Colin Agonistes

I've been tough on Colin. I've resented the political cover he's given the Deserter and his neocon thugs. I'm sure he worked very hard at the CIA in January 2003 to emend the scatalogical catalogue of lies contained in Scooter Libby's first draft of the infamous U.N. speech, but the bottom line is that he went to the U.N. with what he knew was a very dubious case for Iraqi WMDs.

If I don't miss my mark, however, Colin is attempting to clothe Jerry Bremer's casual "we'll leave if they want us to" remark with the dignity and force of U.S. policy, transforming a seemingly off-the-cuff remark into a fait accompli, thereby cutting-off the ring on the Deserter, Dick and Donny and cornering them on the ropes. After years of public humiliation at the hands of the neocons, Colin is getting his revenge. After years of arguing that he could do more on the inside to curb the imperial impulses of the neocon cabal than he could by resigning, we are finally seeing the dividends of Colin's patience.

This is the culmination of a remarkable series of statements and interviews by Colin over the last month. The article by Wil S. Hylton in the most recent edition of GQ was really quite extraordinary, limning a portrait of the Old Soldier that achieved a certain poignancy. Colin may have been less than heroic during this shameful chapter in our history, but he still stands as a colossus compared to the witless bravado of the Austin Idiot, the unalloyed evil of Dick Cheney, the arrogance and incompetence of Rumsfeld and the amoral striving of Condi Rice.

Like Ted Kennedy and Bob Byrd, Colin is entitled to amnesty for past transgressions for the simple reason that he has spoken the truth in a time when the scarcity of that resource has rendered it more precious than ever.