Douglas Feith is a fascinating character. Dubbed by General Tommy Franks as the "stupidest f*cking guy on the planet," he is one of the neocons who still goes on TV like he did nothing wrong, when he should be hiding under a rock and having trouble sleeping at night. On Monday, Feith stammered and stuttered his way through the widely discredited laundry list of reasons why -- despite conventional wisdom and reality -- the administration's case for war was completely honest and forthright.
Here is just a small taste of Feith's deceit and the money quote from Stewart:
Download Download (click here for the full 22-minute, unedited interview)
"You removed the ability for the American public to make an informed decision. Once you have removed that, then you no longer have the authority. You told us what part of the argument is appropriate to know about."
Although Stewart did a solid job of holding Feith's feet to the fire, I think he missed a couple of opportunities to really nail him. Rumsfeld's flunky maintains that everyone involved really did weigh the pros and con, and that they frankly conveyed both sides of the argument to the public.
Well, I would love to hear his predictably laughable response to any one of these:
The reinsertion of the infamous sixteen words into the SoTU.
The Downing Street Memo that confirmed "facts were being fixed around the policy" to remove Saddam Hussein.
Why was Powell's entire UN speech based on the claims of someone named Curveball -- an informant who the CIA repeatedly warned was entirely unreliable and a drunk.
Why was the opinion of the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, who unequivocally concluded the aluminum tube and centrifuge angle was bogus, suppressed?
Why weren't we told that Iraq's Foreign Minister, Naji Sabri, reached out to the CIA and debunked every myth about their non-existent weapons programs.
And on and on and on...
Feel free to add your own examples in the comment section.