Chris,
Excellent collection. I'd love to see all of those quotes mercilessly cross examined in a very public hearing. The part I think most of America would find interesting is the vast majority of the statements were NOT lies. But the REASON they were not lies is in the careful phrasing of the deception. For example, picking this one apart:
"It is seeking nuclear weapons. We know that the regime has produced thousands of tons of chemical agents, including mustard gas, sarin nerve gas, VX nerve gas."
Start with: "It is seeking nuclear weapons.". What does "seeking" mean? It certainly does not mean "building" or collecting parts for an Iraqi program. The statement could be proven true on its face simply through the cooperation of Iraq in aiding UN inspectors while they were "seaking" nuclear weapons. "Seeking" means to look for something and nothing else.
Next we have: "We know that the regime has produced thousands of tons of chemical agents". Note the statement is carefully phrased in the past tense and also note that "chemical agents" is NOT "chemical weapons". "Chemical agents" covers everything from dish soap to oil additives to bug spray. In the modern world there isn't a single home that does NOT possess numerous "chemical agents" or a single country that does not "produce" those "chemical agents" for the consumption of consumers. The "regime" in Iraq has certainly "produced thousands of tons of chemical agents" over the years for their personal consumption.
The above statement was followed by: "including mustard gas, sarin nerve gas, VX nerve gas.". In other words, "mustard gas, sarin nerve gas, VX nerve gas" is a subset of unknown size of "thousands of tons of chemical agents" that have been produced in the PAST. Mustard gas is not considered a mass weapon, but it doesn't hurt to include it when mentioning chemical weapons for propaganda purposes. As far as the VX and sarin programs are concerned, they predate the first Gulf War and were completely dismantled shortly there after.
What it comes down to is the statement is true on its face, but the meaning perceived by the public was utterly false. The majority of the population would hear the quote as saying Iraq was actively building nuclear bombs and has thousands of tons of VX sitting on a shelf ready for mass destruction, when in fact the statement was totally irrelevant to the discussion of a current threat posed by Iraq.
The real question in my mind is can the President of the United States use the same kind of defense a crooked CEO would use to get off the hook in a class action suit? My impression is he can not. If there is a person in The United States who should be held to the highest standards of non deceptive communications to citizens, it certainly should be the President, and for that matter, all elected officials.
Obviously, common knowledge of the exact nature of the deception would be political ruin if the Bush Cartel actually had to defend their statements in trial like circumstances before the public. I'd like to see it happen. |
