The sense of war-weariness is palpable. Even broadsheet newspapers have decided their readers deserve a break, devoting a good deal more coverage to the contestants of "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here", a reality television show, than to further minutiae about the time it takes to launch a non-existent Iraqi weapon of mass destruction. At Westminster, all passion is spent. A few obsessives apart, MPS are hoping with quiet desperation that the time has come to move on. What is a good deal less clear is whether and how the poison unleashed by the war will linger. One thing is fairly plain. Almost everyone has made up their mind about Iraq and nothing is likely to change it-certainly not the inquiry into pre-war intelligence that has been placed in the safe hands of Lord Butler. Since the end of summer, apart from a brief blip when Saddam Hussein was arrested, most people, albeit by a small majority, have concluded it was wrong to take military action. Unless the news from Iraq becomes a great deal better, that won't alter. There is also a widespread belief that Tony Blair, at best, exaggerated the case for war. That too seems pretty immutable.
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