrorist organization — meaning no American can deal with it; U.S. banks must freeze its assets; and any American giving support to its members is committing a crime. Read the rest of this entry »

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — A senior Iraqi Foreign Ministry official said on Tuesday that the government was “intensively” seeking release of five Iranians detained by the U.S. military more than two months ago in northern Iraq.

“We are intensively seeking the release of the five Iranians,” the senior official said.

“This will be a factor that will help in the release of the British sailors and marines” held by Iran since March 25.
The official also said that the Iraqi government had exerted pressure on those holding an Iranian diplomat, who was released Monday and returned to Tehran on Tuesday. The official would not say who had held the diplomat.

The U.S. military has said the five Iranians, who were arrested January 11 in the northern city of Irbil, were part of an Iranian Revolutionary Guard force that provides funds, weapons and training to Shiite militias in Iraq.

Two days after the raid, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said President Bush approved the strategy of raiding Iranian targets in Iraq as part of efforts to confront Tehran.

Iran had insisted that the five detained Iranians were engaged exclusively in consular work.

Read the rest of this entry »