Drugs

The revelation that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps and its Quds Force had plotted to kill Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States – by blowing him up as he dined at a Washington restaurant – is a stark reminder of the nature of the Tehran regime and its ambitions. But perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the story is that Iran’s thugs are developing a strategic partnership with Mexico’s most violent thugs: Los Zetas may only be the second-largest drug cartel in the Drug Enforcement Administration’s rankings, but they’re probably the most lethal.

As the Obama administration reviews its Afghanistan and Pakistan policy, looking for creative means to challenge extremist funding, the drug trade is increasingly coming into focus.

David Brooks: "Obama Rejects Obamaism"

CBS News: "Secret recordings raise new questions in ATF 'Gunwalker' operation"

Wall Street Journal: "Fed Ponders Jobs, Inflation Targets"

Perry contemplating throwing a 10 gallon hat in the ring?

California is now "Where Dreams Die."

"Sharron Angle Drops Out Of NV-02 Special Election, Calls Process ‘A Mockery’"

Politico reports that Proposition 19, which would have legalized recreational marijuana in California, has failed:

Killing Willis

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Reading J. Bottum's The Usefulness of Daniel Goldhagen, it appears that there is no end to Goldhagen's outrageous lies and exaggerations. One case in point is his statement about the World War II Croatian Nazi puppet state's Jasenovac camp.

BRADLEY R. GITZ writes a weekly column for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and on July 25, 2002, his thoughts turned to drug legalization. Observing that Great Britain and Canada are considering decriminalizing marijuana, Gitz applauded and launched into an argument for legalizing mary jane here in the States. Gitz, a take-no-prisoners libertarian would like to go a good way further, too, saying, "Even those in favor of the decriminalization of marijuana tend to preface their arguments with the assertion that so-called hard drugs should remain forbidden. But on what logical basis?

GENERAL Barry McCaffrey met Fidel Castro on Saturday night, Reuters reports. It was love at first sight.

In Havana on the Center for Defense Information's dime, the former drug czar spent twelve hours in meetings with the Cuban dictator--and his brother, the minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, Raul.

THE FAMOUSLY FLUSH Office of National Drug Control Policy bought $3 million worth of advertising during the Super Bowl. We can leave aside the general question of whether government agencies ought to be spending the public's money to--in effect--lobby that very same public to keep shelling out money for them. We'll note merely that big-government hucksterism is on the rise, from state lotteries' stoking of gambling addictions on television to the U.S.

FIRST SEX: Late yesterday afternoon, George Gedda of the Associated Press filed an interesting wire about the anthrax risk currently confronting employees at the State Department's headquarters building in Washington. On Monday, department spokesman Richard Boucher had announced that, save for two mailrooms, the complex appeared entirely clear of anthrax spores. Gedda reported that yesterday, however, at an agency-wide assembly led by Colin Powell, a certain Dr.

ON SEPTEMBER 11, TWO OF PRESIDENT BUSH'S cabinet-level administrative positions sat dormant: United Nations ambassador and National Drug Control Policy director, or drug czar. But the terrorist attacks inspired bipartisan cooperation on a number of foreign policy and domestic security issues. Just three days later, on September 14, the Senate unanimously confirmed John D.