File Under "The United States Does Not Torture*"

A Bush administration official yesterday cleared the oil industry on Alaska's North Slope of any blame for the polar bears' woes. "The 30 years of experience we've had on the North Slope has proven to us that the oil industry has no impact," Fish and Wildlife Service director Dale Hall said.

Absolutely no blame attaches to the Bush/Cheney team's best friends; those people like Becthel and Halliburton who have been doing such a heckuva job in re-building Iraq.

Just as the Alaskan drilling would have no harmful effect, presumably.