Deception and the Deceiving Deceivers who Spout It

And another thing... Here's a little bit of deception Atrios was just complaining about, and it's been bugging the crap out of me ever since the Bushies started spouting it...i.e., as soon as people started asking what they knew before 9/11. When people ask what they knew or suggest that they knew more than they claim they did, they (Rice is usually the culprit, actually) often say something like "No one could have predicted that on the morning of September 11, 2001, thirteen al Qaeda terrorists mostly from Saudi Arabia would hijack four planes (from American Airlines and U. S. Air) and fly one into each of the towers of the WTC and one into the Pentagon and that passengers on another would..." Well, you get the picture. Right, you freaking sophists, no one could have predicted EXACTLY what was going to happen. But nobody's asking about that. We're asking what they knew and whether they knew enough that they should have been able to predict that some kind of terrorist attack was likely. If you take your car to the mechanic and he checks it all out and then the thing dies on you a mile from the garage, and you ask him "hey, how come you didn't catch that problem" and he responds "Look, NOBODY could have predicted that your car would die EXACTLY at the corner of Elm and 5th..." Well, get a new mechanic... This is just another sign of this administration's utter contempt for reason and for us.