The Instapundit is finally pointing out what we discussed last week– the DNC is a bunch of liars:
CREEPING DOWDIFICATION? The Democrats have a commercial — ironically named “truth” — that features a clip of President Bush saying:
Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.
Of course, what Bush actually said was:
The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.
Of course, I noted that last week- but at least Glenn will get the message to a lot of people. Glenn also has a link to a great dissection of all the ‘Bush lied” charges.
Andrew Lazarus
Michael Kinsley shows that this “defense” on the basis that the “facts” known to be false were attributed to the Brits is contemptible here. You can’t learn something that isn’t so: Bush’s phrasing is clearly an endorsement of the idea at hand. (If you don’t see this yet, imagine Gore or Howard Dean saying “Noam Chomsky has learned that 9/11 was a Republican plot.” in a speech.) If you STILL don’t get it, here’s George Bush (quoted by William Saletan) on the subject:
On the list of Bush Administration **LIES**, here’s Timothy Noah. Unfortunately, because of space considerations his long article could only cover 2003.
So, John, where are those WMD, anyway. You know, the ones Rummy said were between Baghdad and Tikrit.
Suddenly the snow job is melting. A late thaw, but better than none.
John Cole
The Chomsky example is absurd- unless you really think the British intelligence services deserve the same amount of credit as a third rate political hack like Chomsky.
Andrew- If you are on record stating there were no Chem/Bio/nuclear weapons in Iraq, I will let you challenge me to “Where are the WMD” games. I doubt you are,as you probably thought he had them, just as EVERYONE else on the planet did. We just differed in the solution.
I still think they are around somewhere, unfortunately.
Andrew Lazarus
John, the Chomsky point is an epistemic one. Bush wrapped a statement that he knew (or at least had a strong suspicion) was not true, and merely attributed it to someone else. Why would he prefer British intel to OUR intel? And in any event, having done so, HE is responsible for having made such a choice.
Skip moderate liberal Kinsley on this; here’s Gene Volokh:
Andrew Lazarus
I forgot to mention: actually, I am one of those few people who suspected that whatever weapons program Saddam had, the UN Inspectors were quite capable of locating and neutralizing them. That Saddam appears to have had actually ZERO is a slight surprise, but not much.
And I never, ever made any claim that I knew exactly where they were between Baghdad and Tikrit, or any other two cities. There’s a huge difference between a general belief and such a specific claim. Generally, the specific claim is an indication of superior knowledge, except when, as here, it also seems to be a totally bogus claim.
Do you suppose that Ahmed Chalabi (I do so regret sharing a career with the man) made up the intel, or that Rummy just winged it on his own?
David Perron
I note, Andrew, that the Salon piece doesn’t actually address the veracity of British Intelligence. Who, by the way, is still standing by their story.
Shoddy, shoddy piece. Any piece that can’t stand up by itself can’t be propped up with invective, either.
Dean
Why would Bush prefer British intel to our intel?
Well, to begin with and most obviously, perhaps British intelligence is BETTER than American intelligence?
In the world of US-British intel sharing, it’s pretty common knowledge that we have de facto split the responsibilities to play to our respective strengths. Ours, not surprisingly, is technical intelligence, which relies on godawfully expensive platforms including satellites, ships, planes, etc.
The Brits, from both long experience and smaller purses, are much better at human intel. Not surprisingly, when Oleg Gordievsky offered to bring out KGB archives, it was the BRITS, not the US, that snapped them up.
And, not surprisingly, the thing that tipped us off to missiles in Cuba WASN’T the U-2 flights (they CONFIRMED their presence), but a BRITISH-run spy, by the name of Penkovskiy.