I agree with Rafe Colburn; I too am still waiting for the article that analyzes Colin Powell’s February speech to the U.N. claim by claim to show the extent to which we were lied to about the pretexts for the war. More than that, though, I’m waiting for Powell’s postwar memoir, the searing indictment of how he was misled and betrayed, his reputation exploited as fodder for the Bush regime’s search for credibility. Not that it’ll necessarily be true, mind you; I’m still not clear how much of a willing accomplice Powell has been. But it’ll make a nice book contract, since any further political aspirations he could have had have pretty much run aground by now.

Given the American public’s blasé indifference to the fact that they’re getting fooled again, Rafe is right to ask and answer:

The other question that must also be asked is why I care in the first place. We went to war with Iraq, we won the war, and there’s little doubt that Iraqis are better off without Saddam than they were with him. The reason I’m still keeping track of this stuff is that I firmly believe we were led to war under false pretenses. I said it before the war, I said it during the war, and I’ve said it since. Next year we’re going to have a Presidential election in which the incumbent is a man who played upon the rightful fears of Americans to gain their assent to a war fought for reasons that he and his advisors would rather not openly acknowledge. I think we deserve better treatment from our leaders than that.