You may have heard of how the CIA, trying to nail down Osama Bin Ladin’s location, invented a fake hepatitis b vaccination campaign that attempted to obtain blood samples from children living in a compound suspected of being Osama’ hideout, hoping to match the kids’ DNA with Bin Ladin’s to confirm his presence. The Taliban, which was already hostile to vaccination campaigns, as some sort of western hustle, had their deepest suspicions confirmed, and, well, a couple of dozen health care workers ended up being attacked, tortured, and murdered. As a topper, reported polio cases in Pakistan suddenly started to increase.
Well, not to worry. Over at Slate, Joshua Keating informs us that Lisa Monaco, billed as President Obama’s top counterterrorism and homeland security advisor, has announced that the CIA absolutely won’t be pulling that stunt again, which surely means that the Taliban will back off and kids in Pakistan won’t have to worry about ending up crippled for life. Because who, who, who could doubt the word of the CIA?
