Next Up: Ambassador North

Around the time Henry Kissinger was appointed to head the 9/11 investigation, my friend Steve Koppelman sent me a note: "They could make Oliver North ambassador to Nicaragua now and nobody would bat an eye."

Be careful what you joke about, Steve. On the heels of fellow Iran-contra conspirator John Poindexter's appointment to run the Information Awareness Office, Elliot Abrams was tapped last week to be the White House's director of Middle Eastern affairs. For those of you who don't remember what exactly Mr. Abrams did that upset people, blogger Jim Henley has written an excellent summary.