I had previously suggested that the Iraq on the Record database, buillt by the Government Reform Committee a while back, was a nice little resource for looking up Administration official quotes on pre-war intelligence. And right here we have an example of how one might use it. Jonah Goldberg (soon-to-be both L.A. Times columnist and "Liberal Facism" author) says today at the National Review Online:
Okey doke. So we trot on over to our handy dandy Iraq on the Record to see if that's true. We select Bush in the speaker field and type in "imminent" in the keyword box and we get, well, nothing.
But wait! Perhaps Jonah's being a little bit clever here. Maybe it's not just Bush that Democrats are talking bout but, you know, the people who obstensibly worked for him -- you know, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, and the like. So let's just leave the speaker field open, type in "imminent" one more time, and see what we get:
Okay so one case of an Administration official slipping and saying "imminent," but just that one time. Let's see, what else can we search for that might convey the idea that we're all about to die if we don't go in to Iraq.
How about something simple like "soon"?
Okay, let's think outside the box. Maybe something like "within a year"?
"Each passing day"?
Perhaps, "mushroom cloud"?
So that's how Iraq on the Record works. It's also fun to try out old favorites like 9/11 and September 11.
George W. Bush never said Iraq was an "imminent" threat. But it's funny: Democrats constantly insisted — during the last round of liberal whining — that Bush had implied the threat was imminent in order to short-circuit debate over the war.
Okey doke. So we trot on over to our handy dandy Iraq on the Record to see if that's true. We select Bush in the speaker field and type in "imminent" in the keyword box and we get, well, nothing.
But wait! Perhaps Jonah's being a little bit clever here. Maybe it's not just Bush that Democrats are talking bout but, you know, the people who obstensibly worked for him -- you know, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, and the like. So let's just leave the speaker field open, type in "imminent" one more time, and see what we get:
Secretary of State Colin Powell:
"The imminent threat is that suddenly, this biological warfare lab, for example, could have been put to use."
Source: Interview on NPR's All Things Considered, NPR (6/27/2003).
Okay so one case of an Administration official slipping and saying "imminent," but just that one time. Let's see, what else can we search for that might convey the idea that we're all about to die if we don't go in to Iraq.
How about something simple like "soon"?
Vice President Richard Cheney: "On the nuclear question, many of us are convinced that Saddam will acquire such weapons fairly soon." Source: Vice President Honors Veterans of Korean War, White House (8/29/2002).
Okay, let's think outside the box. Maybe something like "within a year"?
Vice President Richard Cheney: "If we had had that information and ignored it, if we'd been told, as we were, by the intelligence community that he was capable of producing a nuclear weapon within a year if he could acquire fissile material and ignored it . . . we would have been derelict in our duties and responsibilities." Source: Vice President Dick Cheney Remarks at Luncheon for Congressman Jim Gerlach, White House (10/3/2003).
"Each passing day"?
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld: "With each passing day, Saddam Hussein advances his arsenal of weapons of mass destruction and could pass them along to terrorists. If he is allowed to do so, the result could be the deaths not of 3,000 people, as on September 11th, but of 30,000, or 300,000 or more innocent people." Source: Donald H. Rumsfeld Delivers Remarks to American Troops, Defense Department (3/20/2003).
Perhaps, "mushroom cloud"?
President George W. Bush: "Knowing these realities, America must not ignore the threat gathering against us. Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof - the smoking gun - that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud." Source: President Bush Outlines Iraqi Threat; Remarks by the President on Iraq, White House (10/7/2002).
National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice: "The problem here is that there will always be some uncertainty about how quickly he can acquire nuclear weapons. But we don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud." Source: Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer, CNN (9/8/2002).
So that's how Iraq on the Record works. It's also fun to try out old favorites like 9/11 and September 11.
