Two and a half years after the emperor's naked procession, a majority of citizens believed that the imperial administration had deliberately misled the country.

The most damaging revelations in the papers revealed that four administrations, from Truman to Johnson, had misled the public regarding their intentions.

And 50 percent say that "the administration deliberately misled the public about whether Iraq has weapons of mass destruction."

In addition, the administration has repeatedly misled Congress and the public about the extent of the spying, conceding new methods of investigation only after information is leaked.

Even so, it would be an abuse of the English language to call the claim that the administration misled us into war a conspiracy theory.

There is no doubt that the administration deluded itself and misled the public by not following standard intelligence vetting procedures, and this is what has enraged so many of us.

"The way the administration has misled our country into war is dominating the political debate right now," Mr. Earnest said.

But Mayor David N. Dinkins rejected the charge and said his administration had misled no one.

To the Editor: Whether the C.I.A. dropped the ball or the administration misled us into Iraq, I fear that the problem continues.

He has shown no interest in prodding his Republican friends into investigating how the administration misled the nation about Iraq's weapons.