>>Not going to decide if that one was lying or to dumb to realize that there were no WMDs hidden

In fairness, the culprit was into sabre-rattling, fostered the impressions that he had doomsday weapons hidden away and acted guilty when inspectors came. The WMD proposition only became credible because he wanted us to be afraid.

The big issue I see is that the (correct) observations by the French and Ruskies (and Germans) were rubbished because they are the French and Ruskies- which was accepted by many as a pretext to ignore their contrary evidence. And the UN inspectors who could not find the WMD under their noses are from the bungling UN so what do you expect. These are easy answers to complex questions and it appears that the target public was tired of uncertainty and wanted a definitive response.

If the same were to happen today, my pick is that the same ad hominem discounting of contrary evidence would occur. IOW nothing much was learned. As often paraphrased from Burke: "Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it."