Well? Which Is It?

Can the Iranians build and fly a multistage rocket, or not? On the one hand, Ahmadinejad is a leading candidate, this year, for the prestigious He's The New Hitler Award, and Iranian rocketry is the Awesome Thunderfist of Doom poised over all our heads:

Senior U.S. officials had expressed concerned over the weekend about the new reported test, saying Iran could use the rocket to deliver warheads.

"The Iranian development and testing of rockets is troubling and raises further questions about their intentions," said National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe.

"This action and dual-use possibilities for their ballistic missile program have been a subject of (International Atomic Energy Agency) discussions and are inconsistent with their U.N. Security Council obligations."

On the other hand, them Eye-rain-ians cain't hardly do nuthin' right, nohow:

The Pentagon does not believe an Iranian rocket test over the weekend was successful, despite reports in the official Iranian media saying the Islamic Republic had launched its first vehicle capable of placing a satellite in orbit.

"The Iranians did not successfully launch the rocket," a senior U.S. defense official told CNN Monday.

The two-stage rocket could have been capable of launching a satellite into space, but the U.S. intelligence assessment shows that the second stage "was erratic and out of control," said the official, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the intelligence.

The rocket "did not perform as designed," the official said.

Doublethink: an essential life skill for Americans in the 21st century.