mishmash

It's hard to know quite where to begin.

There is some good news to start with. The FDA finally approved wider sales of contraceptive Plan B, or the "morning-after" pill, after years of dragging its feet for what seemed to be entirely political reasons. At one point an administration official suggested that approval of the drug would lead to teenagers forming "sex-based cults." And last year the senate approved Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt only after receiving a promise from the FDA to make a decision about Plan B, yet shortly afterward, the FDA continued the delays.

Another piece of news seems to invalidate the administration's opposition to stem-cell research, but I doubt it will. They are very good at finding new reasons not to like things after old reasons are thrown aside.

In keeping with that trend, in case you missed it, Bush held a news conference the other day in which he suggested Iraq had something to do with attacking the United States, denied it in the next sentence, and then babbled incoherently. Relevant bits:

Bush: You know, I've heard this theory about, you know, everything was just fine until we arrived and -- you know, the stir-up-the-hornet's- nest theory. It just doesn't hold water, as far as I'm concerned.

The terrorists attacked us and killed 3,000 of our citizens before we started the freedom agenda in the Middle East. They were ...

Reporter: What did Iraqi have to do with that?

Bush: What did Iraq have to do with what?

Reporter: The attacks upon the World Trade Center.

Bush: Nothing. Except for it's part of -- and nobody's ever suggested in this administration that Saddam Hussein ordered the attack. Iraq was a -- Iraq -- the lesson of September the 11th is: Take threats before they fully materialize, Ken.

Nobody's ever suggested that the attacks of September the 11th were ordered by Iraq. I have suggested, however, that resentment and the lack of hope create the breeding grounds for terrorists who are willing to use suiciders to kill, to achieve an objective. I have made that case.

Now it seems to me that that could be a valid assessment, that "resentment and lack of hope create the breeding grounds for terrorists." It also seems that that is exactly the sort of situation the U.S. has created in Iraq since deposing Saddam Hussein.

And speaking of depositions and invasions (this all really strings together well, huh?), there have been recent rumblings from the administration complaining that intelligence agencies aren't portraying Iran as quite the threat they would like it to be.

This is a bit scary, as the U.S. has proven very adept at forming evidence to fit our theories in the past, and this suggests that may be the current trend in dealing with Iran.

Particularly amusing is Newt Gingrich's response to the intelligence agencies' assessment that Iran is not close to building nuclear weapons: When the intelligence community says Iran is 5 to 10 years away from a nuclear weapon, I ask: ‘If North Korea were to ship them a nuke tomorrow, how close would they be then?

I'm starting to think it's a Republican policy to try to so thoroughly confuse people and muddle the issues that they can do whatever they want because people get annoyed thinking about it.

In closing, Paul Pillar (former National Intelligence Officer for the Near East) makes a good point at the end of that same article, stating “It reflects a certain way of looking at the world — that all evil is traceable to the capitals of certain states, and that, in my view, is a very incorrect way of interpreting the security challenges we face.” He also has a rather lengthy read on the administration's disregard for intelligence.

They seem to think that there are a certain number of identifiable "bad people" in the world, and that if we find them and kill them, the world will be safe. And they manage to ignore the rational conclusion, that every time we knock down someone's wall and throw them in prison, all their friends and family hate the U.S. that much more, and will be more inclined to perform acts of terrorism.

But then what use is reason and intelligence when you have an agenda to complete?