David Frum responds to yesterday’s post on Brent Scowcroft and a possible Iraqi civil war with a supercilious and I think incorrect commentary on the fine differences between the words ‘incipient’ and ‘imminent’.
I’ll let the linguists out there be the judge of who has the better part of that lexical exercise. Bill Safire could have some fun with this. But the last time David and his friends played fast and loose with the word ‘imminent’, it cost us more than a thousand American lives — and counting.
So when it comes to that word it’s my policy to keep him and his crew on short leash.
— Steve Clemons
