Funny how quickly things change in our world, so much so that you'd think we would be used to it by now. But it seems as though one-half of the world lives with amnesia that is selectively, and collectively, applied.

Not so long ago in Malaysia, much noise was made over the US-led invasion of Iraq. President George W. Bush (photo) had claimed that Iraq's loathsome leader Saddam Hussein, butcher of his own people, had been harbouring weapons of mass destruction.

And that before he butchers others and steals their possessions, before he fires a missile capped with chemical or biological or nuclear warheads, he must be stopped - at all costs.

So off to war he went, Bush did, with his trusted lieutenants British premier Tony Blair and Australia's John Howard, despite howls of protest from many quarters that the war was illegal.

In Malaysia, the Barisan Nasional government and party cadres quickly organised well-contained anti-war rallies. Angry speeches were made against the western imperialists, especially for openly defying the United Nations.

But there was no criticism by Malaysia of the UN, which has for years pussyfooted around Iraq and Saddam. Having brought other war criminals from eastern Europe to face charges of crimes against humanity, the UN somehow seemed to think Saddam was untouchable.

Now, like Osama bin Laden - that Islamic fascist who murders innocent men and women in cold blood - Saddam is playing Houdini. And that must be irritating Bush, Blair and Australia's chief US toady Howard.

Not only haven't they found one iota of proof of Saddam's WMDs; they can't even find the vile man or his abominable sons.

Holes in case

Not so long ago, Bush grandly declared, albeit in not so many words, the US-led victory over Saddam. But last week his appointed chieftains occupying Iraq affirmed the war was still going on. Guerrilla war.

It seems Saddam is lurking somewhere in Iraq's dark shadows. That's the least of his problems for now, although it's sure to smack Bush in the gob if more Marines are killed and the Washington-appointed Iraqi interim government ends up being as pathetic as the one in Afghanistan.

Bush, Blair and Howard have bigger problems to contend with - their credibility. Every day since the war began, every day since the war ended, has been fraught with problems not dissimilar to the days and weeks and months leading up to the war.

The most damning argument against Bush, Blair and Howard is that their troops haven't found any trace of WMDs. After all, that was one of the key reasons justifying their invasion of Iraq.

Now comes news, every day, that the intelligence on which Bush, Blair and Howard (photo) had relied to make their case to their own peoples and to the sceptical world for the occupation of Iraq, lacks even a shred of credibility.

The credibility isn't only in the gaps contained in the intelligence reports but concerns the credibility of the intelligence itself. Now it turns out that the credibility holes are probably as big as the craters on the moon.

Recall US Secretary of State Colin Powell addressing the UN Security Council with Bush's so-called incontrovertible evidence against Iraq. Recall CIA boss George Tenet sitting behind Powell, nodding in agreement.

Why was Tenet nodding then when he now says he knew even before Bush's address to the joint sitting of the Senate and Congress that the evidence Bush had cited shouldn't have been used?

Should Tenet and Powell be forgiven? After all, even Blair was caught with his hands in the till, so to speak. His office has been accused of tampering with evidence over Iraq's WMDs programme.

In fact, his office had even plagiarised doctoral dissertations and other reports that were at least 10 years old. Incredible what a good bit of resourcefulness does for ingenuity - and for the moral rectitude of Bush, Blair and Howard.

Skeletons in closet

That doesn't even begin to cover the question of the trustworthiness of the three wise men. But get this: late last week, the US Congress, in all its wisdom, bestowed on Blair the Gold Medal, the first since the one awarded to (former British premier) Margaret Thatcher in 1985.

And here's the irony, at least for Blair, who noted it in his speech to Congress: "The first Congressional Gold Medal was awarded to George Washington for what Congress called his 'wise and spirited conduct' in getting rid of the British out of Boston."

Bravo. For the three wise men from the US, Britain and Australia, their justification for war against Iraq boils down plainly to this: Plagiarise and thou shalt be honoured. Bend the truth a little and thou shalt be honoured. Deceive and thou shalt be honoured. Glory be thy name.

There's honour among these men in lying - the inescapable synergy, indeed the natural compatibility, of lies and deception and politicians, and use of any trick like used-car salesmen signing on a customer.

But wait, something's amiss. Back in Kuala Lumpur all seems quiet. Those very people - including premier Mahathir Mohamad and his anointed deputy Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (photo) - who had made the loudest noises, often lacing their criticism of the US, Britain and Australia with overt racism, and marshalled crowds of anti-war supporters, are all dead silent now.

Should they not be beating their chests for having stood above the wise men's lies and deception? Should they not be telling Bush and Blair and Howard: 'We knew and we told you so, and now you look like fools'?

Should they not be packing thousands of their rent-a-crowd people into Stadium Merdeka, and with sticks thumping drums, and amidst animated cries, be chanting in unison: 'Liars, clap-clap-clap; liars, clap-clap-clap; liars, clap-clap-clap'?

Perhaps not. Perhaps it's unwise to be arrogant now. After all, even in Kuala Lumpur and stretching all the way to Mahathir's fairyland in Putrajaya, the government's closets are also filled with skeletons borne by its own dishonesty.

The howls of protest and condemnation were a clever diversion by a government struggling to make credible policy responses to an economy in trouble.

Maybe that's why the leaders are as quiet now as that warlord from Washington, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who seems, curiously enough, to have gone to ground, quite like Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein.

MANJIT BHATIA is managing director of AsiaRisk - a political and economic research and risk analysis consultancy in Australia. The writer specialises in international economics and politics and the Asia Pacific region.