Monocausal

A good example of the Bush administration's view that All Bad Things have a Single Explanation. His National Security Adviser, Stephen Hadley, briefing journalists before his visit to the Middle East next week --

what you see in the Middle East right now is a struggle between extremists and those who have a more hopeful vision for the future of the Middle East. And the extremists have made clear that they view democracy and those people who try to build it as enemy number one. And you see it in the shelling that you see coming from Gaza into Israel, as an effort to undermine this process that got started in Annapolis.

I would say to you that the killing of Benazir Bhutto is another example of extremists recognizing the danger that those who advocate democracy represent to their future. You see it in the struggle in Iraq. You see it in the struggle in Lebanon. So this is a broader canvas.

So the Palestinian rocket fire from Gaza is the same as whoever killed Benazir Bhutto, even though Gaza has been isolated because they voted democratically for Hamas, while the person resisting the election that Benazir was running in was Bush's ally President Musharraf -- who has postponed the election again because he thinks her party will do too well. Not to mention the possibility that some of the Benazir plotters are within his government.

Bush has 8 days in the region to try and keep this story straight. It won't be easy.