Tennent Backs his Officers, Never claimed Iraq was imminent threat.

those are the two key points.

 

uhm, sigh, no we weren't, at least not by this president.

 

When?

 

This sounds like imminent:

Regardless if you want to argue semantics, most people believed that Bush implied that Iraq was an imminent threat. Hell, go do a google search if you don't believe me. If Bush didn't believe that Iraq was an imminent threat or he didn't want the rest of the nation believing that, his administration should've come out and said before the war that the threat wasn't imminent, but we should still take Saddam out anyway. Alas, he didn't.

 

May 7, 2003

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/05/20030507-7.html

Q Well, we went to war, didn't we, to find these -- because we said that these weapons were a direct and imminent threat to the United States? Isn't that true?

MR. FLEISCHER: Absolutely. One of the reasons that we went to war was because of their possession of weapons of mass destruction. And nothing has changed on that front at all. We said what we said because we meant it. We had the intelligence to report it. Secretary Powell said it. And I may point out to you, as you may know, there is a news conference at Department of Defense today at 2:00 p.m. to discuss one element in this.

 

"Some have said we must not act until the threat is imminent. Since when have terrorists and tyrants announced their intentions, politely putting us on notice before they strike? If this threat is permitted to fully and suddenly emerge, all actions, all words, and all recriminations would come too late."- Dubya

 

That's Ari Fleisher answering a report'ers question. Hardly good evidence of the administration's arguments.

 

in this case Fleisher was speaking about IRAN, not Iraq. nice try, next?

 

We went to war with Iran???

 

That's Ari Fleisher answering a report'ers question. Hardly good evidence of the administration's arguments.

Given that he was the Whitehouse <B>spokesman</B>, he speaks for the administration. Nice try, though.

in this case Fleisher was speaking about IRAN, not Iraq. nice try, next?

We went to war with Iran due to WMD? Did I miss something? Here was the question again:

<I>Q Well, we went to war, didn't we, to find these -- because we said that these weapons were a direct and imminent threat to the United States? Isn't that true?</I>

How do you make that into a question about Iran?

I love these attempted justifications!

 

Let's see. GWB said that we need to preemptively strike Iraq. Preemptive war implies an imminent threat. GWB also said that the "threat" from Iraq was growing, which also implies imminence or approaching imminence.

 

Uh, wrong. When have we gone to war with Iran?

You do know that Ari Fleisher was the White House spokesman, right? This was an official press briefing that's posted on the White House's official website. This isn't some random guy spouting off his own opinions. If this wasn't the administration's take, they should've issued a statement saying that they didn't believe the threat was imminent.

 

there was more to the Q/A. your quote is out of context.

 

This is depressing. I haven't seen such semantic clutching at straws since Clinton discussed the meaning of "sex" and the word "is." I'm serious.

To truly have listened to Powell talk to the UN and Bush talk to our country, and to come away saying, "uh yeah, but they didn't use the exact word imminent! Only the whitehouse spokesperson used that word, and that was careless!" Unbelievable.

You heard the same thing we all heard, that the world heard: Iraq was a threat that had to be dealt with immediately, and our actions spoke even louder than our words as a nation.

So, I agree that there are two important points in Tennants' comments:

1) The CIA was not told what to say.
2) The CIA told the whitehouse that Iraq did not pose an imminent threat to our nation, and that there were "varying opinions" about the current state of the weapons programs.

Can we agree that those two are the most important statements?

 

Please point me to any mention of Iran in the entire press briefing. Thanks.

Meanwhile, Iraq is mentioned 20 times.

 

there was more to the Q/A. your quote is out of context

Really? Put it in context then - RM95 gave you the full link. For reference, here are the questions asked immediately before and after that one:

<I>
Q The suggestion has been made that the President's political campaign should reimburse taxpayers for the trip.

Q Ari, is the President disturbed that you have not found weapons of mass destruction, you have not found Saddam Hussein, you have not found bin Laden, you have not found the anthrax dealer? I mean, it seems to me all of these things are a dead-end. What's his feeling?

Q Well, we went to war, didn't we, to find these -- because we said that these weapons were a direct and imminent threat to the United States? Isn't that true?

Q But would he have been able to use them despite shock and awe and so forth, I mean, really made them operable to contend with the U.S. forces?

Q Ari, there's some reports that Germany now may have offered the United States help in the U.N. resolution to lift the sanctions. Are you optimistic that -- has Germany come forward and offered this kind of help?
</I>

Ari's last statement before the question asked was:

<I>As for Saddam Hussein, and as for the latest -- this tape that is in the news, we don't know if the tape is genuine or not. It's being studied. We don't know if he's alive or not.</I>

For reference, Iran was not mentioned <B>a single time</B> in this briefing. Please, share the context that puts this quote in some kind of bizarre reference to Iran.

 

Fine. That is great evidence. You win the argument.

 

are you serious? are you really going to play this fvcking semantic game? This is pathetic.....the President made it crystal clear that he and his administration felt that the threat from Iraq was strong, reliable, and in need of immediate action. He went on national TV to plead his case for War for crying out loud..he involved visions of mushroom clouds if America didn't act swiftly enough, he tied Iraq to terrorist every chance he got and reminded us of how random and sudden terrorist attacks could happen...all in an effort to put a sense of urgency into the American collective mood. To ACT NOW! That my friends is creating the impression that the threat was imminent.