Glenn Greenwald: Fred Hiatt, Michael Ledeen and the "bomb Iran crazies"

Fred Hiatt today unleashes an Editorial Page attack on Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency whom Hiatt labels "the Rogue Regulator." Bizarrely, though revealingly, Hiatt begins by complaining that "Mr. ElBaradei was lionized by opponents of the Iraq war for debunking Bush administration charges that Saddam Hussein had restarted his nuclear program before the 2003 invasion" -- as though having been right about Iraq, and thus admired by "by opponents of the Iraq war," is a sign of low credibility.

It is hard to overstate the bitterness and resentment which the Serious Pro-War Beltway Elite like Hiatt, who were wrong about everything, still harbor towards those, such as ElBaredei, who were right about Iraq, principally because those who were right serve as an ongoing, painful reminder of what poor judgment the likes of Hiatt possess, of how untrustworthy are the foreign policy pronouncements of the Serious People in Hiatt's world. Thus, Hiatt's attack on EdBaredei begins with the complaint that he "was lionized by opponents of the Iraq war" for being right. That's because in Hiatt's world, having been right on Iraq -- and being "lionized" by war opponents -- are actually hallmarks of unseriousness. Ask Scott Ritter (if you can find where he can be heard). Or Howard Dean.