Thank you for this excellent essay, Julio.

At the time I believed it was Cheney's lie.

Cheney was invested in Halliburton and the Iraq war took the company from bleeding millions in red ink to over $39 billion in federal contracts.

There's a mountain of evidence that Bush-Cheney manufactured the lie. Bush was a puppet.

I'm sure there was more to it than just Cheney.

I don't believe for a second Powell thought he was telling the truth.

Yes, it's disturbing that compared to 45, Bush looks like the fun uncle with his benign paintings.

I remember how normal it became to see people walking around without their limbs. That's Bush's legacy.