George Friedman (Stratfor) presented the idea in 2005ish that the WMD lie, while a lie, was done for valid reasons (essentially as an excuse to send troops to destabilize governments that might later have provided legitimacy/money/sanctuary to al Qaeda; and further to warn other governments in the area that to shelter al Qaeda would be a very bad idea). Obvious problems with that aside (the irony of Pakistan, for example), I think it's the kindest excuse anyone has ever offered for the invasion of Iraq. I wonder if anyone (Hillary, Dick Army, whoever) saw through the lies but accepted the side-premise that an invasion might nonetheless help for other reasons, and then after the fact when it was a catastrophe just pretended they bought the lies to save face.