Pacific Views

But He Never Said "Imminent"

Isn't one of the big claims on the Right that Bush can't be faulted with tricking Americans into a war on Iraq because he never said Saddam was an "imminent threat"? Oh, but that was then. Now it seems that Bush is happy using "that word". From last week's Russert interview:

"By the way, quoting a lot of their data, in other words, this is unaccounted for stockpiles that you thought he had because I don't think America can stand by and hope for the best from a madman, and I believe it is essential, I believe it is essential that when we see a threat, we deal with those threats before they become imminent. It's too late if they become imminent. It's too late in this new kind of war, and so that's why I made the decision I made."

Got that? The evidence of criminal intent doesn't even need to be imminent before you take someone out. As Tom mentions in his post, Bush has now entered the stage of being one of the "Precogs" in Minority Report.

Via Tom Dispatch.