Phil Angelides

California gubernatorial candidate, Phil Angelides, said recently, in an attempt to rally severely lacking support, that he would do everything within his power to bring home California National Guard units stationed in Iraq.

``I will do everything in my power, as governor, to bring our National Guard units home,'' Angelides said.


Some critics think his promise is disengenuous and simply made to muster support for his campaign but carries no real chance of ever happening.

As far as his sincerity or his ability to take the President to court in order to get the trooops hom, I don't think one thing or another. The thing that really caught my attention was when he said that the war in Iraq was started by our president under "false pretextes".

What?

Maybe he meant 'false pretenses'... (pretense: "To cloak, to give a feigned appearance to, to pretend, profess, allege, esp. falsely.")
Or maybe he meant 'false pretext'... (pretext: "something serving to conceal plans; a fictitious reason that is concocted in order to conceal the real reason ")
Either way, I think "false" pretense or pretext is redundant.

And even if it's not, I'm pretty sure "pretextes" isn't a word.