Demagogue

Do you ever get the impression that the Bush administration is simply incapable of telling the truth?

In an effort to increase pressure on North Korea, the Bush administration told its Asian allies in briefings earlier this year that Pyongyang had exported nuclear material to Libya. That was a significant new charge, the first allegation that North Korea was helping to create a new nuclear weapons state.

But that is not what U.S. intelligence reported, according to two officials with detailed knowledge of the transaction. North Korea, according to the intelligence, had supplied uranium hexafluoride -- which can be enriched to weapons-grade uranium -- to Pakistan. It was Pakistan, a key U.S. ally with its own nuclear arsenal, that sold the material to Libya. The U.S. government had no evidence, the officials said, that North Korea knew of the second transaction.

Pakistan's role as both the buyer and the seller was concealed to cover up the part played by Washington's partner in the hunt for al Qaeda leaders, according to the officials, who discussed the issue on the condition of anonymity.

This sort of thing never fails to amaze me - but then I remember that the Bush administration has been operating in this manner for more than 4 years and it has yet to be held accountable for any one of its countless lies.

So I guess it is not really surprising that, at this point, lying has become the Bush administration's preferred method for handling politics and diplomacy.