fact-by-fact climbdown from pre-war statements by the US govt - list them here

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White House spokeman Scott McClelland on Jan 27 says White House never characterized Iraq as an imminent threat.

George Tenet says today that CIA analysts "never said there was as imminent threat."

Well shit dude I was nervous there for a few months! i thought Saddam was working with al-Qaeda to pipe poison gas through my window sill, i bought duct tape and EVERYTHING!!!

Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 5 February 2004 18:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Donald Rumsfeld said before the war "we know where the WMDs are" and now he says "Oh I didn't mean that"

Gear! (Gear!), Thursday, 5 February 2004 18:13 (twenty-two years ago)

For the record, GWB described the threat from Saddam as "urgent", Cheney called it "mortal" and Rumsfeld said it was "immediate".

Just not "imminent."

Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 5 February 2004 18:15 (twenty-two years ago)

http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/graphics/rumsfeld_of_the_lost_ark.jpg

Gear! (Gear!), Thursday, 5 February 2004 18:16 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah Gear!, his quote was something to the effect of "in retrospect that was not the best choice of words." I disagree here; I think lying was the ONLY choice they had in order to make this case to the American people.

Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 5 February 2004 18:18 (twenty-two years ago)

If the Democrats have anyone with half a brain operating their nominee's campaign, they'll pick apart this war nicely.

Iraq was a country under siege that had no opportunities or methods to be a threat to anyone. If they actually did and that fact comes out later, I think it will be a surprise to everyone (and a pleasant shock to Bush and co.)

Gear! (Gear!), Thursday, 5 February 2004 18:22 (twenty-two years ago)

"And he declared: 'The British government learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa...'

"Ambassador Wilson spent eight days in Niger. He never was shown the alleged documentation of any deal but interviewed top officials, analyzed the possibilities and concluded -- as did the Bush ambassador to Niger -- that there was little chance that any such transaction transpired. He reported this back to the CIA and the State Department..."

andy, Thursday, 5 February 2004 18:29 (twenty-two years ago)

i bet the intel community could fuck GWB and his whole administration HARD with a sodomizing bee-stick of FACTS if they wanted, although there are prob other reasons why Administration officials are being so (publically) nicey-nice to the CIA these days

Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 5 February 2004 18:40 (twenty-two years ago)

This must be Michael Moore's next film project

*, Thursday, 5 February 2004 19:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Errol Morris can do a film about it 20 years from now after Iraq's become the #1 maker of Ford Fiestas

Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 5 February 2004 19:09 (twenty-two years ago)

What I've noticed coming from Republitards is that they tend to try and deflect such criticism by pulling out quotes made by people like Bill Clinton and John Kerry from 1998-2002 about the danger that Saddam posed. It's interesting, but it doesn't change the fact that this Administration sold the country a bill of goods...

Baked Bean Teeth (Baked Bean Teeth), Thursday, 5 February 2004 19:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Lately the right wingers on here have been MIA, it seems. Fingers crossed, lurking, hoping that a warhead will be discovered so they can point at us and laugh.

Gear! (Gear!), Thursday, 5 February 2004 19:26 (twenty-two years ago)

FOUND IT!
In Their Own Words: Iraq's 'Imminent' Threat
January 29, 2004
Download: DOC, PDF, RTF

The Bush Administration is now saying it never told the public that Iraq was an "imminent" threat, and therefore it should be absolved for overstating the case for war and misleading the American people about Iraq's WMD. Just this week, White House spokesman Scott McClellan lashed out at critics saying "Some in the media have chosen to use the word 'imminent'. Those were not words we used." But a closer look at the record shows that McClellan himself and others did use the phrase "imminent threat" – while also using the synonymous phrases "mortal threat," "urgent threat," "immediate threat", "serious and mounting threat", "unique threat," and claiming that Iraq was actively seeking to "strike the United States with weapons of mass destruction" – all just months after Secretary of State Colin Powell admitted that Iraq was "contained" and "threatens not the United States." While Iraq was certainly a dangerous country, the Administration's efforts to claim it never hyped the threat in the lead-up to war is belied by its statements.

"There's no question that Iraq was a threat to the people of the United States."
• White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan, 8/26/03

"We ended the threat from Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction."
• President Bush, 7/17/03

Iraq was "the most dangerous threat of our time."
• White House spokesman Scott McClellan, 7/17/03

[...]

There are dozens more there, going back 2 years.

feel free to peruse them all.

Kingfish Funyun (Kingfish), Thursday, 5 February 2004 19:35 (twenty-two years ago)

If you're into carping, then see

http://www.basicint.org/pubs/Research/2004WMDA.htm

too.

N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 5 February 2004 19:48 (twenty-two years ago)


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