Gautam Mukunda <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said
Of course, there's _also_ the fact that what he said was true. He
claimed that the British told us that Iraq was seeking Uranium in
Africa. A true statement.
No, not quite. If my memory serves me right, US President Bush did
not say that the `British said'. Instead, Bush said that the `British
learned'. There is a difference. In everyday language, people do not
say of others that they learned a lie, unless the belief on the part
of speaker that it is false is specified. The default presumption in
language is that when you say someone else learned, that what they
learned is true.
In addition, if my memory serves me right, part of the honor code for
the US military academy at West Point is not only to tell the truth,
but also `not to quibble'. Put another way, the presumption ought to
be that the Commander in Chief is uses language in a more nearly
customary way. You cannot expect him to tell `the whole truth', but
you can expect him to keep silent on that about which he otherwise
would lie.
Unfortunately, your statement comes across as similar to those who
defended President Clinton after he talked about sex, except in this
case, a war resulted.
--
Robert J. Chassell Rattlesnake Enterprises
http://www.rattlesnake.com GnuPG Key ID: 004B4AC8
http://www.teak.cc [EMAIL PROTECTED]
_______________________________________________
http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
