So, Iraq is part of an "axis of evil". Dick Cheney says that they are actively pursuing weapons of mass destruction. No red-blooded American would trade with scoundrels like that --- unless they could disguise the deal by shunting it through a French subsidiary. Among the American companies that worked these deals over the past few years was Halliburton, whose CEO over much of that time was Dick Cheney.

It's all a matter of putting the best face on things. It's as natural as the Pentagon's decision to give movie producer Jerry Bruckheimer and ABC's entertainment division broad access to war zones to produce a reality show, but to deny the same access to ABC News. They just prefer Bruckheimer's reality.

Reality is a tricky thing, you see. When Dubya recently gave a speech in Japan, the State Department and several news organizations thought they heard him say that

for a century and a half now, America and Japan have formed one of the great and enduring alliances of modern times.

Which would be a strange thing for him to say, what with all the unpleasantness around 1940 that got his father shot down over the Pacific. But, evidently, they were mistaken; in the White House transcript of the same speech, that sentence reads

for half a century now, America and Japan have formed one of the great and enduring alliances of modern times.

They're not like the Clinton administration. They don't lie. They just do their best to shape the truth.