How to Lie with a Straight Face

[womzilla]

I've been busy with work stuff for the last two weeks, so I've been behind in some of my blog-reading, especially of the high-volume political blog Eschaton,

He had a remarkable piece last week (April 8) which was simply two juxtaposed quotations, which I'm taking the liberty to reproduce in full here:

The Objectives

Rumsfeld: March 21:

Our goal is to defend the American people, and to eliminate Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, and to liberate the Iraqi people. Coalition military operations are focused on achieving several specific objectives: to end the regime of Saddam Hussein by striking with force on a scope and scale that makes clear to Iraqis that he and his regime are finished. Next, to identify, isolate and eventually eliminate Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, their delivery systems, production capabilities, and distribution networks. Third, to search for, capture, drive out terrorists who have found safe harbor in Iraq. Fourth, to collect such intelligence as we can find related to terrorist networks in Iraq and beyond. Fifth, to collect such intelligence as we can find related to the global network of illicit weapons of mass destruction activity. Sixth, to end sanctions and to immediately deliver humanitarian relief, food and medicine to the displaced and to the many needy Iraqi citizens. Seventh, to secure Iraq's oil fields and resources, which belong to the Iraqi people, and which they will need to develop their country after decades of neglect by the Iraqi regime. And last, to help the Iraqi people create the conditions for a rapid transition to a representative self-government that is not a threat to its neighbors and is committed to ensuring the territorial integrity of that country.

Torie Clark, March 29:

MS. CLARKE: (In progress.) Good afternoon everybody. Significant progress continues in the coalition campaign in Iraq. Let me take just a couple of minutes to remind everyone of the eight mission objectives of Operation Iraqi Freedom, as Secretary Rumsfeld described just a week ago.

First, end the regime of Saddam Hussein; second, capture or drive out terrorists sheltered in Iraq; third, collect intelligence on terrorist networks; fourth, collect intelligence on Iraq's illicit weapons-of-mass-destruction activity; five, destroy the weapons of mass destruction, the systems and the facilities; sixth, secure Iraq's oil fields and natural resources for the Iraqi people; seven, end the sanctions and immediately deliver humanitarian relief; and the final objective, to help the Iraqi people transition to a non-threatening, representative form of self-government that preserves the territorial integrity of Iraq.

(Kevin here again.)
Now, even a cursory reading of the two quotes makes it clear that Clarke is not, in fact, listing REMFsfeld's points in order. This is not, I think, an accident, because it allows her to change them. Rumsfeld's third point--"Third, to search for, capture, drive out terrorists who have found safe harbor in Iraq."--does not appear in Clarke's recitation of his points. There's other garbling of the points as well, but the political necessity of removing that third point is pretty obvious.

Comments

Hi Kevin!

[(Anonymous)]

Hi Kevin! It made me sign in as "anonymous" since I don't have a Livejournal account.

I think I must be misreading your comments on the two quotes above, since the item you mention: "third, to search for, capture, drive out terrorists who have found safe harbor in Iraq" does appear in Clarke's paraphrase as "second, capture or drive out terrorists sheltered in Iraq." It looks to me like all of Rumsfeld's points are there in the paraphrase, more or less. Although the shortening of the language somewhat changes the meaning of the points. Also I think rearranging them alters the focus; for instance in the paraphrase the oil fields come before ending humanitarian aid, which implies a higher priority. (Of course, humanitarian aid is pretty low on the list in both quotes. I mean, duh.)

--Sarah

Re: Hi, Sarah

[womzilla.livejournal.com]

Gah, you're right. I can't read my own notes.

What actually disappeared from the list was Rumsfeld's point #5. More specifically. Rumsfeld's points #2 and #5 were combined into Clarke's points #4 and #5, and then stripped of all references to distribution of weapons of mass distraction to outside forces. Observe:

[2] Next, to identify, isolate and eventually eliminate Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, their delivery systems, production capabilities, and distribution networks. ...

[5] Fifth, to collect such intelligence as we can find related to the global network of illicit weapons of mass destruction activity.

becomes

fourth, collect intelligence on Iraq's illicit weapons-of-mass-destruction activity;

five, destroy the weapons of mass destruction, the systems and the facilities;

Additionally, Clarke actually promoted "secure the oil fields" from #7 to #6.