'Those who control the present, control the past and those who control the past control the future.' The lies of McNamara and Powell are now hollow, as their lack of control of the present have struck down their gravitas. Powell is still trying to control the future by distorting the story of the past wherever he can.

A neat project for some computer geek would be to set up wikihistory. In it would feature all the players mentioned in this article and many many more. In it would be listed chronologically pronouncements they had made, votes they had taken (if in the government) and actions they had taken. For the politicians, it would be most amusing to compare what they are saying now with what they said in the past. Just as in Wikipedia, anyone could contribute, but a bunch of knowledgable ... More »

Powell's astounding indcompetence helped set up the Iraq War catastrophe and he should be ridiculed or condemned for trying to sell the idiotic adventure as anything other than a disastrous lack of judgment and basic honesty. McNamara should have resigned at the beginning of 1966 and warned the American people their president was taking them into an epic calamity based on the false premise a unified Vietnam posed a threat to the US.

Probably not much - this guy was always in the background - but probably plotting his butt off.