A front-page "news analysis" in today's New York Times refers to "Richard Perle, a former State Department official." Mr. Perle was a longtime aide to Sen. Henry "Scoop" Jackson on committee staff in the U.S. Senate, and he was, from 1981 to 1987, assistant secretary of defense for international security policy. But he's not particularly well known for serving at the State Department, if indeed he ever did so. In any event, Mr. Perle's past position is less relevant for Times readers than his current one -- he is chairman of the Defense Policy Board at the Department of Defense. Looks like the "news analysis" could have used some analysis before it was printed.
Anti-Israeli: The New York Times does it again today, defining Hezbollah as an "anti-Israeli organization," and an "anti-Israel group." The Times says of Hamas and Hezbollah that "For more than a decade the United States has defined them as the two main anti-Israeli terrorist groups and has branded Iran and Syria as state sponsors of terrors because of their support for the groups." In fact, the State Department's annual report on Patterns of Global Terrorism makes clear that the support of terrorism by Iran and Syria extends far beyond the assistance they provide to Hamas and Hezbollah. And, as Smartertimes has been saying over and over again, Hezbollah is not only an anti-Israel group. It has the blood of Americans on its hands. The State Department's own report says Hezbollah is "known or suspected to have been involved in numerous anti-US terrorist attacks, including the suicide truck bombing of the US Embassy and US Marine barracks in Beirut in October 1983 and the US Embassy annex in Beirut in September 1984. Elements of the group were responsible for the kidnapping and detention of US and other Western hostages in Lebanon." It's just maddening that the Times continues studiously to avoid mentioning Hezbollah's role in terrorism that targets America as well as Israel.
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