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05/11/2004 Entry: "Semantics"

Hey look, everybody! Unintended Consequences!

Sooo... Is it torture, or gross mistreatment? The text of the Geneva Convention uses the word "Outrage", as in, "(c) Outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment;", in Part I, Article III of the General Provisions.

While watching some of the Senate Hearings on this matter, I'm amazed at the hair-splitting that's going on in the wake of this scandal. It all sounds like a bunch of prevarication and equivocation to me. Of course, these are not precisely the same as lying¹, and torture is not the same as gross mistreatment.

But Rummy's doing a great job. Thanks, Rummy. If your plan is to spur the entire Muslim world to rise against us so we can go to war and take their oilfields, you're doing a great job.

¹ From m-w:

Main Entry: 3 lie
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): lied; ly·ing /'lI-i[ng]/
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English lEogan; akin to Old High German liogan to lie, Old Church Slavonic lugati
intransitive senses
1 : to make an untrue statement with intent to deceive
2 : to create a false or misleading impression
transitive senses : to bring about by telling lies
synonyms LIE, PREVARICATE, EQUIVOCATE, PALTER, FIB mean to tell an untruth. LIE is the blunt term, imputing dishonesty . PREVARICATE softens the bluntness of LIE by implying quibbling or confusing the issue . EQUIVOCATE implies using words having more than one sense so as to seem to say one thing but intend another . PALTER implies making unreliable statements of fact or intention or insincere promises . FIB applies to a telling of a trivial untruth .

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