Funny you should cite those two examples, both notorious for being faked by the US government to justify military action. It’s amazing how many times some people can be convinced “this time is different” in one lifetime.

I only point them out to say that nobody should be trusted when the stakes are so high. Not the government nor the press. It always ends poorly.

And yet the default reaction of the "rational" chattering class has been to defer to the government. Over and over, no many how many times they're lied to. Brilliant.