Great summary this morning from Kevin Drum:
ABC News has reported that the United States is funneling money to Jundullah, a Sunni terrorist group based in western Pakistan. The New York Times has reported that the United States allows arms deliveries from North Korea to flow to Ethiopia. And now, via Ken Silverstein, CNN's Michael Ware is reporting that the U.S. military provides protection for the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK), an Iraqi-based group listed as a terrorist organization by the State Department:
On the one hand, news like this isn't particularly shocking. For most of its history, the US has actively engaged in a "do as I say, not as I do" brand of foreign policy. You really don't need to look any further than the Monroe Doctrine to understand that. On the other hand, when this behavior comes from an administration that has argued we must now see the world in an us vs. them, black vs. white, good vs. evil framework, it is particularly galling.
Now, to be perfectly honest, I might be a bit more willing to let some of this stuff slide if the specific policies seemed at least reasonably intelligent. But funding terrorist groups with links to al Qaeda? That's so laughably stupid its hard to understand how it could even be contemplated, let along actively pursued. And allowing North Korea to sell arms to Ethiopia? Isn't Bush's entire foreign policy premised on the idea of "not rewarding bad behavior?" Because that policy seems to do it on both ends.
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