Opinion: In today’s pages: Drug, drought, and pregnancy denial
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Times’ national correspondent Stephen Braun thinks the U.S. shouldn’t have enlisted a notorious arms dealer in its Iraq effort:
Consider the case of one particular bad guy, Viktor Bout -- a stout, canny Russian air transporter who also happens to be the world’s most notorious arms dealer.When the U.S. government needed to fly four planeloads of seized weapons from an American base in Bosnia to Iraqi security forces in Baghdad in August 2004, they used a Moldovan air cargo firm tied to Bout’s aviation empire. The problem is that the planes apparently never arrived.... The missing Bosnian weapons could simply be a paperwork problem (and it’s not certain that they are among the missing weapons the GAO discovered; they may be an additional loss). But Bout’s involvement as the transporter raises bleak possibilities far beyond bureaucratic error -- including the possibility that the arms were diverted to another country or to Iraqi insurgents killing American troops.
Geoff McKee, a clinical professor of neuropsychiatry, explains ‘pregnancy denial,’ the affliction that may explain why some women kill their newborns. Columnist Gregory Rodriguez explores what a new study by social scientist Robert Putnam means for diversity.
The editorial board wonders why city officials don’t practice what they preach when it comes to water conservation. The board also argues for wider availability of experimental drugs for the terminally ill, and asks Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to stop trying to prevent the sale of violent video games to minors.
Letter writers aren’t pleased with Joel Stein’s anti-dog-owner screed. West Hollywood’s Melinda Jagger says simply, ‘I am venturing to guess that Stein is a sad, lonely man.’