A trade

manifesto

Months ago, Jon Stewart proposed that the U.S. trade some of its media douchebags to Great Britain in return for some real reporters. That hasn't happened yet, which is why we have been treated to five straight days of CNN telling us all about the "Runaway Bride" (still the headline story on CNN.com as of 11 a.m.) while the London Times is reporting on a secret memo, written before the Iraq war, that details exactly how the Bush administration was planning to mislead Americans. My favorite graf:

C reported on his recent talks in Washington. There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy. The NSC had no patience with the UN route, and no enthusiasm for publishing material on the Iraqi regime's record. There was little discussion in Washington of the aftermath after military action.

Hmm... how many lies does this one graf expose? How about this one?

It seemed clear that Bush had made up his mind to take military action, even if the timing was not yet decided. But the case was thin. Saddam was not threatening his neighbours, and his WMD capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran. We should work up a plan for an ultimatum to Saddam to allow back in the UN weapons inspectors. This would also help with the legal justification for the use of force.