That Accountability Moment

Atrios notices an enduring mystery:

The story of this decade is the complete and utter failure by elites in government and media to do their jobs properly. What's so depressing about all of this is that there has been little accountability anywhere (see Kristol, Bill, New York Times for example) for the catastrophe they unleashed on the people of Iraq. For a group of people enamored with their own self-importance, they seem to have little concern for the consequences of what they do.
[Emphasis mine.]

Let's see if I can help Atrios out by using his "Short Answers To Easy Questions" format.

Q: Why have the elites in government and media not been held accountable for the catastrophe they unleashed on the people of Iraq?

A: Actually, they have been.

Our elites in government and media have been well rewarded to compensate for all their hard work achieving the difficult goal of engineering the worst strategic diplomatic failure in American history. Without them, it couldn't have been possible. Let's give them all a big round of applause (and a golden parachute, and our continued adoration) while they engineer ever more critical systemic deterioration. You can't build anything new around here unless you tear down the old stuff first. Out of catastrophe comes great change, and all that, don't you know.

Sorry about your whole generation that was butchered and damned. Posterity will be encouraged to hold parades for them.