Paul Krugman, America's Conscience.

How many of you have heard about the Downing Street Memo? It confirms what we all knew to be true; what is more disturbing is how little media coverage it got, even while news media was perfunctorily covering Tony Blair's re-election.
Here's the smoking gun within a smoking gun (keep in mind that this email was penned July 23, 2002):
"Military action [in Iraq] 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."

Oh, and then this:
"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."

Ouch. Tony Blair squeaked into office despite this- but at least Britain's press covered the damn thing. Where have you gone, NY Times? They buried this story. Why? Did they figure it was "old news?" Did they figure no one cared about memo leakage in the UK, relevant though it is to our own situation? Are the news media as completely in the pockets of Turner, Murdoch, GE and Disney as all that? Have they thrown up their collective hands and acquiesced in this country-wide atmosphere of zero accountability?

Once again, the source of my knowledge and anguish is Paul Krugman's op ed. Our nation turns its jaded eyes to you, Paul. In the era of the corporate "free press," voices like his are about all we have to go on.