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POLITICAL ESSAYS
The Unbelievable Superpower
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Background:
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Gregory Saathoff, MD is a professor
at the University of Virginia. He's
also executive director of the Criti-
cal Incident Analysis Group there.
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Newsstory:
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March 11, 2005
Washington Post [1]
U.S. Doctors Treated Yushchenko
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"A team of U.S. doctors...secretly
flew to Vienna in mid-December to
assist in the treatment of...Yush-
chenko...."
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The Post quotes Saathoff:
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"It was clear that the U.S. govern-
ment had NO interest or ability in
being involved in this situation
because this would be interference
in the election of another country.
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"The U.S. government was notably
hands-off."
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The front-page newsstory continues:
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"But a senior U.S. official direct-
ly involved in the operation said
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[a] it began with a request from
Yushchenko's family for assistance,
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[b] via an official in the Pentagon,
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and
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[c] the State Department provided
logistical support during the doc-
tors' overseas trip."
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Yushchenko's family?
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"Saathoff was recruited by Washing-
ton lawyer Robert A. McConnell and
his wife, Nadia, who runs the U.S.-
Ukraine Foundation;
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"the couple have been friends with
Yushchenko for more than a decade
...."
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Official in the Pentagon?
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"[McConnell] said he found Saathoff
through an informal recommendation
from someone in government...."
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State Department?
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The Post quotes an official who is
"familiar with" the operation:
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"...at bottom no one is able to say
who did it. We just don't know."
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Newsstory:
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March 31, 2005
Associated Press [2]
Yushchenko Blames Opponents for
Poisoning
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Quoting Yushchenko:
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"When it comes to who did it - it
was the regime itself. The people
in power.
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"No doubt about that."
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[1]
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dy ... ge=printer
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I capitalized the word "no" in the
Saathoff quote.
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And what about Saathoff's Critical
Incident Analysis Group (CIAG)?
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It's "a think tank that focuses on
helping the public and government
respond to emergencies."
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How it functions is illustrated in
part in the last two paragraphs of
the newsstory.
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[2]
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The same newsstory filed at differ-
ent times. In case one won't come
up, try another.
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3:11 PM March 31, 2005
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dy ... ge=printer
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4:16 PM March 31, 2005
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dy ... ge=printer
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6:11 PM March 31, 2005
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dy ... ge=printer
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