Priorities

While the American news media go into paroxyms of ecstatic glee over this week's Republican sex scandal and the shocking (shocking!) news that a Hollywood celebrity is self-destructive, the BBC reports that the Bush Administration continues to ramp up the saber-rattling war rhetoric toward Iran.

"I have authorised our military commanders in Iraq to confront Tehran's murderous activities," he said.

The BBC's Justin Webb, in Washington, says this looks like a conscious effort by the White House to elevate the tension between Washington and Tehran to a new level.

Such an effort might be designed to avoid the need for armed conflict or might equally be an effort to bring that conflict about, our correspondent says.

To the Bush Administration, disastrous wars in the Middle East are just like peanuts. Betcha can't eat just one. (And besides, they're so profitable! Especially when it's so easy to offload the costs onto somebody else.)