Putz Flashback: The Start of the War.

E&P observes that on this day six years ago, Paul Krugman

hit nearly every nail on the head in predicting what would follow. Yet consider the scorn he has had to endure from so many in the years since, who got it nearly 100% wrong.

Putz heaped scorn with regularity. As you can imagine, a look back at his output from March 19, 2003 is pretty goddamn embarrassing. However, it is also wonderfully instructive, as it encapsulates at least some of Putz's worst traits.

Pig ignorance:

TARIQ AZIZ: Shot while trying to defect, according to unconfirmed reports. I don't know how much credence to give this, but it's interesting.

UPDATE: According to this report Aziz has defected, and is alive. Stay tuned. (LATER: Now the story has been changed, and says he hasn't defected, or been shot.)

ANOTHER UPDATE: Hesiod has a bunch of Aziz-related links, and suggests that the invasion is underway already.

Beats me what's going on. The fog of disinformation should be at its thickest right now.

YET ANOTHER UPDATE: Diana Moon has more.

LAST ONE: Aziz is reportedly live on Baghdad TV pointing out that he's not dead and saying that people shouldn't believe such reports. Hmm. Maybe the whole thing was Iraqi disinformation.

Arrogance:

Personally, I think the French could have saved themselves a lot of diplomatic trouble by reading weblogs.

Naivete:

LOTS OF NEW WAR COVERAGE over at The New Republic, including this from Gregg Easterbrook, and this from Kanan Makiya.

And to think, a mere six years later Putz would change the course of media forever.