Goal posts? What goal posts?
In light of all the allegations of goal post moving, I present exactly how they moved (based on a comment I left for Tom):
The left:
First claim: Iraq had no connection to terror. I’m sorry what?
Revised claim: In that case, Iraq had no connection with al Qaeda, they’re secular, ya know. Oh, they do?
Last revision, we promise: Saddam’s regime had no connection with al Qaeda. They met? Are you kidding me?
Ok, here it is for real: Saddam himself had no connection with al Qaeda. Oh, except that one time at band camp, maybe.
Ok really we mean it now, last revision: Saddam himself had no significant connection with al Qaeda.
Yeah, that’s it.
The right:
Assertion one: Saddam and Bin Laden were gay lovers bent on destroying the world together. What do you mean no one will buy that?
Assertion two: Saddam was harboring terrorists.
Assertion three: Iraqi officials met with al Qaeda for some reason.
Assertion four: Saddam wasn’t really harboring them so much as just kind of letting them run willy-nilly through his country, while looking the other way. I think he may have sent them a nice fruit basket once.
Assertion five: We mean it this time, there were numerous contacts between Saddam and al Qaeda.
June 17th, 2004 at 12:01 pm
I think there’s a lot of wanton misuse of terms in this argument at large (not in your post, youre post is good).
Was Saddam involved in the planning/execution of 9/11? I doubt it, and I’ve never seen anybody seriously claim that.
Did Saddam have “connections” to Al-Qaeda, such as providing support or training facilities? I think there is some evidence that this might be true, but I’ll admit I don’t know if it’s proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
Did Saddam support terrorism in general? I think there is no question that he did, since he was paying the families of Palestinian “martyrs.”
Whether that warrants toppling him or not is obviously a topic of heated debate. As for myself, I think we ought to consider ourselves to be fighting Islamic terrorism in general, and not just specifically Al Qaeda.
June 17th, 2004 at 3:15 pm
I think that the phrase “moved the goal posts” has officially “jumped the shark.”
By the way, not sure if it’s just my computer, but the comments thing looks really ugly right about now. For starters, I’d suggest turning off justification on this text: “The URI to TrackBack this entry is:”
June 18th, 2004 at 7:30 am
Anyone who’s seen South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut knows that Sadaam could not be gay lovers with Osaman, since Sadaam and Satan are a couple. That Satan is one jealous you-know-what and would NEVER allow Sadaam to fool around with Osama behind his back.
June 18th, 2004 at 8:55 am
Thib:
You’ve got it all wrong. If someone is al qaeda, he’s a terrorist; if he is hamas, he’s a “freedom fighter”. Sadam was only aiding “freedom fighters”. Sheesh, try to get it straight so you don’t embarass yourself…
June 18th, 2004 at 9:29 am
Aw crap….I didn’t get the memo!