Honestly, I don’t know. It’s hard to separate the various biases, which includes media reporting, and know what the real truth is. We saw that in the run up to Iraq in 2003 with WMD. I think many legitimately thought there was WMD. Heck, even Iraqi generals were reportedly shocked to find out they didn’t have it. But in fairness, there was apparently also a lot of pressure to assess they had it, which turned out to be wrong. IDK.

Again, I’m not arguing one way or the other. My point is that assessments can be wrong, and they can also change over the course of 8 months. That doesn’t (necessarily) prove anyone is lying.

Regardless, folks, please take a breath here. Lots of borderline posts, and some that have gone way over the line, on both sides. It is very clear on the posted Forum Rules, APC is not the place for partisan politics, among other things. If you can’t discuss the impacts of current events without breaking the posted Rules, those posts will be adjudicated appropriately. And when people can’t follow the long-posted rules, don’t be shocked when that happens, or when threads like this get closed.