Tenet's "Resignation"

The Panhandle Truth Squad cites the Capitol Hill Blue report on President Bush's "erratic behavior." Buried in the story is a case-in-point nugget about the firing of George Tenet:

"Tenet wanted to quit last year but the President got his back up and wouldn't hear of it," says an aide. "That would have been the opportune time to make a change, not in the middle of an election campaign but when the director challenged the President during the meeting Wednesday, the President cut him off by saying 'that's it George. I cannot abide disloyalty. I want your resignation and I want it now."

Tenet was allowed to resign "voluntarily" and Bush informed his shocked staff of the decision Thursday morning. One aide says the President actually described the decision as "God's will."

In a related story, Capitol Hill Blue reports the facility with which the President handled the matter before the press:

The news caught Washington by surprise. Bush informed his senior staff Thursday morning at an Oval Office meeting that included Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser. The president told his staff that the official story is that Tenet was leaving for personal reasons.

"He told me he was resigning for personal reasons. I told him I'm sorry he's leaving. He's done a superb job on behalf of the American people," the president said at a hurriedly arranged announcement before boarding a helicopter to begin a trip to Europe. Inside the West Wing, staffers joked about the President's ability to keep a straight face during the televised announcement.

Anonymous sources seem to be all we're gonna get for a while, but this seems to fit the general range of discussions I've seen, i.e, that the "resignation" was likely not entirely a Tenet's unilateral decision and that was likely not for his personal reasons. If it did come down to a snap judgement about "disloyalty," then there's no surprise that the White House needed an "official story." The truth would have been an embarassment.