I don't know how well the Bush administration managed to spin its domestic media and consequently the perception of American audiences - maybe some Americans are genuinely surprised of what the memo has revealed. For European audiences there's hardly anything surprising - this is precisely how things looked to Europeans (despite their political standing) already months before the war: Bush was hell bent to go to war and would find any excuses to do so, and Blair was following him like an obedient poodle. It would of course be nice if the leaders of important western democracies would not lie blatantly to their citizens to excuse wars that will inevitably cause lot of death and destruction but I suppose most people don't simply expect such moral integrity from politicians these days.
- tg
