“Screw Diplomacy, I Say We Kicked Some Islamic Fascist Butt!”

Leave it to W to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. No, I’m not talking about Iraq, where we’re trying to stave off civil war over three years after he swaggered aboard the U.S.S. Lincoln under a “Mission Accomplished” banner. I’m talking about Lebanon. Last week he invented a new “Fear Factor” term: “Islamic fascists.” Yesterday he used it for Hezbollah during the first day of a fragile cease-fire in South Lebanon.

Then he continued to beat a dead horse by bragging that Hezbollah had been defeated. I’m going out on a limb here to say that’s probably not the best way to build trust in a fragile peace, ya think?

Mr. Bush: diplomacy sometimes requires that you keep quiet and listen, something it appears you can only do during a national disaster when Americans are stranded on their rooftops.

For a sane insider opinion on the South Lebanon massacre, Read this article by Jewish-Lebanese-American Henry Picciotto.