With respect to the generally humorous tone with which the blogosphere, yours truly included, greeted the news that the CIA is giving Viagra to Afghan chieftains in hopes of softening them up psychologically by temporarily doing the converse physically, Kathy Kattenburg is concerned that 1) the wives of the chieftain in question may not be willing sexual partners and that 2) Viagra is supposed to be administered under prescription from a medical doctor.
There’s no evidence, though, that the chieftain was having sex with his wives, let alone that they were unwilling. Perhaps he has girlfriends. Perhaps his wives truly love him and miss his affection? Beyond that, to the extent that his wives were unwilling partners, that was the case before the CIA got involved. In any case, the CIA isn’t responsible for his choice of sexual partners.
While I’m anti-torture and think there are lines as to how my government should obtain information about terrorist activity, giving prescription drugs with unknown side effects to people who then freely decide to take them in order to get known benefits strikes me as decidedly on this side of the line.
