Has Anyone Besides Me Noticed

"There's no question that Iraq was a threat to the people of the United States."
• White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan, 8/26/03

"We ended the threat from Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction."
• President Bush, 7/17/03

Iraq was "the most dangerous threat of our time."
• White House spokesman Scott McClellan, 7/17/03

"Saddam Hussein is no longer a threat to the United States because we removed him, but he was a threat...He was a threat. He's not a threat now."
• President Bush, 7/2/03

"Absolutely."
• White House spokesman Ari Fleischer answering whether Iraq was an "imminent threat," 5/7/03

"We gave our word that the threat from Iraq would be ended."
• President Bush 4/24/03

"The threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction will be removed."
• Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, 3/25/03

"It is only a matter of time before the Iraqi regime is destroyed and its threat to the region and the world is ended."
• Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke, 3/22/03

"The people of the United States and our friends and allies will not live at the mercy of an outlaw regime that threatens the peace with weapons of mass murder."
• President Bush, 3/19/03

"The dictator of Iraq and his weapons of mass destruction are a threat to the security of free nations."
• President Bush, 3/16/03

"This is about imminent threat."
• White House spokesman Scott McClellan, 2/10/03

Iraq is "a serious threat to our country, to our friends and to our allies."
• Vice President Dick Cheney, 1/31/03

Iraq poses "terrible threats to the civilized world."
• Vice President Dick Cheney, 1/30/03

Iraq "threatens the United States of America."
• Vice President Cheney, 1/30/03

"Iraq poses a serious and mounting threat to our country. His regime has the design for a nuclear weapon, was working on several different methods of enriching uranium, and recently was discovered seeking significant quantities of uranium from Africa."
• Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, 1/29/03

"Well, of course he is."
• White House Communications Director Dan Bartlett responding to the question "is Saddam an imminent threat to U.S. interests, either in that part of the world or to Americans right here at home?", 1/26/03

"Saddam Hussein possesses chemical and biological weapons. Iraq poses a threat to the security of our people and to the stability of the world that is distinct from any other. It's a danger to its neighbors, to the United States, to the Middle East and to the international peace and stability. It's a danger we cannot ignore. Iraq and North Korea are both repressive dictatorships to be sure and both pose threats. But Iraq is unique. In both word and deed, Iraq has demonstrated that it is seeking the means to strike the United States and our friends and allies with weapons of mass destruction."
• Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, 1/20/03

"The Iraqi regime is a threat to any American. ... Iraq is a threat, a real threat."
• President Bush, 1/3/03

"The world is also uniting to answer the unique and urgent threat posed by Iraq whose dictator has already used weapons of mass destruction to kill thousands."
• President Bush, 11/23/02

"I would look you in the eye and I would say, go back before September 11 and ask yourself this question: Was the attack that took place on September 11 an imminent threat the month before or two months before or three months before or six months before? When did the attack on September 11 become an imminent threat? Now, transport yourself forward a year, two years or a week or a month...So the question is, when is it such an immediate threat that you must do something?"
• Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, 11/14/02

"Saddam Hussein is a threat to America."
• President Bush, 11/3/02

"I see a significant threat to the security of the United States in Iraq."
• President Bush, 11/1/02

"There is real threat, in my judgment, a real and dangerous threat to American in Iraq in the form of Saddam Hussein."
• President Bush, 10/28/02

"The Iraqi regime is a serious and growing threat to peace."
• President Bush, 10/16/02

"There are many dangers in the world, the threat from Iraq stands alone because it gathers the most serious dangers of our age in one place. Iraq could decide on any given day to provide a biological or chemical weapon to a terrorist group or individual terrorists."
• President Bush, 10/7/02

"The Iraqi regime is a threat of unique urgency."
• President Bush, 10/2/02

"There's a grave threat in Iraq. There just is."
• President Bush, 10/2/02

"This man poses a much graver threat than anybody could have possibly imagined."
• President Bush, 9/26/02

"No terrorist state poses a greater or more immediate threat to the security of our people and the stability of the world than the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq."
• Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, 9/19/02

"Some have argued that the nuclear threat from Iraq is not imminent - that Saddam is at least 5-7 years away from having nuclear weapons. I would not be so certain. And we should be just as concerned about the immediate threat from biological weapons. Iraq has these weapons."
• Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, 9/18/02

