Cover-Up Exposed?

"In fact, Rove waded into deeply contentious scientific territory, telling the Denver Post's editorial board that researchers have found 'far more promise from adult stem cells than from embryonic stem cells.' . . .

"But Rove's negative appraisal of embryonic stem cell research -- echoed by many opponents of funding for such research -- is inaccurate, according to most stem cell research scientists, including a dozen contacted for this story."

Foreign Policy Watch

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Marc Sandalow writes in the San Francisco Chronicle that "there is wide agreement that more than three years after attacking Iraq, the administration's mission to build a democracy that would foster stability -- the most often cited reason to go to war after ridding Hussein of his weapons of mass destruction -- is a long way from being accomplished. . . .

"According to Hisham Milhem, Washington correspondent for the Lebanese paper Al-Nahar, there is a sense that 'America's moment in the Middle East has come to an end, or to be specific, George Bush's moment in the Middle East is over . . . and that the Americans are drowning in Iraq's quicksand, that the American project, the drive to spread democracy in the Middle East, has reached a dead end.' "

Over at NiemanWatchdog.org, I interview a Syrian expert, professor Joshua Landis at Oklahoma University, who wonders what has happened to our commitment to Lebanon and democratic government.

According to Landis, "The Bush administration has two parallel policies: Bomb terrorists and encourage democracy in the Middle East."

In this case they were mutually exclusive in the short run. But rather than have patience and make some sacrifices -- rather than calling off Israel and calling up Damascus -- the U.S. sacrificed the Lebanese government, its greatest democratic success so far.

Says Landis: "It sends a clear message to every Arab reformer and every Arab politician who's thinking of allying with the United States and going out on a limb in order to push reform. And that message is: Don't count on the United States."

More Cowboy, Not Less

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By many accounts, the White House has grudgingly come to realize -- later than most everyone else -- that Bush's cowboy diplomacy wasn't working.

But Washington foreign-policy hawks are apparently still in denial. Bush should be more cowboy, not less, they say.

Michael Abramowitz writes in The Washington Post: "At a moment when his conservative coalition is already under strain over domestic policy, President Bush is facing a new and swiftly building backlash on the right over his handling of foreign affairs.

"Conservative intellectuals and commentators who once lauded Bush for what they saw as a willingness to aggressively confront threats and advance U.S. interests said in interviews that they perceive timidity and confusion about long-standing problems including Iran and North Korea, as well as urgent new ones such as the latest crisis between Israel and Hezbollah."