To start, let me say that your post eventually claims I'd deny a lie under a circumstance in which I simply would not, and you'll find nothing in my posts on this thread or anywhere that would back you up.
Re: "Bush could not get his own intelligence to back up the assertion of those words, and in fact our intelligence told him that it could not be confirmed."
Yes, this happened after the fact, and an apology was issued. To my knowledge, Bush believed the 16 words when he said them. Hence no deception is shown.
Re: "the fact that our intelligence said this was probably not true."
In fact, out intelligence had said it was surely true.
Dude, my world isn't any different than anyone else's, save perhaps yours. If the man believed what he said was true, he didn't lie.
To this day, we don't know it wasn't true, and have strong reason to believe it is still, so far as I know.
But you go deeper, so...
He didn't "go beyond the best minds in our own intelligence agency." If you were correct that the conclusion they gave him was that it probably wasn't true, and he then spoke the words anyway, then it would indeed be deception. But you are not correct in that. It probably IS true indeed. Joe Wilson himself reported that the Prime Minister over there believed it was true, when he came back from his trip, in fact.
Yellow Cake from Niger? Evidence is and was only that it was sought, never delivered (per the 16 words, indeed...and your post if rife with twists of the truth like this).
Dan B. |
