Men of Honor?

(Video from NBC News)

Two prominent men have recently stepped forward to tell the truth about how we got into Iraq. The question for both of them is "What the hell took you so long?"

George Tenet, the former CIA director, has written a new book in which he tells us that the Bushies did not pay attention to his dire warnings about 9/11. He also claims that there was no significant debate about the wisdom of invading Iraq before launching the attack.

Carne Ross, a British diplomat who was Britain's top expert on Iraq at the UN before the start of the war, has also written a new book. In it, he describes the case for war which was presented by the U.S. and Britain as "a gross exaggeration of what we knew." He goes to say that Britain's behavior at the U.N. at that time "was, at best, manipulative and, at worst, dishonest."

Of course, most of what they're now saying can be filed in the No shit, Sherlock file. Most people have already figured all this out. So while these men should be given credit for finally telling the truth, the question has to be asked, "Why didn't you scream this to the world when it could have done some good? Why didn't you resign in protest? Why didn't you do everything you could to stop these idiots from launching a war that you knew was bullshit? How many lives could you have saved?"

Tenet says that he tried to work within the sytem to stop it. Ross now says, "I am ashamed that I didn't speak up earlier. I was afraid to. Friends of mine who were encouraging me to suggested I should have. I was too afraid. I was too attached to my career. I regret it."

Too little, too late.

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