Congressman: Anderson Cooper show 'seeks softer side of terrorists'

RAW STORY
Published: Wednesday July 26, 2006

A conservative Congressman has lashed out in his blog at CNN's Anderson Cooper 360, for seeking "the 'softer' side of terrorists."

In an entry on the show's blog, CNN correspondent Tom Foreman writes that, "For one side, Hezbollah is a killing machine bent on seizing by terror what it wants from the world; for the other side, Hezbollah is a brave force, fighting for the rights of its people."

Foreman explains:

But some people describe another part of Hezbollah. They talk about a group that is beloved in southern Lebanon for running schools, hospitals, social services, even clearing snow in the winter for some communities that the official government of Lebanon does not serve. They say these things make Hezbollah something other than a terrorist group: A quasi-government; a nation within a nation.

Congressman Jack Kingston (R-GA) characterizes this as a liberal's view of the terrorist group, or "What a more enlightened, elitist journalist, might call Hezbollah."

"They slipped back to their liberal ideology," Kingston writes, "and prescribe [sic] the 'softer' side of terrorists."

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) yesterday condemned an address by Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki to Congress, based upon the fact that he had failed to condemn Hesbollah. Democratic leadership has also issued a number of statements supporting Israel, and condemning Hesbollah.