"Iraq is busy enhancing its capabilities in the field of chemical and biological agents, and they continue to pursue an aggressive nuclear weapons program. These are offensive weapons for the purpose of inflicting death on a massive scale, developed so that Saddam Hussein can hold the threat over the head of any one he chooses. What we must not do in the face of this mortal threat is to give in to wishful thinking or to willful blindness."
• Vice President Dick Cheney, 8/29/02

Powell: Violations justified war
Asked if Iraq posed an imminent threat to the United States at the time of the invasion, Kay said, "Based on the intelligence that existed, I think it was reasonable to reach the conclusion that Iraq posed an imminent threat."

I remember a time when Saddam was considered an "imminent" threat.

We ask you for links in which someone said that Iraq posed an imminent threat, and you provide links in which someone said that Iraq posed a threat. A threat is not necessarily an imminent threat. Very few of these citations of yours refer to imminence. One of the few in which imminence is discussed is this one:

"This is about imminent threat."
• White House spokesman Scott McClellan, 2/10/03

If you look at the quotation in context, it's very unclear what Mr. McClellan was talking about, but it related to the defense of Turkey. In any event, it sure isn't something that the president said.

Brandon9000 wrote:

We ask you for links in which someone said that Iraq posed an imminent threat, and you provide links in which someone said that Iraq posed a threat. A threat is not necessarily an imminent threat. Very few of these citations of yours refer to imminence. One of the few in which imminence is discussed is this one:

"This is about imminent threat."
• White House spokesman Scott McClellan, 2/10/03

If you look at the quotation in context, it's very unclear what Mr. McClellan was talking about, but it related to the defense of Turkey. In any event, it sure isn't something that the president said.

damn candidone, do you get tired of being right all the time? I know I do.

Imagine those 19 hijackers with other weapons and other plans -- this time armed by Saddam Hussein. It would take one vial, one canister, one crate slipped into this country to bring a day of horror like none we have ever known. We will do everything in our power to make sure that that day never comes.

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.

candidone1 wrote:

I remember a time when Saddam was considered an "imminent" threat.

That's a long ways from claiming the President said Saddam was an iiminent threat. Candid didn't even claim it was said by anyone in the administration. All that was said was that Saddam was considered...

Ticomaya wrote:

candidone1 wrote:

I remember a time when Saddam was considered an "imminent" threat.

When was that, and by whom?

Yes, it's pretty clear that no one in the Bush administration ever described the threat from Iraq as imminent. Who said this?

candidone1 wrote:

I remember a time when Saddam was considered an "imminent" threat.

When was that, and by whom?

My God!!!
This effort, so far, has cost us 2500 American's lives, billions of dollars and severe damage to our reputation with the rest of the world.
And it all boils down to semantics? And the meaning of the word that may or may not have been used? Imminent.

I never claimed that Bush used the word "imminent".
Brandon acknowledged this by broadly stating that no one on the Bush administration used the word "imminent".

I later listed the synonyms that have the same effect as "imminent", such as serious, the greatest threat of our times, terrible threat, real threat, significant threat, threat of unique urgency, grave threat, immediate threat.....

But, as I predicted, a semantic argument ensues and these boys refuse to admit that perhaps they were wrong.

The SOTU was one speech where "imminent" or another synonym was omitted compared to dozens of other instances when the threat posed by Saddam was pumped up.

The truth is, Saddam was NO THREAT!!! Therefore, the US has destroyed countless lives for naught!

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What is telling about this little exchange is it is you who appears to be wrong, yet you refuse to admit it. "significant," "unique," "grave" .... none of those words is the same as "imminent." They convey a completely different meaning. If you had said, "I remember when Saddam was considered a serious threat," I wouldn't have questioned you.

"Immediate" is very nearly the same. Who said Saddam was an "immediate" threat?

You simply can't sell me the notion that when the President of the United States and members of his administration publicly and frequently label Saddam as a threat (of any of the kinds I have mentioned), they have the cognitive wherewithal to semantically differentiate between the gravity of "imminent" and "serious"?

The SOTU was one speech where "imminent" or another synonym was omitted compared to dozens of other instances when the threat posed by Saddam was pumped up.

"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."