archy

Liars lying to liars
Other bloggers have linked to news reports of this, but I'll link to Molly Ivins for a nice short summary:

Two weeks ago, Amir Taheri had an Op-Ed article in the Canadian National Post claiming that the Iranians have a law requiring Jews to wear yellow badges. It turned out to be a complete fabrication and has been the subject of much contempt among bloggers. So Tuesday, Taheri was invited to the White House along with other “experts” to give the president their “honest opinions.” With advice like that, our war in Iran will be a slam-dunk.

You can spin this meeting anyway you want, but all ways look bad.

Lets assume it's all on the up and up and Bush is actually looking to outside experts for advice. I suppose the idea is to counter his bubble-boy image. But, how is going to someone who is, at this moment, in hot water supposed to comfort us in this respect. Did they know how controversial he is? If anything, this is proof that they are completely out of touch.

What kind of advice is the President going to get from Taheri? We are talking about starting another war, spending hundreds of billions, killing thousands, and condemning tens of thousands to life altering wounds, disruptions, and losses. So, for advice, the president goes to someone who is on record making inflammatory lies about the very country we are targeting. What kind of advice will he give? Will the president believe him?

The most innocent interpretation is that the White House vetting process is, once again, criminally, tragically incompetent. A darker interpretation is that they have learned nothing from their cherry-picking of intelligence in the past and are once again recruiting voices that will tell them what they want to hear. All statements to the contrary have been nothing but lies. The paranoid interpretation is that Taheri is already part of the propaganda effort to sell a war to the American people.

Take your pick. All the choices are bad.