Opinion: In today’s pages: A J. Edgar Hoover for the war on terror?
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The editorial board thinks Bush should pay attention to Russian President Vladimir V. Putin’s missile proposal:
Kremlin watchers warn of the ascendance of hard-liners who favor rapprochement with China and expansion of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to include Iran and add a security treaty. That would be an ominous step toward a new Cold War. President Bush took a welcome step toward easing tensions last week by pledging to give due consideration to Putin’s proposal to base missile defenses in Azerbaijan. (Bush was also smart to invite ‘Vladimir — I call him Vladimir’ — to his summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine, over the Fourth of July holiday.) Putin’s gambit could be a cynical ploy to try to split the U.S. from its Czech and Polish allies. Still, that offer and other moves signal an important change in Moscow’s position on Iran, which it has never considered an enemy.
The board says that L.A. residents may have do more than their city officials have asked to conserve water. The board also sees no problem with a Whole Foods-Wild Oats merger.
Columnist Patt Morrison wonders why she doesn’t care about Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s marital woes. Contributing editor Jonathan Chait says it’s okay to change your mind on Iraq, and the Brookings Institution’s Bruce Riedel outlines Islamist threats against France. Author Kenneth D. Ackerman asks if the war on terror will spawn its version of J. Edgar Hoover.
Letter writers want answers from City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo. See why Hollywood’s Rosemarie Wheeler thinks Delgadillo’s wife ‘seems to be on a par with Paris Hilton.’