Nailing Jeff about PNAC

All of this was an education to me.  I had never heard of CIA involvement in overthrowing the Guatemalan government, let alone the Times's complicity in it. And that PNAC quote, about biological warfare being turned into a “politically useful tool”, still haunted me.  Jeff was right about that: it was perversely amoral.  But some part of me couldn't let it go at that.  They just couldn't be that bad. 

One night, as I was falling asleep, (not thinking of anything, as far as I knew, let alone PNAC and it's place in American politics) the thought suddenly popped into my head: what, exactly, does the word “genotype” mean?  Now I was fully awake, and I went to my computer.  I googled  “genotype”, and the very top result was from wikipedia.  I clicked on it, and there it was.

“The genotype is the genetic constitution of a cell, an organism, or an individual…”

“Or an individual.”  That was it.  PNAC wasn't talking about genocide. They were talking about using biological technology to develop a weapon that could be used to assassinate individuals.  Now, I'd never argue that that was “just fine by me”, but I would argue that it was a whole 'nother ballgame.  Wiping out huge numbers of people, of all ages, through some horrible disease is, of course, monstrous.  But using this technology to kill some tyrant or terrorist who was causing death and destruction, and who had the wherewithal to evade conventional forms of attack?  I think most Americans would say, well, it ain't pretty, but it's the lesser of two evils. And I'd agree.

God, it felt good to realize this.  Jeff's portrayal of these men, these men in positions of unmatched power in my country, as power-mad sociopaths… It had gotten to me, and threatened to undermine my fundamental, take-it-for-granted trust in my government, however flawed it was.  But now I knew that, while they might be the worst hawks we've had in the White House in a long time, they weren't monsters. 

It was close to midnight at that point, but I was so elated I shot off an email to Jeff immediately.  I explained where I was coming from, what I had discovered, and how, at the very least, they could have been talking about something very, very different than his interpretation of that line.  I didn't expect him to do a 180 and agree completely with me.  But I made it clear that it had put my mind at peace, and I think I successfully implied that his take on PNAC might have been a little over the top.  If I indulged in a little smugness, I thought it was fair, given what he'd put me through.

I realize now just how strong my need was to believe that my government had to be good; or at least, that it couldn't be that bad. And I realize that I had made a huge, and false, assumption about what that meant, what my government was: I had merged, in my mind, the form of government – a democratic republic protected by the Constitution – with the body of people currently in control of that government.  By making them one, the idea that the latter could be truly bad meant that the former, somehow, was too.  The need to defend this artificial fusion of ideas was irresistible.  Putting aright my world view – which meant finding a way that the Bush administration, while extreme, weren't truly sinister – was a huge relief.  I slept very well that night.

But that renewed sense of faith, with regard to PNAC, at least, didn't last long.

The New York Times and the CIA   <=        =>   PNAC Unnails Jeff