Charles Pierce links the current Iraq debacle to our national failure to punish the people behind Iran-Contra—in part due to an earlier round of presidential pardons. There more than something to that, but I think it goes deeper.
Today's brazenly pardoned crimes may be linked to yesterday's brazenly pardoned crimes, but today's policy blunders have their roots a bit earlier: it was much worse for your career (both iin the bureaucracy and in the legislature) to be right too early about Vietnam than it was to be wrong too long. And too many people in DC have learned all those lessons all too well.
