COPENHAGEN – As George W. Bush and Tony Blair learned the hard way, the public does not take kindly to being misled about the nature of potential threats. The after-the-fact revelation that the reasons for invading Iraq were vastly exaggerated – and in some cases completely fabricated – produced an angry backlash that helped toss the Republicans out of power in the United States in 2008 and may do the same to Britain’s Labour Party later this year.
发自哥本哈根 —— 美国前总统小布什和英国前首相布莱尔这两位仁兄都已经深刻地领悟到，如果公众发现自己在某些潜在威胁的真相上受到了误导，那么后果就会很严重。在入侵伊拉克问题上，事后调查发现其中的动因都被极度夸大了 —— 某些甚至是捏造出来的 —— 于是民众为此爆发出来的愤怒和反抗在 2008 年把美国共和党赶下了台，而这一切也很可能在今年晚些时候在英国工党身上重演一遍。