THE KATRINA EFFECT

It's becoming all too common to hear the victims blamed because they didn't somehow escape the disaster that befell them.

It's the ignorant, pompous Katrina question all over again, this time in Lebanon:

"Why don't those people just leave" the towns and villages being bombed by Israeli aircraft. Today, more than 50 Lebanese villagers, mostly women and children, were killed in a single strike, and Tim Russert asks, "Why didn't they leave?"

Correspondent Richard Engel responded, they have no money, no cars, and if they did leave, where would they go? Where would they take shelter?

Another Israeli military spokeswoman said that Lebanese villages south of Tyre were warned days in advance to leave the area.

"These areas south of Tyre are areas from where scores of rockets were launched toward northern Israel, especial Nahariya and the Western Galilee," she said. "All villagers from these places were warned, days in advance, to vacate the area, through leaflets, media alerts and, in some cases, telephone calls. The sole responsibility for fighting in these populated places rests with Hezbollah, which chooses to fight from these areas."

Indeed, why don't they eat cake?

Tags: Middle East crisis