davefoc
Philosopher
Is the subject of this thread about the narrowly defined question of whether from Rummy's exact words is it possible to determine his exact meaning and based on what appears to be the situation make the absolute determination of whether Rummy lied?
Or is the subject of this thread about whether there was a concerted, coordinated effort to mislead people about the certainty of the evidence for WMD in Iraq?
If the subject of this thread is the former, I humbly suggest that the question is unanswerable to a certainty. The answer hangs on semantic uncertainties and a knowledge of the particular intent of Rummy when he said these things.
If the subject of the thread is whether a coordinated effort was put forth by the administration to mislead people about the certainity of the evidence for WMD then I would submit that the evidence of lying is overwhelming.
I believe that I have understood both sides in this debate between Thai and others and I would respectfully submit that both sides are wrong if they claim that there is enough evidence just from these few quotes to make a certain determination of lying or not lying. I lean to Thai's interpretation because I see this quote as part of a much larger pattern of misleading statements about WMD from this administration but I also am willing to concede that with careful parsing and interpretations that seem unlikely but plausible it is possible to make a reasonable case that these words alone do not prove that Rummy lied here.
Or is the subject of this thread about whether there was a concerted, coordinated effort to mislead people about the certainty of the evidence for WMD in Iraq?
If the subject of this thread is the former, I humbly suggest that the question is unanswerable to a certainty. The answer hangs on semantic uncertainties and a knowledge of the particular intent of Rummy when he said these things.
If the subject of the thread is whether a coordinated effort was put forth by the administration to mislead people about the certainity of the evidence for WMD then I would submit that the evidence of lying is overwhelming.
I believe that I have understood both sides in this debate between Thai and others and I would respectfully submit that both sides are wrong if they claim that there is enough evidence just from these few quotes to make a certain determination of lying or not lying. I lean to Thai's interpretation because I see this quote as part of a much larger pattern of misleading statements about WMD from this administration but I also am willing to concede that with careful parsing and interpretations that seem unlikely but plausible it is possible to make a reasonable case that these words alone do not prove that Rummy lied here.