Some more of the wisdom of Jeffrey Goldberg. From a 2002 Slate colloquy. Jesus, this is all so surreal five and a half years later. But let's stick to the statements he made that were untrue or obviously dubious at the time he made them. First up:

There is not sufficient space, as well, for me to refute some of the arguments made in Slate over the past week against intervention, arguments made, I have noticed, by people with limited experience in the Middle East (Their lack of experience causes them to reach the naive conclusion that an invasion of Iraq will cause America to be loathed in the Middle East, rather than respected).

How naive of them! How ignorant! Didn't they know that Jeff Goldberg has touched his toes in Kurdistan and southern Lebanon? Argument over. Oh, but what about those Saddam-al Qaeda ties, Goldilocks?

[Saddam has] harbored al-Qaida fugitives (this is, by the way, beyond doubt, despite David Plotz's assertion to the contrary);

Beyond doubt! After all, some Kurdish officials got a prisoner to tell Goldberg that, and for a crack investigative reporter like him, that's some case-closed material. (Also, credit where due: Score one for Plotz.) OK, last one.

There is consensus belief now that Saddam could have an atomic bomb within months of acquiring fissile material. This is not unlikely, since the international community, despite Kate Taylor's assertion, is incapable in the long run of stopping a determined and wealthy dictator from acquiring the things he needs.

Tell it to INR and DOE. "Consensus belief," Christ. This man's career is based on constructing consensus reality.

Update: I should have read to the end!

In five years, however, I believe that the coming invasion of Iraq will be remembered as an act of profound morality.

If Goldilocks was a quarter of the reporter he thinks he is, a fraction of the moral titan he thinks he is, or a sub-atomic particle of the truth-teller he thinks he is, he'd ask a dozen Iraqis their opinion of that prediction as they queue up in front of the Baghdad morgue.