Michael Ledeen: fanatical liar extraordinaire

Glenn Greenwald has written previously about Michael Ledeen denying that he had supported the invasion of Iraq when in reality he had been one of the leading figures in the intellectual movement that orchestrated the invasion. But what seems to be missing from the various links one can find through the Greenwald post is a link to this post written by Ledeen on Sept. 11, 2001, which was posted about 4 hours after the attacks. (h/t Craig Unger)

After citing the crank conspiracist work of the thorougly discredited (although that never seems to matter to neoconservatives) Laurie Mylorie to suggest Saddam Hussein was responsible for the Twin Tower attacks, Ledeen wrote

Finally, someone should remind the president that we are still living with the consequences of Desert Shame, when his father and his father's advisers--most notably Colin Powell and Brent Scowcroft--advised against finishing the job and liberating Iraq. And the president should show the world that he is cut from different fabric, by immediately moving the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and removing the pettifogging restrictions on the Iraqi Resistance, thereby taking the fight directly to Saddam on his own territory.

If he does that, he will show his antiterrorist people that the rules have changed, and we are serious. If he doesn't, they will cover their asses with legal opinions forbidding them to act effectively.

Machiavelli famously said that it's impossible to get good leaders in peacetime. We will now find out if we have leaders capable of waging war.