Terrorism at Qana

Bobo forgets to ask one little question


Left: Dead child is removed from rubble at Qana, Lebanon after Israelis bomb shelter, killing 54 civilians, including 37 children. Right: David Brooks pontificates on Hezbollah terrorism.

Last Friday, ebullient Newshour pundit David Brooks explained the facts of terrorism to host Jim Lehrer:

DAVID BROOKS: Well, I think [the US] always had a strategy.

JIM LEHRER: You do?

DAVID BROOKS: I think, on the overall, the strategy has always been this two-prong strategy: first, weaken Hezbollah; then, bring in the international force to build a new reality and to strengthen the Lebanese government. That's always been the strategy. The implementation is the hard part, and it's always been the hard part.

JIM LEHRER: And it always will be, right?

DAVID BROOKS: Well, of course, because the terrorists just have to destroy. We have to build. And so the odds are against us even now. [emphasis added]

Brooks got it partly right, terrorists destroy. But Brooks fails to consider just who will clean up after Israeli terrorism. Who will weaken the Israeli program to destroy Lebanon and its population?

Let's see if Brooks reviews in the coming days the moral implications of the ``implementation'' of the American strategy to turn the Israeli terrorists loose on the Lebanese people.