Lexington

摘要

Dragons not only breathe fire but guard precious treasure in caves. The allies' failure, so far, to find banned weapons in the Iraqi cave has unleashed a wave of rhetorical fury. "Embarrassing." "Fraudulent." "Completely unscrupulous." Even, "Arguably the worst scandal in American political history." Along with the rhetoric grows a suspicion that the Bush administration may have deceived Congress and the public with claims that were, at best, misguided and, at worst, deliberately misleading. So far, the rumpus in America has been modest compared with Britain, where Tony Blair's leadership has been under ferocious assault. George Bush's reputation as a man of integrity easily outweighs doubts about his administration's judgment. Unless evidence of deliberate deceit is forthcoming (and so far, there is no sign of it), that is likely to stay true. Established perceptions are difficult to shift.