Doc, do you know the difference between opinion and fact?
o·pin·ion Audio pronunciation of "opinion" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (-pnyn)
n.
1. A belief or conclusion held with confidence but not substantiated by positive knowledge or proof: “The world is not run by thought, nor by imagination, but by opinion” (Elizabeth Drew).
2. A judgment based on special knowledge and given by an expert: a medical opinion.
3. A judgment or estimation of the merit of a person or thing: has a low opinion of braggarts.
4. The prevailing view: public opinion.
5. Law. A formal statement by a court or other adjudicative body of the legal reasons and principles for the conclusions of the court.
fact Audio pronunciation of "fact" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (fkt)
n.
1. Knowledge or information based on real occurrences: an account based on fact; a blur of fact and fancy.
2.
1. Something demonstrated to exist or known to have existed: Genetic engineering is now a fact. That Chaucer was a real person is an undisputed fact.
2. A real occurrence; an event: had to prove the facts of the case.
3. Something believed to be true or real: a document laced with mistaken facts.
3. A thing that has been done, especially a crime: an accessory before the fact.
Pay attention to the part above that says 'demonstrated to exist or known to have existed'. Can we demostrate that there 'exists' lies that Rice told when hyping the Iraq invasion? Yep:
E. National Security Advisor Rice
Ms. Rice made 29 misleading statements about the threat posed by Iraq in 16
separate public statements or appearances.
Of the 29 misleading statements by Ms. Rice, 17 concerned Iraq’s efforts to
develop nuclear weapons; 6 overstated Iraq’s chemical or biological weapons
capacity; and 6 misrepresented Iraq’s links to al Qaeda.
Some of the misleading statements made by Ms. Rice included the following:
• “We do know that [Saddam Hussein] is actively pursuing a nuclear
weapon.”128
• “We do know that there have been shipments going into . . . Iraq, for
instance, of aluminum tubes that really are only suited to — high quality
aluminum tools that are only really suited for nuclear weapons programs,
centrifuge programs.”130
• “[T]he declaration fails to account for or explain Iraq’s efforts to get
uranium from abroad.”131
Ms. Rice made significantly more statements that were false — 8 — than any of
the other four officials. Many of these statements came in June and July 2003
of the Union address that Iraq was seeking to import uranium from Africa. Ms.
Rice repeatedly stated during this period that no one in the White House was
informed of the doubts about this uranium claim. For example, she stated:
• “We did not know at the time — no one knew at the time, in our circles —
maybe someone knew down in the bowels of the agency, but no one in our
circles knew that there were doubts and suspicions that this might be a
forgery.”132
• “[H]ad there been even a peep that the agency did not want that sentence
in or that George Tenet did not want that sentence in, that the director of
Central Intelligence did not want it in, it would have been gone.”133
These statements were simply false. As explained above, the CIA had repeatedly
communicated its objections to White House officials, including Ms. Rice.134
VI. CONCLUSION
Because of the gravity of the subject and the President’s unique access to
classified information, members of Congress and the public expect the President
and his senior officials to take special care to be balanced and accurate in
describing national security threats. It does not appear, however, that President
Bush, Vice President Cheney, Secretary Rumsfeld, Secretary Powell, and
National Security Advisor Rice met this standard in the case of Iraq. To the
contrary, these five officials repeatedly made misleading statements about the
threat posed by Iraq. In 125 separate appearances, they made 11 misleading
statements about the urgency of Iraq’s threat, 81 misleading statements about
Iraq’s nuclear activities, 84 misleading statements about Iraq’s chemical and
biological capabilities, and 61 misleading statements about Iraq’s relationship
with al Qaeda.
To summarize, it is a very well documented fact, not opinion, that Rice and other officials lied about Iraq.
Kindest Regards,
David St. Hubbins