Dr. Jim's WebLog

Lie: 
NOUN:
1. A false statement deliberately presented as being true; a falsehood. 2. Something meant to deceive or give a wrong impression.

"Bush lied about Uranium and Iraq."  Well, not exactly.  He said in State of Union that Iraq was trying to buy uranium from Niger.  This was called a lie.  Now we find out that the British Government has evidence that Iraq was trying to buy...uranium! (from Reuters.)  So, since Bush's statement was not false, it was not a lie.   From this point on, anyone who says Bush lied about uranium is...lying.

"Bush lied about weapons of mass destruction and Iraq."  Well, not exactly, for two reasons.  First, Iraq definitely has had WMD; they gassed their own people a number of years ago.  Second, several binary artillery shells with Sarin gas have turned up in Iraq.  So it's just not credible to call it false.  Second, most of the leaders of the world thought Iraq still had WMD.  The most that you can (honestly) say about Bush was, "Well, maybe he was right or maybe he was wrong about WMD (it depends on how many nerve gas shells I happen to think is enough to call a WMD) but it is reasonable to think that he really believed it."  Hard to call it a lie; perhaps at most a mistake but certainly not a "lie."  So, given that there are some bad weapons in Iraq and the intelligence communities of multiple nations (including our own) believed there were more, Bush's statements are not lies...and so, anyone who at this point says Bush lied is...lying.

(Also, remember that Iraq is about the size of California.  How long would it take a few thousand soldiers to search the state of California?)

 

 

This was indeed an interesting weekend! Through the College of American Pathologists, I do sometimes get into the news as a doctor. But this weekend I was part of a national news story on an airline flight. We took off from Denver a little late and had an uneventful flight, at least until the captain came on and said, "Weather is bad in Chicago and we need to divert to Milwaukee. We'll gas up, wait for the weather to clear, and get you back to Chicago, probably a couple of hours late." So we landed.

Next thing we knew, we were sitting on the tarmac. Waiting. Captain came back on, said we had some mechanical difficulties and he would get back to us. More waiting. Finished novel, Sharpe's Tiger, pretty good really. It's about a british redcoat in India in 1799. Captain back on, says we have blown one generator and the plane won't be taking off. Also, by the way, Milwaukee doesn't have baggage handling equipment or a gate that can handle a 777 aircraft and they're working on it.

More waiting, cat naps, can of Canada Dry Club Soda with Lime. Thank goodness my bride, Denise, told me to take some mixed nuts on the plane so I had something good to eat.

"There is one gate that can handle the plane. An Air France plane is there right now, and we'll let you know when they move. Hopefully it won't be long now. Thank you so much for you patience and understanding." Actually thank goodness the plane was only half full or there could have been violence.

"Well, the Air France plane appears to be having mechanical difficulties and they can't move it. Also the crew is having some kind of problem with Customs. Thank you again for your patience." It's now 0330.

Finally they got a portable staircase out and unloaded us. I staggered through the airport and found that the buses, full, had already left. However there was a white stretch Lincoln Navigator limo packed with people that had one more seat. It even reclined. Cat napped to Chicago, arrived at O'Hare about 0630 and at my hotel at 0700, just in time to meet my staff person to prepare for the meeting of the Council on Membership and Public Affairs.

That was my weekend. How was yours?