(Washington Post) David Ignatius - This was a war that both sides had hoped to avoid. The Biden administration has been trying to find an exit ramp for 11 months. But the hard logic of war proved stronger than the soft logic of peace. Hizbullah wouldn't stop firing rockets; Israel wouldn't stop retaliating - and the U.S. couldn't stop them. I'm a journalist, but that doesn't mean I don't have opinions. I think Hamas rule has been a tragedy for Palestinians in Gaza and an intolerable menace for Israel. I think Hizbullah is a terrorist group that kidnapped Lebanon and has the blood of hundreds of Americans on its hands. I visited the U.S. Embassy in Beirut on April 18, 1983, and left about half an hour before a terrorist car bomb demolished the building. Most years since then, I exchange messages with the embassy official who escorted me to the elevator that day. She emailed me last week, after an Israeli airstrike killed Ibrahim Aqil, one of the Iran-backed terrorists who plotted the embassy bombing that day. Suffice to say, she doesn't grieve for Aqil's loss.
2024-09-24 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive