Summarizing the case for deception

I've read a fair amount of material defending the choice to go to war in Iraq, from the jingoistically absurd, to well-reasoned opinion pieces on the necessity for bold action. Through it all, though, I've been appalled by the willingness of so many, especially in the mainstream media, to accept with only superficial questioning what appeared to me to be such transparent deceptions employed by this administration in making the case for war. It's always seemed that the only defense ultimately, is one that claims the stakes are so high and the cause so necessary that deception was necessary, because it was the only practical means to a necessary end. All claims that they really did believe all their assertions, and that there really wasn't any deception, struck me as unbelievable, but it wasn't trivial to explain just why that was so. I was recently pointed to an article which very nicely summarizes the case that willful deception has been the ongoing modus operandi of Bush and Company from the outset. [End of Post]