For the record

I was just reading the New Scientist, and this quote appeared. I've recorded it here for future reference, in case we get another invasion justified by more bullshit (see formal definition in the previous post).

"'The biggest smoking gun that everyone was waving is now eliminated' A senior official, speaking anonymously, on the still-confidential finding that traces of uranium found two years ago in Iran came from contaminated equipment from Pakistan and is not proof of a clandestine weapons programme (The Washington Post, 23 August)."

New Scientist, No. 2514, 27 August 2005, p. 9.

It's been amusing me for some time how the US government, and presumably intelligence community, can still make claims of hidden weapons programs in countries thay've been railing against for other reasons for some time. It was Abraham Lincoln, that renowned American (sadly of another era) who said: "You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time". Wise words? Hope so.

Brian Toohey wrote an article on governments ignoring warnings of danger. He compared the US Government's tardy response to Katrina, despite plenty of warnings, with its ready action over WMD that didn't exist in Iraq. He noted that the Australian intelligence officer, Lance Collins, got it right in a memo to superiors dated 15 March 1998. But now, what do we find? Bush is still in place, and beset with problems, but Collins ..."resigned a few weeks ago, after being frustrated by efforts to undermine his contributions on the intelligence front".

Be very worried when truth is ignored in the pursuit of a pre-defined end. Facts will get you in the end, despite your strongest beliefs.

"When warnings of danger are ignored" by Brian Toohey. In Canberra Sunday Times, 11 Sept 2005, p. 24.