The Fact of the Matter is...

The Trouble with Facts - Matt Yglesias

Yglesias does have a point here. The facts on the ground in Iraq can often support just about any conclusion you want to draw and such conclusions are decided long before such facts arise. Hence the trouble with facts. In and of themselves, facts have no actual value. It's the individual who gives facts their weight and value. Thus it's the individual's personal goals and biases that will determine how certain facts are considered in the larger picture. This is why you can still have some very smart people still support the war and have the facts to back them up. Once you pull back a little from the minutia of the war do you begin to see where everything is going.