For freeps and other RWers: a couple of points about the DSM

[magellan]

Sorry to preach to the choir. This is intended for RW lurkers.

1) I've been hearing the Right -- including Tweety -- spin "fixed around" as meaning something different in British English than the common definition, "rigged".

Let me make this plain. It does not mean "bolted on", "gathered up", or any other innocent variation the Republicans are desperately trying to sell everyone. "But the facts and intelligence were being fixed around the policy" means the exact same thing in British parlance as it does in America: it means the facts and intelligence were being intentionally altered and/or cherry-picked to make the case for war.

My husband is British and was a court reporter who worked at the courts in London, including the Royal Courts of Justice, for over two decades. I lived in England for 7 years until quite recently. Those are our credentials on the matter of "British government-speak".

2) Read on a Reich Wing blog: "It's okay for the President to lie to Congress if he does it in the nation's best interest."

It is never, EVER okay for the President to lie to Congress. Is that the world you want to live in, where we never know for certain what motivates a president's request for authorization for war? What if it was a Democratic president; would you feel differently if you found out they had lied, regardless of whether it was "in the nation's best interest"?

If so, it's really time to take the partisan eyewear off and start thinking like an American. Truth and justice are not the private domain of any political party. Truth in particular is not something we should expect from the government. The Founding Fathers provided checks and balances within the Constitution precisely to defend us against the lies that flow so easily from those in power.

The Downing Street minutes deserve a legitimate inquiry, and some honest answers.

That's all. Thanks for the soapbox, DU. :)

[Triana]

1. It's OK for the President to lie to Congress if he's a Republican (n/t)

[Matariki]

10. had a co-worker say the same thing

first he claimed that Bush didn't lie to congress, then assested that Bush lying was okay because Saddam needed to go. I guess - just because.

[holboz]

2. Thanks for your post - you're right on.

I fully agree. My husband is British and we came to the exact same conclusion on what "fixed around" meant. This isn't a case of "fag means cigarette" or "bonnet means hood". Fixed around means exactly what it sounds like: circumstances were created to provide the environment that Dubya and Blair wanted.

[gademocrat7]

3. Thank you

great post.

[Dawgs]

4. Here's a better point, IMO...

Why would it have been such a big deal in England if fixed meant something different?

Again, the fact that they are arguing the definition of fixed shows that they are admitting that this memo is damaging.

[holboz]

6. It's the old what the definition of "is" arguement , IMO. n/t

[geckosfeet]

5. Thanks for a good post on the minutes.

[Igel]

7. I read "fixed around" to mean "chosen to suit"

but not as "changed to suit".

A number of posters don't see the difference. I'm not sure that it's a crucial difference here, but it's one that should be maintained.

Too many have already effaced the distinction between "lie" and "falsehood", evident from a few minor flame wars I've seen on DU. It was a truly useful distinction.

[magellan]

9. "Fixed around" can mean either

..."chosen" or "changed" to suit, or -- as seems likely in this case -- both. There's a difference in the methods employed, but not in the ultimate intent, which is to deceive.

[LSK]

8. best interest LOL

How is wasting billions of dollars and getting 1700 soldiers killed acting in our best interests. What exactly were we gaining???

[Dr Fate]

11. And another message for lurkers: The Iraq War is a CURRENT EVENT...

...It is NOT "old news."