Good stuff, from readers:

Dear Jonah, “…how does the top leadership in a totalitarian or authoritarian regime get to say “we were out of the loop”? I think it’s worse than that. Why is it that in our country Bush is personally responsible for every out of control soldier at Abu Garib and every harsh word at Guantanamo as if it were a matter of direct policy when “rogue elements” of Iran are given a free pass?

And:

Jonah , I hear the Mossad operates independently. Yeah, that’s the ticket! Next time the Mossad is brought up by the AP, the Israelis should just say they must be rogue elements of Mossad, and see how much backlash they get on that one.

And:

I mean if we learned that Canadian troops were “enmeshed” in Iraq, I think we’d all agree that it must be some sort of rogue operation at work, until proven otherwise. Better example: Suppose it were discovered that U.S. military forces were actively operating in Iran. Do you think the media would start with the presumption that Bush must not have known about it?!