Ray McGovern: "Should We Fall Again For 'Trust Me'?", ConsortiumNews.com, 3 September 2013.

Regarding the Syrian Government's alleged use of chemical weapons, we are asked to trust the "high confidence" assessment of the White House. (And here in the UK, we are asked to trust the Joint Intelligence Committee.) But are we rationally justified in placing such trust in the pronouncements of intelligence establishments which, as ex-CIA Ray McGovern reminds us, have lied to us in the past? Let's not forgot the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, and those non-existent Iraqi WMDs.

(I recently heard one commentator describe the Iraqi WMD affair as "a fiasco." According to the OED, that means "a complete failure, especially a ludicrous or humiliating one". Well, I agree it was humiliating (or should have been), but I can't see it as a failure. Was it not a highly successful lie that achieved its objective - war? But, perhaps he thinks that if we can be persuaded to downgrade the lie to a mistake, we might think they will do better this time, having learnt from their "fiasco". So, I ask, which is it this time: lie or fiasco?)

Image: "Secretary Kerry Delivers Remarks On Syria", U.S. Department of State [Public Domain] on Flickr; resized.