jillian
Princess
Sorry, but I deal in the law. Refering to one as a "traitorous motherfucker" is alledging that said person committed treason. You maintain a difference between the legal definition of treason and a traitorous act, yet there is no difference. Hell, all I need to argue against you is Webster's.
traitorous - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
The definition of traitorous is "guilty or capable of treason." A "traitorous act" is the act of treason. Since treason is defined by the US code, you have accused Powell of a felonious crime, punishable by death.
Now, Powel investigation of My Lai was absolutely a whitewash. It was unethical and probably constituted violations of the UCMJ, but itwasn't traitorous.
Lying to the American people, the UN, and everyone around the World about inteligence that sent us to war with Iraq was yet again unethical, but not traitorous. He has never made war against the US. He hasn't sold or given away state secrets. Nor has he ever given aid and comfort to the enemy.
Feel free to refer to him as an "unethical motherfucker" all you want, but you should be careful about throwing around accusations of treason.
You know, it's pretty interesting. I was listening to Wolf Blitzer interview Donald Trump yesterday. The Donald is a McCain supporter and moderate republican. He said that Bush should have been impeached for lying about WMD's. Wolf responded by saying "but the intelligence was flawed, so it wouldn't necessarily be a lie" (paraphrasing a bit). The Donald said "I don't believe that. And you're smart, Wolf, neither do you".
So, I wouldn't use the word treason, but it was treachery. And, interestingly, when I looked up the word treachery, this is the definition I got:
Main Entry: treach·ery
Pronunciation: \-rē\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural treach·er·ies
Etymology: Middle English trecherie, from Anglo-French, from trecher, tricher to deceive, from Vulgar Latin *triccare more at trick
Date: 13th century
1 : violation of allegiance or of faith and confidence : treason
2 : an act of perfidy or treason
treachery - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
So treason by the definition anticipated by the Constitution? I think not. But is it an improper word in terms of its common usage?