In The New Yorker's letters column (which isn't online), Roger Brandwein of Scarsdale, New York, responds to a Talk of the Town piece by Philip Gourevitch about the tales told to us by Bush and Blair:

It's worth remembering, in reading Gourevitch's Comment, that past Presidents have not only lied about threats posed to America but also been held to account for their dishonesty. In 1846, President James Polk deceived the public into believing that Mexican troops who had crossed the Rio Grande had, in an unprovoked attack, "shed American blood on American soil." In response to this "invasion," General Zachary Taylor was ordered into action, and Congress declared war on Mexico. But when it became clear to legislators that the President had duped them Congress acted again: the House of Representatives censured Polk, finding that the war had been "unnecessarily and unconstitutionally begun."