Since the words "imminent threat" are in the news today......

[RandomKoolzip]

Here's an interesting thread from the archives.....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=4979

Okay, maybe they never ACTUALLY said the exact word "imminent...." and maybe they knew from the start that the way to cover their asses would be to dance around the damn word, and let the media interpret it that way.

How disingenuous.

[arcane1]

1. how, dare I say it, "Clintonian" of them

at least the "word 'is'" fiasco wasn't about DEAD AMERICANS...

:grr:

[Brotherjohn]

2. What irked me today so much about this, is that Bush said...

"I said in the run-up that Saddam was a grave and gathering danger -- that's what I said."

And the White House said:
"I think some in the media have chosen to use the word 'imminent,' " White House press secretary Scott McClellan said. "Those were not words we used. We used 'grave and gathering threat.' "
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54353-2004Jan27.html?nav=hptop_ts

Bullshit.

The WH and Bush indeed shifted gears to the more measured "grave and gathering threat" after the invasion. But I would venture a guess (and I don't think I'd be off by much) that not a single person in the administration publicly used the term "grave and gathering danger" to describe Iraq "in the run-up" to the war. I don't remember them saying it, anyway... at least not to the extent that they have, en masse, switched to using it once it began to appear that they would not find WMDs.

Let's try it on for size. It's early March, 2003:
BUSH: "We need to invade, and NOW! We can't afford to wait for inspections to finish. We can't afford to wait weeks, or months! We need to go NOW!"
AMERICAN PEOPLE: "Um... why NOW, Mr. President!"
BUSH: "Because Iraq is a grave and gathering danger."
AMERICAN PEOPLE: "Get back to us when it gathers a little more."

However, "in the run-up" to the war, Bush and Co. repeatedly and often described the threat was imminent, using words such as "immediate", "mortal threat", "mushroom cloud", "we can't afford to wait", and numerous other ways to describe the threat as "imminent" without actually using the word "imminent". There are so many documented cases of this that it's simply disgusting they continue to spout the nonsense that they never said "imminent". Thankfully, the media are (belatedly) reminding everyone of them as we speak.

You know, Mr. Bush, we have a little thing in the English language called synonyms, and there are many different ways of expressing the same idea.

You know, Mr. Bush, we're also not all as F***'n stupid as you think we are!

Someone posted this in another thread:
"I didn't say it was raining. I said water was falling from the sky."

[RandomKoolzip]

3. We're arguing semantics again, like Clinton supposedly did....

Except it's the right doing the fancy footwork, dancing around words....

Whither the RW outrage?

[Brotherjohn]

4. Yes, it's amazing. They'll argue semantics to absolve themselves...

... of a lie that cost thousands of lives, including hundreds of American lives (and counting), and we don't hear a peep of outrage from conservatives.

Yet when Clinton argued semantics (what the meaning of "is" is) to absolve himself over a lie that cost, well, nothing (outside of his personal life and perhaps a few million taxpayer dollars), they were OUTRAGED!

And this from the straight-talker.

[NewJeffCT]

5. I think Rummy did use "imminent"

If I recall, Rumsfeld did say that there was an imminent threat of bio weapons. Maybe it was immediate? I don't know.

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. Here are a slew of articles which use the word "imminent"

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=site:www%2Ecommondreams%2Eorg+wmd+imminent

[Oilwellian]

7. Here's my take...

We know, according to Paul O'Neil, that the Bush crime family was planning this war right after they took office, and long before 911 occurred. If the evidence they had against Saddam was a strong enough reason to invade Iraq, then why did Bush find a need to say "find me a way to do this?" "Find me a way" certainly implies they knew there was no logical reason for war.