Physician’s Referral

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NIH Director Joins Call For Mideast Cease-Fire (WaPo):

Elias A. Zerhouni, a physician whom President Bush appointed director of the NIH [National Institutes of Health] in 2002, lent his name to a half-page ad in yesterday’s Washington Post by the Arab-American Institute Foundation. The ad, which featured the names of 36 prominent Arab Americans, called upon “all those in power to stop the violence” through a cease-fire so that “reconciliation and reconstruction” efforts can begin.

Zerhouni certainly has the right to put his job in jeopardy anytime he pleases, but if his action seems out of place, the administration’s reaction is truly bizarre:

The White House referred questions to the National Security Council. NSC spokesman Frederick Jones said he had no immediate comment late yesterday.

Why is it the NSC’s responsibility to explain something done by the director of the NIH? Are we to expect that the next time Attorney General Alberto Gonzales steps off the reservation it will be up to the Department of Transportation to provide clarification? Why not outsource it altogether? I’m sure Novak and Coulter could find the time…

Update (7/30/06 3pm PDT): Now that former Bush Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman has come out in favor of a ceasefire, what department will be expected to comment on her position?

Comments

  1. sarabeth says:
    July 29, 2006 at 4:20 am

    If you squint just a little, it makes perfect sense. An Arab-American. Opposing official policy, therefore not with us. In a context which relates to Hezbollah, therefore part of The War Against Terror.

    And it is, of course, unreasonable to expect the NSC to offer any comment till they have pulled up all their surveillance records on this man (and his circle of family and friends), and the proverbial army of monkeys has combed through everything. And subjected it to code-breaking analyses. If necessary, subjected Mr. Elias ungrateful Zerhouni to a nice array of our most charming persuasive interrogative practices.

    And even at the end of all that, I really wouldn’t be too surprised if all we get to hear for a good long while is “we don’t comment on ongoing investigations”. Because either they’ll find something they can really hassle him for, or they’ll decide that at the very least they should keep a cloud of suspicion hanging over him for the longest possible time. You have to make an example of guys like this. Or, before you know it, everyone will be doing it.