Mea Maxima Culpa

As long as people are apologizing in Washington, I would also like to say I am sorry.

I'm sorry I said I thought invading Iraq was a good idea, but I wasn't the only one. Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Condoleezza Rice and even the president thought it was a dandy way to send a message to the Arab world.

I apologize for my own intelligence, which turned out to be faulty. I was so sure there were weapons of mass destruction.

I was wrong to think that once we captured Saddam Hussein, the Iraqis would throw flowers into the street.

I made a mistake when I called the critics of the war misguided liberals who had lost their way and were also traitors.

I wish to make amends for thinking you could make an Iraqi omelet without breaking an egg or two.

I am now prepared to eat crow for keeping the United Nations out of the fighting because I was sure we could do it on our own.

I admit I was wrong to think the photographs of Abu Ghraib were just for the MPs to send home to their families.

The buck stops here, not only for the display of photographs on television but also for the pictures of Janet Jackson at the Super Bowl.

I take full responsibility for everything that Rumsfeld did on my watch.

Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter are aberrations and should not give all the other commentators a bad name.

If Cheney didn't press so hard to get us into the war, somebody else would have.

The president was not in the loop. If he had been, he would have asked someone to find out what was going on.

I ask forgiveness from all the countries who think this is the way Americans behave when they are questioning prisoners.