Big Five: Another Intelligence Mishap?

A roundup of opinions in today's Los Angles Times, New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and USA Today:

North Korea: Earlier this week, the Bush administration backed away from claims that North Korea has an active uranium-enrichment program, reversing the stance U.S. intelligence officials have taken since 2002. The LAT thinks the intelligence failure sounds too familiar to the run-up to the Iraq war: For "the second time, serious questions have been raised about the credibility of U.S. assessments of the potential nuclear threat posed by an enemy nation. Are these charges justified?" The NYT hopes that the administration's candor stems from an understanding of "how dangerous and counterproductive it is to hype intelligence," but bets that the admission is coming now because "Pyongyang has agreed to readmit nuclear inspectors -- who probably won't be able to find the active uranium enrichment program the administration has been alleging for more than four years" ... the WaPo admits that American intelligence officials may have overreached in their assessments, but argues that North Korea officials still must account for the 20 centrifuges and other equipment they secretly purchased that would make it possible to construct a large-scale enrichment facility ...the WSJ decries the reversal, calling the move "bizarre" given the "volumes of public evidence that North Korea's uranium-enrichment program is very real."

Arthur Schlesinger: Robert Semple recounts the speech given by the historian Arthur Schlesinger, who died this week, at a lunch organized in his honor last December ... in the WaPo, E.J. Dionne asks whether the New Deal liberalism to which Schlesinger was devoted "will be buried with him." Dionne answers, "Thanks in significant part to his work, it will long survive him."

Today's Editorials:

LAT ... notes that since Colorado passed "the nation's toughest anti-immigrant laws" last year, the state is left with a dwindling worker population, and urges Californians to learn from the state's example ... urges the Los Angeles City Council to approve a plan to build new gates at Los Angeles International Airport to relieve overcrowding.

NYT ... argues that there should be a fund modeled after the Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund to compensate ailing Ground Zero responders ... notes that any guest-worker program for illegal immigrants should include a path to citizenship -- an option Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez didn't mention when they testified on the issue this week.

WaPo ... applauds the Federal Election Commission's decision to accept Barack Obama's plan to help salvage the public financing system for presidential elections, and urges the other presidential candidates to commit to the plan ... wonders why the Army has appointed Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley as the temporary head of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, since the "evidence compiled so far suggests that Gen. Kiley" has been "complicit in the scandalous neglect of Walter Reed's outpatient facilities."

WSJ ... criticizes the United Nations for refusing to list a panel discussion on "State-Sanctioned Rape in Burma and Sudan" on its Web site because Burma and Sudan might take offense to it ... applauds Senator Barbara Boxer's (D-Calif.) suggestion that in an attempt to curb greenhouse gases, federal buildings should be required to use more efficient light bulbs and federal workers should turn off their computers at night.

USA Today ... complains that redevelopment in New Orleans is not happening quickly enough, and urges the federal government to speed along the recovery effort ... argues that a recent study finding that half of U.S. women ages 20 to 24 are infected with the human papillomavirus doesn't bolster the case of those who believe a vaccine against the virus, which can lead to cervical cancer, should be mandatory: "For now, education and wide availability are likely to save more lives than hasty mandates."

Today's Columns:

LAT: Rosa Brooks notes that the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth are regrouping, and conservatives are embracing the organization. "All this is bad news for the conservative movement," she argues, "which will only become more marginal if it continues to embrace its lunatic fringe" ... Gustavo Arellano argues that the recent spate of "Mexican parties" at U.S. colleges -- in which party-goers arrive dressed as stereotypical "Mexicans" -- shouldn't be outlawed in the name of political correctness. "No matter how many diversity workshops or school-sanctioned multicultural festivities universities may hold, these parties will continue. They're as American as nachos."

Plus ... Neil Howe and William Strauss on the narcissism of Generation Y, and Sara Libby on why their analysis of today's youth is incorrect.

NYT: Paul Krugman argues that the stock market dropped this week not because of external events, but because investors "rushed for the exit" when "they saw other investors doing the same" ... Thomas Friedman argues that we cannot win the Iraq war until we offer a philosophy that counters the nihilism of suicide bombers.

Plus ... May Berenbaum on the disappearance of millions of bees across the country.

WaPo: David Ignatius notes that climate change won't just affect environmental ecosystems, it will "stretch the resiliency" of humans as well. "You don't have to go to Baghdad to see how quickly the social fabric can be shredded; just look at New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina."

Plus ... Charles Krauthammer on why a mission to the moon is worth the money ... Anne-Marie Slaughter and Thomas Wright on why the illegal transfer of nuclear materials should be considered a "crime against humanity" ... Eugene Robinson on his own family's connection to slavery.

WSJ: Clint Bolick argues that when it comes to school choice, the Democratic candidates for president talk one way and act another: A "nearly perfect correlation exists among Democratic presidential candidates who have exercised school choice for their own children and those who would deny such choices to the parents of other children" ... Zahid Hussain explains the fault lines in U.S.-Pakistan relations, and argues that if these fault lines erupt, the "current situation" would look "positively calm by comparison."

Plus ... Joseph Epstein on the Daley political dynasty.

USA Today: Aimee Phan explains how the United States can learn from the stories of Vietnamese refugees to help Iraqis displaced by the Iraq war.

Plus ... Al Neuharth on Katie Couric.

By Rob Anderson |  March 2, 2007; 6:40 AM ET
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