What if we had done things your way, and YOU had been wrong? What would the consequences have been?

Ex post facto hypotheticals do not alter George Will's premise that the US government - not merely this Administration, but its successors, regardless of party affiliation - must now rebuild their own citizens' confidence in the intelligence that may lead them again to war.

Since, as usual, you've sidestepped the issue, I'll ask outright: Do you, or do you not, think the future of this country is better served by specific public admission of the government's mistake?

We know what the consequences of this path have been: a lot of money and almost 200 Americans lost to hostile action. Of course we freed a nation of 20 million people, but the Left has already decided that this is irrelevant.

It's amazing how often you seem to need to review the case made to the UN favoring invasion vs what should have been the justification, but wasn't. To comply with the UN Charter, the US/UK invasion had to be couched in "self defense" - and it was. The case presented was disarmament, not liberation. Too bad the UN Charter currently doesn't allow the overthrow of despots among legitimate justifications for violation of national sovreignty... but hey, that's the rules. They ought to be changed, as I've said may times before, but they haven't been - yet.

Too bad the weapons weren't really there.

Say we left Saddam alone to string along the inspectors for a few years. If Saddam had had live WMD, and had distributed it to a terror network, what would the toll have been then? Almost 3,000 people died in New York on September 11. Did you know that the WTC attack cost New York City alone over $80 billion in economic losses?

The 'weapons' used in the attack of September 2001 were manufactured in the US. The perp's (15/19) were Saudi; so, I presume (and I'm not alone), was the money that paid their expenses. We targeted the wrong enemy, possibly on purpose: we still kiss Saudi butt because we suck Saudi oil (and have the effrontery to accuse France and Russia of kissing Iraqi butt because they suck Iraqi oil). Think there's a good chance the J4 in those planes was refined from Saudi crude?

Finding out we were mistaken about live WMD, something that could only be learned after the fact in ways that would have been impossible with Saddam still ruling Iraq, does not automatically make the decision to invade the wrong decision.

No, it doesn't. But the liberation of Iraq does not make the Bush Admin's assertions about Vaporware of Mass Destruction any less wrong. George Will's simple point is: own up to it. In some circles we would say, "Be a mensch."

And now for something completely irrelevant:

I never saw the movie, so I don't know what facts John Book used to decide on Philadelphia in the first place.

FYI: Book was a Philly cop. His assumption - false at the time, which he owned up to - was that the boy witness could be better protected in the city. Having lived there, I can tell you: even in the Reading Terminal Market (where some Amish come to sell their meat and produce) they stand out unmistakeably. The better solution was to hide in plain sight, among the Plain People.

If you like Harrison Ford, rent the movie; it's one of his better performances.