What I learned from the runup to - and fallout from - the Iraq War is that accusations of treachery, if they're repeated often enough by enough authority figure

What I learned from the runup to - and fallout from - the Iraq War is that accusations of treachery, if they're repeated often enough by enough authority figures through enough different channels, manage to stick regardless of their veracity. In fact, among their most devoted followers they actually become more credible after they're empirically disproved.