Rogue States

Occasionally, I criticise George Monbiot a bit for the kinds of failings that probably every journalist succumbs to at one time or another - mostly, for talking about things he doesn't know enough about. I don't do this because I have anything against him, though - in fact it's precisely because when he sticks to what he's good at, he's among the best journalists Britain currently has.
Today's Guardian piece ends with an absolutely phenomenal paragraph. Read it a couple of times, then think about it for a while, and then read it again. Because getting to grips with what it says, and the implications of what it says, is an exercise which other perceptive writers have spent volumes and volumes trying to do. This is what an opinion column should look like. How better to sum up the whole despicable, shameful affair of the Iraq invasion than this?

"Saddam Hussein, facing a possible death sentence, is accused of mass murder, torture, false imprisonment, the embezzlement of billions and the use of chemical weapons. He is certainly guilty on all counts. So, it now seems, are the people who overthrew him."