Did Bush Lie

Matt Yglesias writes a short article on the Atlantic blog about the fundamental lie Bush "sort of" told about going into Iraq.

I will concede Bush and company prioritized the WMD argument as the legal reason for going to war. But for anyone who was paying attention to the discussion at the time, there were a lot of other reasons for going into Iraq being tossed around - moral reasons, political reasons, and strategic reasons. Bush chose to focus on the WMD argument - which I always thought was a mistake. But not a big enough mistake to discount all the other possible benefits to the region and the world of a removed Saddam Hussein. I hardly consider this a lie. It was a choice of argument to present which wasn't - in my opinion - the wisest, but the one they thought the most compelling.

I've been using my "going to lunch" example a lot lately in my arguments. When I choose what to each for lunch, it is for a variety of reasons:

1) It tastes good
2) It is healthy
3) I'm in the mood for it
4) It is cost effective
5) It is convenient

I got my Bay Cities turkey sandwich yesterday and when someone asks: "why did you get your bay cities turkey sandwich?"

I replied, "Because it tastes good and is healthy."

They say, "But the meatball sandwich also tastes good."

I say, "Yes, but the turkey is more healthy than the meatball. So I guess I got it because it was healthy."

And then, an anti-turkey sandwich person chimes in, "YOU LIAR. You really got the turkey sandwich because it was cheap and affordable!"

To which I say, "Well, that's true. But I wasn't really lying, exactly."

"No - you're a liar. You said you got it because it's healthy - it's not really even that healthy."

"Whoa, easy dude, I think a turkey sandwich is pretty healthy. But yeah, there were a lot of reasons to get a turkey sandwich. One was because it was *kinda* healthy, but another is because it tastes good, another because it's affordable, another because it's convenient and possible..."

"But you only said healthy. Which makes you a liar. You're just making all that other stuff to justify your decision afterwards!"

See what I mean?