Greg Mitchell, the editor or Editor & Publisher magazine, has a new column out decrying the fact that American newspapers aren't decrying the fact that the United States is supplying a Democratic ally in the Middle East with arms.

Simply put: Those are largely American made, supplied, and/or paid for missiles falling on Lebanon today, emerging from jets, tanks and artillery linked to the USA. Much of it could be described as your tax dollars at work -- or the best weapons money can buy. In all, Israel has received since 2001 about $10.5 billion in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) from the U.S., the most of any country, while also spending $6.3 billion on U.S. arms deliveries.

While the U.S. press -- and leading liberal bloggers -- pretty much ignores this, the media abroad does not, and none of it is lost on those who live in or near the Middle East. In this country we read or hear countless references to “Iranian-supplied rockets” or “weapons provided by Syria” but when is that last time you heard a reference to a particular Israeli jet or missile that was sent over by our country?

The first thought I had was that Mitchell was a whiny old anti-American leftist fool who yearned for the '60s -- except for 1967 when Israel kicked a lot of Arab butt.

The second thought I had was that Mitchell was a whiny nincompoop. Seriously, just imagine Mitchell running E&P 70 years ago. Can you imagine Mitchell's outrage at the lend lease program? What we send Israel nowadays looks like chump change just in comparison to the number of ships we sent to Great Britain, Russia, China and France.

As much as Mitchell tries to deny it, the facts remain that a democratic ally was attacked by a terrorist organization. It would be criminal of us not to supply the Israelis with more weaponry. It's also important to note that a lot of the weaponry we supply them with is designed to minimize civilian casualties.

You could try explaining this to Mitchell, but you'd have far more success teaching a rock to swim.

On a related note: DNC chairman Howard Dean missed an opportunity last week to bash the Bush administration on the fact that by building up Iraq's military forces the U.S. is helping entrench anti-Semitism in that country. Just think of all the pandering opportunities Dean has missed.