Oh yeah-- and *another* thing. (This really peeves me.)

I see that both Atrios and Calpundit, and their readers, are once again full of pissfire about the whole "nobody ever said the word 'imminent' about Iraq" thing. (See here and here for the backstory.)

Here's why I'm pissed off. It's because the Bush administration did say the threat from Iraq was imminent. Yes, they really did use the word 'imminent' and it really annoys that critics of the Bush administration Iraq policy can't dig this up.

Check out this transcript of the February 10, 2002 White House Press Briefing with Scott McClellan aboard Air Force One en route to Nashville, Tennessee.

Q: What about NATO's role? Belgium now says it will veto any attempt to provide help to Turkey to defend itself. Is this something the administration can live with, or is it a major obstacle?

MR. McCLELLAN: Two points. We support the request under Article IV of Turkey. And I think it's important to note that the request from a country under Article IV that faces an imminent threat goes to the very core of the NATO alliance and its purpose.

Q: What can you do about this veto threat?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, again, I think what's important to remind NATO members, remind the international community is that this type of request under Article IV goes to the core of the NATO alliance.

Q: Is this some kind of ultimate test of the alliance?

MR. McCLELLAN: This is about an imminent threat.

Looks pretty clear cut to me. But then what do I know? I'm just a stupid blogger.

Here's the amusing part. This transcript is not available on the White House official press gaggle web archive. Could it be that the archive has a selective memory?