Helen Thomas takes on the Arab Street

The invaluable Newsbusters site noted yesterday's White House press room incident, as Presidential Spokesperson Tony Snow upbraided Helen Thomas (...her skin looks so good for her age... I wonder what her secret is? Formaldehyde? Oops. Did I say that out loud? So much for stream-of-consciousness blogging...):

QUESTION: The United States is not that helpless. It could have stopped the bombardments of Lebanon. We have that much control with the Israelis. SNOW: I don’t think so. QUESTION: We have gone for collective punishment against all of Lebanon and Palestine. And what’s happening - and that’s the perception of the United States. SNOW: Well, thank you for the Hezbollah view...

On the other hand, there's Ahmed Al-Jarallah, Editor-in-Chief of Kuwait's Arab Times, endorsing Israel's military operations in its self-defense:

A battle between supporters and opponents of these adventurers has begun, starting from Palestine to Tehran passing through Syria and Lebanon. This war was inevitable as the Lebanese government couldn't bring Hezbollah within its authority and make it work for the interests of Lebanon. Similarly leader of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas has been unable to rein in the Hamas Movement. Unfortunately we must admit that in such a war the only way to get rid of "these irregular phenomena" is what Israel is doing. The operations of Israel in Gaza and Lebanon are in the interest of people of Arab countries and the international community...

Lesson learned: I guess the Arab Street lies to the right of Helen Thomas and the Moonbattery.