Mushroom clouds of bad lies

Condoleezza Rice shows an amazing lack of skill as National Security Advisor. She must be holding that position simply because of her relationship with her husband, George W. Bush (her word, not mine). Examples of her incompetence include her really weak attempt at lying to the 9/11 Commission about the contents of the August 6, 2001 Presidential Daily Briefing. She claimed it was an “historical document” with the title of Bin Laden Determined to Strike In U.S. A smarter person would have figured out a better lie, something a bit more believable. Something along the lines of, say, “We did everything possible after that memo…”

In September 2002, Condoleezza Rice was adamant regarding how dangerous Iraq was. In an effort to conflate Iraq with terrorism, she had this to say:

Rice acknowledged that “there will always be some uncertainty” in determining how close Iraq may be to obtaining a nuclear weapon but said, “We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.”

I'm not sure she even knows what could cause a mushroom cloud. With the recent explosion in North Korea that created a mushroom cloud and a crater visible from space, Condoleezza Rice thinks it might have been a forest fire. Again, this is an amazingly unbelievable lie. It seems unlikely the North Korean explosion was a nuclear test, but a forest fire? That just sounds stupid. Maybe it was a military accident or sabotage. But to claim a sudden, crater-making forest fire erupted in North Korea stretches believability. Considering the explosion happened on Thursday and it wasn't until Sunday that Rice was asked about this, it is amazing that's the best she could do.

kherr @ 23:45 CDT | link | politics