Ted Koppel's Been Thinking

Wouldn't it be great if NPR could find a news analyst who would really go out on a limb and challenge conventional thinking and mainstream ideas on issues of foreign policy. Instead they recently signed on Ted Koppel, who is by no means the worst of commentators, but.... I remember the Reagan years and watching Nightline occasionally back then: I don't ever recall any significant information coming out about US support for torture and death squads in Central America (even though I knew about it) and I certainly don't recall any serious critiques of Israel's previous invasion and slaughter of Lebanese back in the 80's on Nightline either. So I cringed when Ted Koppel's piece was introduced by telling me that he had "been thinking" about the recent crisis in Lebanon. I was right to be cautious:

• "In the worst of all possible worlds, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah will order his Hezbollah fighters into military hibernation over the winter. No more rocket attacks on Israel, no more cross border raids. Instead, the Party of God will burnish its reputation as the social conscience and savior of Lebanon, while Iran and Syria collaborate in replenishing its supply of short- and medium-range rockets."

So begins Koppel's piece on Lebanon. Well, I have a few even "worst of all possible worlds" scenarios for Mr. Koppel: 1. Bush, Cheney, et. al will continue (as Koppel does) to lay all the blame at Hezbollah, Iran and Syria's door and use this misinformation to launch a war on Iran and/or Syria, or 2. Israel will launch airstrikes on Iran, or 3. Israel will attack Hezbollah with another precision operation like this summer's where they displaced about a quarter of the population, destroyed major infrastructure and killed about a thousand civilians.

Well you get the picture....but I don't know if NPR ever will.