Paul Krugman notes that, " 'We were not lying,' a Bush administration official told ABC News. 'But it was just a matter of emphasis.' ... Does it matter that we were misled into war? Some people say that it doesn't: we won, and the Iraqi people have been freed. But we ought to ask some hard questions - not just about Iraq, but about ourselves. ... Thanks to this pattern of loud assertions and muted or suppressed retractions, the American public probably believes that we went to war to avert an immediate threat --just as it believes that Saddam had something to do with Sept. 11.'