Norman Podhoretz’s essay in the December issue of Commentary appears under the provocative title, “Who is Lying About Iraq?” Hint: According to Podhoretz, it’s not the Bush administration.

“Among the many distortions, misrepresentations, and outright falsifications that have emerged from the debate over Iraq, one in particular stands out above all others,” argues Podhoretz. “This is the charge that George W. Bush misled us into an immoral and/or unnecessary war in Iraq by telling a series of lies that have now been definitively exposed.”

“I want to take one more shot at exposing it for the lie that it itself really is,” adds Podhoretz. “Although doing so will require going over ground that I and many others have covered before, I hope that revisiting this well-trodden terrain may also serve to refresh memories that have grown dim, to clarify thoughts that have grown confused, and to revive outrage that has grown commensurately dulled.”

The publication of Podhoretz’s piece coincides with the White House’s so-called “hit-back” campaign, aiming to counter the increasingly conventional wisdom that the Bush administration twisted intelligence reports prior to going to war. To judge by today’s reaction in the blogosphere, Podhoretz’s piece is succeeding at pumping up the counter-outrage.

“Podhoretz demolishes the canard that the Bush administration lied about Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction, not by offering new evidence, but by succinctly and persuasively laying out the facts that demonstrate the absurdity of the charge on which the Democratic Party has apparently decided to risk its fortunes,” claims Power Line. “Podhoretz also disassembles, brick by brick, the structure of lies that Joe Wilson has erected over the last two years.”

“Here in 2005 it is sometimes hard to remember back to a time when what President Bush stated...

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