Slouching Donkey, Lying Elephant: The Skeptic's Annotated Iraq

I've been a fan of the Skeptic's Annotated Bible for quite some time, and was very pleased to see that they now have a Skeptic's Annotated Quran. Both are invaluable resources if you ever want to critically examine these two important books--they provide line-by-line annotation which cross-references any passages which contradict each other, as well as pointing out the good, the bad and the ugly in scripture.

But I've long wished that someone would do something similar for the Bush administration. After all, the administration is practically begging to have its public statements on Iraq subjected to this kind of compilation and annotation--one need only look at Billmon's WMD Quotes page to get a taste of how ripe this field is for picking.

This database identifies 237 specific misleading statements about the threat posed by Iraq made by these five officials in 125 public appearances in the time leading up to and after the commencement of hostilities in Iraq. The search options on the left can be used to find statements by any combination of speaker, subject, keyword, or date.

For example, search for "we know" under "Rumsfeld". The first entry that comes up is:

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld on Chemical and Biological Weapons:

"The area in the south and the west and the north that coalition forces control is, is substantial. It happens not to be the area where weapons of mass destruction were dispersed. We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south, and north somewhat. Second, the kernel facilities, there are dozens of them, it is a large geographic area . . . I would also add that we saw from the air there were dozens of trucks that went into that facility after the existence of it became public in the press, and they moved things out. They dispersed them and took them away. So there may be nothing left. I don't know that. But it's way too soon to know. The exploration is just starting."
Source: This Week with George Stephanopolous, ABC (3/30/2003).

Explanation This statement was misleading because it professed certainty when the intelligence community provided only an "estimate." According to CIA Director George Tenet, "it is important to underline the word estimate. Because not everything we analyze can be known to a standard of absolute proof." In addition, the statement failed to acknowledge the Defense Intelligence Agency position that: "There is no reliable information on whether Iraq is producing and stockpiling chemical weapons or where Iraq has -- or will -- establish its chemical warfare agent production facilities."

Or for more fun, try searching for "urgent" or "immediate" under the "Urgent Threat" category, and use "All" for the speaker. This is the subject Rumsfeld was recently caught lying about on TV. I've archived American Progress's video of Rumsfeld lying, but for those who can't play the video, Iraq'd has a transcript of the important parts. I recommend the video, though, if you can.


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	March 17, 2004


	The Skeptic's Annotated Iraq

	I've been a fan of the Skeptic's Annotated Bible for quite some time, and was very pleased to see that they now have a Skeptic's Annotated Quran. Both are invaluable resources if you ever want to critically examine these two important books--they provide line-by-line annotation which cross-references any passages which contradict each other, as well as pointing out the good, the bad and the ugly in scripture. But I've long wished that someone would do something similar for the Bush administration. After all, the administration is practically begging to have its public statements on Iraq subjected to this kind of compilation and annotation--one need only look at Billmon's WMD Quotes page to get a taste of how ripe this field is for picking. Via Kevin Drum, now we have Iraq on the Record: This database identifies 237 specific misleading statements about the threat posed by Iraq made by these five officials in 125 public appearances in the time leading up to and after the commencement of hostilities in Iraq. The search options on the left can be used to find statements by any combination of speaker, subject, keyword, or date. For example, search for "we know" under "Rumsfeld". The first entry that comes up is: Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld on Chemical and Biological Weapons: "The area in the south and the west and the north that coalition forces control is, is substantial. It happens not to be the area where weapons of mass destruction were dispersed. We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south, and north somewhat. Second, the kernel facilities, there are dozens of them, it is a large geographic area . . . I would also add that we saw from the air there were dozens of trucks that went into that facility after the existence of it became public in the press, and they moved things out. They dispersed them and took them away. So there may be nothing left. I don't know that. But it's way too soon to know. The exploration is just starting." Source: This Week with George Stephanopolous, ABC (3/30/2003). Explanation This statement was misleading because it professed certainty when the intelligence community provided only an "estimate." According to CIA Director George Tenet, "it is important to underline the word estimate. Because not everything we analyze can be known to a standard of absolute proof." In addition, the statement failed to acknowledge the Defense Intelligence Agency position that: "There is no reliable information on whether Iraq is producing and stockpiling chemical weapons or where Iraq has -- or will -- establish its chemical warfare agent production facilities." Or for more fun, try searching for "urgent" or "immediate" under the "Urgent Threat" category, and use "All" for the speaker. This is the subject Rumsfeld was recently caught lying about on TV. I've archived American Progress's video of Rumsfeld lying, but for those who can't play the video, Iraq'd has a transcript of the important parts. I recommend the video, though, if you can. Posted by Catsy at 12:24 PM \| Comments (0) \| TrackBack (0) Comments: Post a comment Name: Email Address: URL: Remember personal info? YesNo Comments: