There are two active diaries at the moment - by skymutt and occams hatchet - about the odd suicide of Charles Riechers, the newly appointed principal deputy assistant secretary of the U.S. Air Force for acquisition and management, over the weekend.
Riechers was the gentleman who acknowledged to the Washington Post two weeks ago that he had a "no-work" job with a nonprofit government contractor while he waited for confirmation of his appointment.
I'm not going to revisit all the ins and outs of the story; the other diaries do a great job of it.
But in addition to all the suspicions this fuels here, at a time when relations with Russia are extremely strained, it provides ammunition for Kremlin strongman Vladimir Putin.
Pravda has now published a story on the suicide, and it paints a dire conspiracy:
Russian Intelligence Analysts are reporting today that American War Leaders have 'suicided' one of their Top US Air Force Officials Charles D. Riechers as the rift growing between the US War Leaders and their Top Military Officers over a nuclear attack on Iran appears to be nearing open warfare.
Whether it turns out that Riechers committed suicide or was murdered, I follow the principles of Occam's Razor - the simplest explanation is most likely to be true - and think that his death was far more likely due to corruption and the money trail than to a shadowy conspiracy to nuke Iran.
But the United States has fallen so far in world esteem - thanks, Mr. President - that many sophisticated, knowledgeable people around the world are likely to at least think about the feasibility of the scenario painted in the Pravda article. As long as there is a shred of suspicion about Riechers' death, they will question U.S. intentions in the Middle East.
Now, they've already got plenty of reasons to doubt our government. But this puts us on a par with Russia, suspected of carrying out the assassination in London of Alexander Litvinenkothrough polonium-210 poisoning. And our incompetent (at best) administration is incredibly unlikely to be able to adequately account for Riechers' death, if only because they don't want more bad news to further damage the Republican Party and/or the military.
Putin, meanwhile, is taking steps to consolidate his hold on Russia (Elections? What difference will they make?). And he's already PO'd at the U.S. for the administration's determination to put missile defense sites in Eastern European countries.
So our government further erodes its ability to manage a critical international relationship because of its determined greed and corruption.
Gee, President Bush, do you still think that you saw Putin's soul? Or maybe you did - and the two of you are kindred spirits.