The mixture of power, responsibility, ideology, hubris, intelligence and most important, the unpredictability of events can turn leaders from heroes into villains and villains into heroes.

Powell and the Bush Administration made choices that led to tragic outcomes. History suggests this is not an uncommon occurrence. We ask our leaders to do the impossible. We ask them to have infallible judgement and unimpeachable character but express outrage and shock when events reveal them to be human and capable of flawed judgement.

Any criticism of our leaders should be tempered with context. We'll never know how the social and political destabilization caused by the events of 9/11 contributed to darken decision making at the time.

The "fog of war" impacts both those on the battlefield and those who send them there.