Gobsmacked

From the You’ve Got to be Shitting Me Files:

President Bush on Tuesday bestowed the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, on three of the central architects and executors of the war in Iraq, one of the president's strongest efforts yet at putting a formal stamp of success on a war whose outcome is still a question.

The recipients were Gen. Tommy R. Franks, the overall commander of the invasion of Iraq; L. Paul Bremer III, the chief civilian administrator of the American occupation of the country; and George J. Tenet, the longtime director of central intelligence who built the case for going to war.

"Today this honor goes to three men who have played pivotal roles in great events," Mr. Bush said, surrounded by members of his administration in a ceremony in the East Room of the White House, "and whose efforts have made our country more secure and advanced the cause of human liberty."

If you need it explained to you why that’s an outrage of epic proportions, you probably wouldn’t believe me, anyway.