by Nicholas Lemann

About the author: Nicholas Lemann is an award-winning writer and dean of the Columbia University School of Journalism.

The war in Iraq was a long time coming—so long that it was obvious in Washington that war was certain even before the diplomatic drama that preceded it began to unfold. President [George W.] Bush and Secretary of State [Colin] Powell went to the United Nations, made their charges against Saddam Hussein, forced the weapons inspectors to return, presented evidence of their own when the inspectors found none, and, finally, concluded that Iraq would not disarm and war could not be postponed, no matter what the Security Council thought—and all that, evidently, came after the decision was made to invade. Disarmament may have been a sincere (if, it now...