PHASE II: BUSH LIED ABOUT IRAQ. BIG SURPRISE.

From the Huffington Post report on the Senate's long-delayed "Phase II" report on the misuse of "intelligence" in making a case for our illegal and immoral invasion and ongoing occupation of Iraq:

"The 'Phase II' report states -- in terms clearer than any previous government publication -- that there was no operational relationship between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein, that Bush officials were not truthful about the difficulties the United States would face in post-war Iraq and that their public statements did not reflect intelligence they had at the time, and, specifically, that the intelligence community would not confirm any meeting between Iraqi officials and Mohamed Atta -- a claim that was nevertheless publicly repeated."

Wow. Thanks to things like the NY Times report on the Pentagon analyst scandal, Scott McClellan's new book, this Phase II report and other sources, the truth is finally being officially admitted, here in the middle of Bush's last year in office when it's too late to do much about it. Oh, he could still be impeached, I suppose. But that was taken "off the table" long ago.

And so the war will go on into the next presidency. And the presidency after that. And the presidency after that. And so on. But at least we got a quiet official admission that it was all based on lies. That's something, at least, right?

No. It isn't. They got away with it. And they'll get away with the next one. And they'll admit to lying about the next one, too. And I guess we'll just say that impeachment is "off the table" then, too. I guess it just goes to show you that THE SYSTEM WORKS (for the bad guys)! Hooray!