Monday, July 30, 2007

Let's talk Credibilty

"I'm credible because I read the intelligence," stated the Mighty War Leader (watch it here).

The classic Appeal to Authority or an argumentum ad verecundiam. However, as it is understood by the Glorious Commander Guy, "Because I say so"!

Hmmm, let's see how many times the authority has been correct:

A big claim was an Al Qaida/Saddam link in Iraq prior to the US invasion? Nope.

Will it be a short war? Donald Rumsfeld -"Five days or five weeks or five months, but it certainly isn't going to last any longer than that." Nope.

Okay so it's going to take longer than expected. But, how much will it cost, 20 or 25 billion? Paul Wolfowitz - "We are dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction and relatively soon.” Nope.

Hmm, so it's more expensive than we were lead to believe. How many troops need to go into Iraq? Eric Shinseki stated several hundred thousand, but Mr. Wolfowitz retorted that was "wildly off the mark". Hmmm, I guess more were needed if the army has been extending tours and rotating troops in multiple times.

But, those troops must not be in much danger How are the troops being treated? Dick Cheney -"My belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators." And again nope.

Okay, so on every major facet of the war the "Authority" has been wrong. Tell me again why I should believe you, trust you, listen to you or even respect you Mister Mighty Glorious War Decider? Because when it comes to credibility you have NONE.

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