MALIKI’S SPEECH WASN’T BAD: I’d rather have had him say he proudly stood with Israel’s democracy and against the Islamo-Fascists of Hezbollah, but no Arab politician, elected or otherwise, can say that yet. And if he did, he’d be denounced as a Bush puppet, probably by a lot of the same people complaining about the speech he actually gave.

James Taranto notes the hypocrisy of people criticizing Maliki while giving a pass to Kofi Annan, though he’s rather too generous to Kofi Annan. Meanwhile, I agree that the Bull Moose has it right:

A recent Iraqi leader launched real, deadly missiles against Israel. An earlier ruler of Iraq paid the families of suicide bombers a princely sum after their relatives strapped explosives to their bodies and killed and mutilated Israelis. Perhaps, these Congressmen who lament the words of the new Iraqi leader, will now celebrate the fact that Saddam is behind bars instead of issuing verbal orders to kill Israelis and slaughter his own people.

The Moose harbors no illusions about a dramatic transformation of Muslim attitudes toward the Jewish state. But, it is a dramatic improvement when words cannot kill.

It will be a great day when Arab leaders unambiguously denounce Hezbollah as a pack of murderous terrorists. But then, it would be nice if we could count on European leaders, or Kofi Annan, to do the same.

UPDATE: A response to Howard Dean’s criticisms: “So it’s the usual anti-war position, with a new spike of rhetoric… that doesn’t seem likely to appeal to anyone.”