Another home run by Frank Rich on our posture in Iraq. Rich's columns must be the NY Times's subtle way of eating crow for printing all the lies and distortions written by Judith Miller. I suppose they feel they have to defend her on the basis of freedom of the press, but it's a stretch. What is at stake is not freedom of the press, but Judith Miller's ass. If she testifies before Fitzgerald's grand jury, she will likely have to take the Fifth Amendment, which would end her reportorial career and humiliate the Times, a humiliation they richly deserve. A person with Miller's talents and proclivities, however, should be able without difficulty to get a job in Karl Rove's office.

Rich reserves his sharpest barbs for Democrats who supported the war but cannot now admit they were mistaken. Is there no one in Washington, D.C. that can say "I'm sorry; I was wrong" or "I trusted them and I was deceived"? Let me know if you can think of anyone. The next president, either Democrat or Republic, will be faced with a major mess to clean up and an angry population screaming at him (or her) to put things back the way they were in the good old days. It will be up to the new president to tell people that Humpy Dumpty isn't going to be put back together again; that gasoline will not become cheaper; that in order to retain a minimally decent life Americans will have to sacrifice many superfluous things that they presently don't regard as superfluous. I can't see any politician on the horizon with the stature and credibility to pull it off.

Is being honest a form of political suicide for a politician?

In these days, perhaps it is.

On the spur of the moment, the following scenario popped into mind. I would appreciate it if any naval types would correct my mistakes in nomenclature:

The officer on the Bridge: "Sir, iceberg straight ahead"

Captain: "Stay the course."

OoB: "But Captain, if we continue this course, we will run into the iceberg."

(Sound of liquid being poured over ice.)

Captian: "You are a girly officer. I'll show you what a real leader is capable of. Full speed ahead."

OoB: " Sir, estimated time to collision 0300 hours."

Captain: "Lieutenant, if you mention an iceberg again, I will relieve you of your post immediately."

OoB: "Aye, sir. For my training, sir, perhaps you could tell me why I am wrong when the radar shows that I am right."

Captain (softening): "Sure, lieutenant. Radar is only a theory. There are a number of Nobel laureates that dispute whether radar even works at all. Their side of this controversy is finally being listened to by the media and even the Navy chief of staff has been known to show skepticism that radar actually works. All we radar skeptics want is a fair hearing."

OoB: "Well, sir, I've never heard of this movement. Can you tell me where you first heard about it?"

Captain: "It came from one of my staff officers. He taught me long ago that the best way to be promoted is to tell my superiors what they wanted to hear. The best way to keep the troops happy is to tell them how well things are going. That is what I've always done. If things eventually went sour, and I'm not saying that they ever actually did, I would have already been promoted to a higher position, so my successor would catch all the blame. I also had some help from my family the few times that something bad happened on my watch before I had gotten out. Now that I'm in command of a ship, I see no reason to change a successful method."

OoB: "Sir, what happened when other people disagreed with you?"

Captain: "That is the key to it all. When another officer or petty officer disagreed with me or told me I was making a grave mistake, I gave them a bad efficiency report, and if they were not under my supervision my staff officer friend spread enough rumors to cast doubts on their judgment or even their honesty. That spiked their promotions and ultimately got them out of the Navy."

OoB: "But what about this radar skepticism? How did that come about?"

(Sound of more liquid being poured over ice.)

Captain: "I found that the officers who during peacetime lived in a reality-based world didn't get very far. The way you got ahead was to make your own reality. The radar was often an obstacle to my plans. When I found out that there were important people that doubted whether it worked at all, I realized that throwing doubt on radar would be a great aid in creating my own reality. And in the reality I created, I would naturally be promoted ahead of my reality-based peers in the officer corps. It gave me a great advantage."

OoB: "A brilliant stroke, sir.

(Time passes. )

OoB: Uh, I think I had better warn you..."

Captain: "Not a word, Lieutenant; Stay the course and you will see that the reality we are creating will become the new reality. Lieutenant? Lieutenant? Lieutenant!!"

(At this point the recording, found amazingly preserved in the wreckage of the U.S.S. Toadstool under about 70 fathoms of Arctic water, ends abruptly.)