One-Way Planet

One-Way Planet

This post can be found at http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=2284

Quote of the day: "I don't think that the world gives us the luxury of picking areas," [Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas] Feith said. "We have interests all over the world. I dare say that if anybody before September 11, 2001, was listing places that we would want to focus on as a matter of priority, Afghanistan would have been rather low on the list." (John Hedren, Policy OKs First Strike to Protect US, the Los Angeles Times)

At breakfast a couple of weeks back, having made my way through the sports section and chomping on the last of a morning bagel, I picked up the front-page of my hometown paper and a headline caught my eye -- Data Lacking on Iran's Arms, U.S. Panel Says. Not exactly a barnburner, but I was curious nonetheless. The piece by reporters Douglas Jehl and Eric Schmitt focused on a "nine-member bipartisan presidential panel, led by Laurence Silberman, a retired federal judge, and Charles S. Robb, a former governor and senator from Virginia." Appointed by the President, evidently to look into the state of American intelligence, the panel had been given "unrestricted access to the most senior people and the most sensitive documents of the intelligence agencies," and was soon due to report back to Bush. However, material from its report had been leaked to the two New York Times reporters, who led with what seemed the news of the second:

"A commission due to report to President Bush this month will describe American intelligence on Iran as inadequate to allow firm judgments about Iran's weapons programs, according to people who have been briefed on the panel's work."