He visits Lebanon to mourn the humanitarian situation,
but claims not to make any political judgments. As admirable as
that humble instinct is, I suspect that stepping into the fray at
all is necessarily political, especially when I see this
paragraph:
In an Aug. 10 telephone interview from Beirut, the
cardinal said his visit was meant to be a sign of solidarity with
the suffering people of Lebanon, the same kind of visit he has made
in the past to Israel in the wake of terrorist attacks.
So the victims are the same? Does that mean the Israelis are
morally equivalent to terrorists? McCarrick's presence seems to
play into Hezbollah's PR campaign. If he is only there to call
attention to the civilian suffering (already VERY well reported)
and say "the world must do something" (that's really his quote,
believe it or not), then the most he appears to do is call
attention to himself.
McCarrick shows no indication of retiring quietly into the
night. Does he aspire to be a clerical Bono or Bill Clinton?