“On July 11, 2003, [CIA Director George] Tenet released a statement in which he sought to explain how the ‘sixteen words’ [about Iraq attempting to purchase uranium from Niger] had ended up in the State of the Union speech [by President Bush on January 28, 2003]. ‘First, CIA approved the President’s State of the Union address before it was delivered. Second, I am responsible for the approval process in my Agency. And third, the President had every reason to believe that the text presented to him was sound. These sixteen words should never have been included in the text written for the President.’ ”
– Stephen F. Hayes, Cheney, Page 416