May 19, 2010 | National Review Online

Next Up: Cultivating the Moderate Hezbos

While the Obama administration’s foreign service team is out apologizing to Chinese Communist gulag-keepers over the human-rights violations of Arizona, the president’s crack national-security team is combing Lebanon in search of the Hezbollah moderates! WARNING: The following is not a parody but an actual news story (from Reuters — and thanks to Ruth King for bringing it to my attention):

    The Obama administration is looking for ways to build up “moderate elements” within the Lebanese Hezbollah guerilla movement and to diminish the influence of hard-liners, a top White House official said on Tuesday.

    “Hezbollah is a very interesting organization,” Brennan told a Washington conference, citing its evolution from “purely a terrorist organization” to a militia to an organization that now has members within the parliament and the cabinet.

    “There is certainly the elements of Hezbollah that are truly a concern to us what they’re doing. And what we need to do is to find ways to diminish their influence within the organization and to try to build up the more moderate elements,” Brennan said.

    He did not spell out how Washington hoped to promote “moderate elements” given that the organization is branded a “foreign terrorist organization” by the United States.