The primary rationale for staying in Iraq seems to be that we dare not leave the country to the mercy of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. But the danger the Jordanian terrorist poses (leaving aside the dubious likelihood of his acquiring power in majority-Shiite Iraq) has itself been deliberately exaggerated (or at least overemphasized), as Thomas Ricks wrote this week in The Washington Post. This story has not received adequate coverage or blogospheric outrage, beause this particular example of dishonesty would appear directly to undercut the central rationale for continuing the war. Just a thought.