[Former CIA chief George] Tenet was a crucial player in a meeting, held three months before the launch of the war [in Iraq in 2003], where he used the expression “slam dunk.” Tenet contends that the phrase was a reference not to actual intelligence about W.M.D. but, rather, to the ability to strengthen the Administration’s case for war. He also seemed to suggest that he might not have said it at all.

Bob Woodward, in his 2004 book “Plan of Attack,” described the meeting this way:

Bush turned to Tenet. “I’ve been told all this intelligence about having WMD and this is the best we’ve got?”
From the end of one of the couches in the Oval Office, Tenet rose up, threw his arms in the air. “It’s a slam dunk case!” the DCI said.
Bush pressed, “George, how confident are you?”
Tenet, a basketball fan who attended as many home games of his alma mater Georgetown as possible, leaned forward and threw his arms up again. “Don’t worry, it’s a slam dunk!”

[Tenet says that Woodward’s account was not an accurate reflection of the meeting, and that he has witnesses to back him up. “For me, the irony is that there are five of our guys in the room, five C.I.A. people, and three of the five don’t remember it even being said,” Tenet said... Woodward, in his Post review, claimed to have at least four sources for this moment.]

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