"Senate panel's report is a damning indictment of the Bush Doctrine"
That should start the shrubbies into 3rd and 4th generation lies.
They've pretty well run the gamut of 2nd generation...ie lying about their lies:
When host Gloria Borger mentioned that Cheney had previously described the meeting between 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta and Iraqi intelligence as "pretty well confirmed," Cheney interrupted: "No, I never said that... Absolutely not." But he had said just that, on NBC's Meet the Press (12/9/01): ''That's been pretty well confirmed that [Atta] did go to Prague and he did meet with a senior official of the Iraqi intelligence service in Czechoslovakia last April, several months before the attack.''
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Rumsfeld: You and a few other critics are the only people I've heard use the phrase immediate threat. I didn't, the president didn't.
And it's become kind of folklore that that's what's happened.
Schieffer: You're saying that nobody in the administration said that? [The million $ shock on his face]
Rumsfeld: I can't speak for everybody in the administration and say nobody said that.
Schieffer: The president didn't say that?
Rumsfeld: If you have any citations, I'd like to see them.
[At this point Bob Schieffer is almost speechless.. Tom Friedman comes to rescue...]
Friedman: Right here it says, some have argued -- this is you speaking, some have argued that the nuclear threat from Iraqi is not imminent, that Saddam is at least five to seven years away from having nuclear weapons, I would not be so certain.
Rumsfeld: And --
Friedman: That's close to imminent.
Rumsfeld: Well, I've tried to be precise, and I've tried to be accurate.
Friedman: No terrorist state poses a greater or more immediate threat to the security of our people, and the stability of the world than the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
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Q: Before the war in Iraq, you stated the case very eloquently and you said, I remember this it was done very well, you said they would welcome us with open arms.
Rumsfeld: Never said that.
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"We do have a saying in America: If you're in a hole, stop digging," Rumsfeld told a news conference at the close of two days of NATO meetings clouded by tensions between the two allies.
As if realizing he had just suggested the Germans were making the situation worse, Rumsfeld quickly added, "I'm not sure I should have said that. Let's pretend I never said that."
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"Let's get the words right. I said Saddam had weapons of mass destruction and he used them. Which he did. And second I said he was a gathering threat. And that's an important distinction. ..."
"Bush Rejects Criticism over Iraq Policy", AP News, Oct. 13, 2003
Reasonable Inference:
Bush never claimed Iraq had Weapons of Mass Destruction at the time of invasion.
Contrary Evidence:
It is up to Iraq to show exactly where it is hiding its banned weapons, lay those weapons out for the world to see, and destroy them as directed. Nothing like this has happened.
The dictator of Iraq is not disarming.
Year after year, Saddam Hussein has gone to elaborate lengths, spent enormous sums, taken great risks to build and keep [emphasis ours] weapons of mass destruction.
Before September the 11th, many in the world believed that Saddam Hussein could be contained. But chemical agents, lethal viruses and shadowy terrorist networks are not easily contained. Imagine those 19 hijackers with other weapons and other plans -- this time armed by Saddam Hussein.
Let there be no misunderstanding: If Saddam Hussein does not fully disarm, for the safety of our people and for the peace of the world, we will lead a coalition to disarm him.
State of the Union, January 28, 2003
"Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised."
President George W. Bush address to the nation, March 17, 2003 |
