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!