MacKay on a hot seat

[CHIMO]

OTTAWA -- Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay missed a golden opportunity to reposition his government during his appearance before the standing committee on foreign affairs yesterday.

Bombs continued to drop and Israeli ground forces moved deeper into Lebanon as MacKay insisted that the choice between a democratic state and a terrorist organization was simple. He minced no words in characterizing Hezbollah as "a cancer" and a "group of cold-blooded killers" while vigorously supporting Prime Minister Stephen Harper's view that the Israeli response was "measured."

MacKay reinforced the impression that his government has abandoned Canada's position as a peacekeeper that did not automatically fall in lockstep with the American position. In his defence, Mackay quoted an unlikely supporter -- Liberal Senator Colin Kenny.

Harper and his government are right in calling Hezbollah a group of thugs and terrorists who are out to destroy Israel. They are wrong to underestimate world support for Lebanese victims caught in the middle. Hezbollah may well be thugs and criminals, but its political reach in Lebanon is being cast wider by the day.

http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Copps_Sheila/2006/08/02/1714394.html