Nostra Culpa

Pundits and politicians have admitted to being wrong about Iraq. Shouldn't the American public do the same?

Illustration for TIME by David Plunkert

Pundits and politicians have admitted to being wrong about Iraq. Shouldn't the American public do the same?

There is grim fun to be had, and many are having it, by reviewing what the pundits said back in 2002 and 2003 about the notion of going to war in Iraq and comparing it with what they are saying as they survey the results today. They've all changed their tunes, a little or a lot, with various degrees of contrition.

Politicians, too, are under pressure to recant anything nice they may have said about the Iraq war--or, if they were Senators at the time, to apologize for their votes in favor. Some, like John Edwards, have done so. But one important...

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