let's not suggest that somehow we knew this

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I could not get the word "suggest" in the title very clearly, would you like to give the definition of it ? Or please just rewrite "but let's not suggest that somehow we knew this", so that I might figure out what it exactly meant.

Context:

WASHINGTON (AP) Secretary of State Colin Powell on Sunday defended the decision to go to war with Iraq, saying intelligence before the U.S.-led invasion was not ''cooked'' even though inspectors have not found banned weapons.

''We may not find the stockpiles. They may not exist any longer, but let's not suggest that somehow we knew this,'' Powell said on ABC's ''This Week.''

''We went to the United Nations, we went to the world, with the best information we had. Nothing that was cooked,'' he said.

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Quote:

''We may not find the stockpiles. They may not exist any longer, but let's not suggest that somehow we knew this,'' Powell said on ABC's ''This Week.''

In this context, one could substitute, "imply", or "insinuate".

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In this case Powell is using suggest as a synonym for imply

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You beat me to it Phoenix

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Thanks Phoenix and Acuquiunk.

I think I could not understand very clearly about the simplest word "let's" now. "let's" usually means "let us". But, "let us not imply that somehow we knew this" gets me confused. Could you rewrite it for me?

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Another question:

Isn't "label" always a transitive verb? I could not understand why the author wanted to use 'labeling of", but not "labeling".

Context:
Green immunofluorescence labeling of the hair cell marker myosin VIIA, shows the similar morphology of hair cells from mouse cochlea (upper) and hair cell-like cells generated from mouse inner ear stem cells (lower).

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By using "let's" (or let us) Powell is being a little condescending. He's Secretary of State, a cabinet minister you realize. In this case the "us" is the people he is speaking to. He is trying to imply that the people he is speaking to have asked a foolish question.

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Ah, my understanding for this got updated by you. Very Happy

But what does " that somehow we knew this" mean?

Somehow means "In a way not specified, understood, or known".
If so, I got more confused. Because Powell should explain "how we knew this",so that the people he was speaking to could understand his point of view upon the Iraq war... Rolling Eyes

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I think what Powell talked is one of the most sensitive questions. So he could only draw a vague outline for the issue. That is why I got confused by this.

Anyone would like to rewrite it?

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That is called obfuscation, that is intentionally confusing the issue. In other word he is trying to answer a question with out really answering it. This is a tactic often used by public officials when the want to avoid giving an answer on a sensitive issue or want to hide something. In Powell's case, as he his head of the State Department (foreign ministry) it is called "being diplomatic".

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Right. He's basically saying, "Who you callin' a liar??"

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Thanks. He just talked equivocally. Smile

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Another question that has not yet been answered:

Isn't "label" always a transitive verb? I could not understand why the author wanted to use 'labeling of", but not "labeling".

Context:
Green immunofluorescence labeling of the hair cell marker myosin VIIA, shows the similar morphology of hair cells from mouse cochlea (upper) and hair cell-like cells generated from mouse inner ear stem cells (lower).

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Still waiting for! Very Happy

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let's not suggest that somehow we knew this

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