Slam dunk

Slam Dunk is a term chiefly only known in North America and amongst followers of US basketball. It derives from basketball, where a slam dunk (or sometimes just dunk) is a particular method of scoring points. In a slam dunk, the player, holding the ball in one or both hands, leaps off the floor and jams the ball directly into the basket, and then usually hangs from the hoop for a second or two. The slam dunk is one of the most visually impressive moves in all of basketball.

In popular use

Outside of basketball, a slam dunk can refer to any notably graceful or fluid act of success, as in "the deal was a slam-dunk."

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In the buildup to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, CIA Director George Tenet assured President George W. Bush that the intelligence supporting the contention that Saddam Hussein's Iraq had weapons of mass destruction was "a slam dunk." Tenet later expressed regret over the phrase, calling them "the two dumbest words I ever said." These events were described in the book Plan of Attack by Bob Woodward.

Related Topics:
2003 invasion of Iraq - CIA - George Tenet - President - George W. Bush - Saddam Hussein - Iraq - Weapons of mass destruction - Plan of Attack - Bob Woodward

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http://edition.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/04/28/tenet.weaponsremark.ap/index.html.

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In the 2004 trial of Scott Peterson, the prosecution team called the case as "slam dunk", because there was a significant amount of evidence and the case would be easy to prosecute.

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