As Jay notes in today’s “Impromptus,” Havel is a more than deserving recipient

of the Medal of Freedom. I’ve been thinking about Havel in light of the

situation in Iraq. News reports have indicated that we are having a difficult

time interrogating Iraqi captives because they are so accustomed to lying; there

are undoubtedly those in Iraq who don’t believe us when we say we killed

Saddam’s sons. Like all other tyrannies, Iraq was rooted in what Havel called

“living the lie,” and many more people than one would like to think were

involved with that. (I believe the quote is from his essay, The Power of the

Powerless.”)