When Zal Speaks, Israel Should Listen

Haaretz talks to Zalmay Khalilzad about his time as President Bush's envoy to the U.N.:

"There were moments when I felt that Israel could do a little more. For example I thought that there was so much bad publicity, and I got under pressure when I was trying to explain or defend Israel's action, when Israel refused to give the maps for cluster bomb munitions that were used in Lebanon. I used to say to my Israeli friends, that it makes it very hard for me to sit there and the opponents say. 'kids are dying in Lebanon, and UN says Israel won't give information about it.'

"We need to focus on a strategic thing. It doesn't justify that Hezbollah is getting arms from Syria, smuggling of arms to the south and so on. I've always been very strong in taking them to task, but it makes difficult when you lose a moral argument with the cluster bomb munitions' maps, or the overflights that can be too frequent and very aggressive. If the purpose was intelligence, maybe you could do it from higher altitude.