Beyond the Miller-Libby game: People died [View All]

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http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0542,schanbergweb,68945,6.html

Six weeks ago, former Secretary of State Colin Powell said publicly that the pre-war speech he gave to the United Nations in early 2003 claiming vast evidence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction that turned out to be nonexistent was a "painful" and lasting "blot" on his career.

Though his language of regret was bitterly potent, and it was Powell's first interview since leaving office in January, the nation's press gave it subdued play, far from the front page, and let it die after one day's run.

"I'm the one who presented it to the world," he told ABC's Barbara Walters, "and it will always be part of my record. It was painful. It is painful now." snip

This debate is for coffee shops. What I find fascinating is that we're about to learn what happens when you bamboozle the public with empty words and false image—instead of trusting them with the truth, or something close to it. So then it becomes a game wrapped in a hoax—and the only goal is to get elected, not do what's good for the country.

And with a war, lots of people die. There's got to be some penalty for "leaders" who play that game—perhaps something more than a permanent blot on their record.