Welcome, I'm Anastasia Glova bringing you the Cato Daily Podcast.

Full and edited versions of our podcasts are available on our website at

W.W. Kato.org.

Although the fighting has subsided, the fragile UN brokered ceasefire in Lebanon continues to worry

leaders on both sides hoping for a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

Cato's research fellow in foreign policy studies Jonathan Clark

contemplates the next steps in dealing with Hezbollah and terrorism in the Middle East.

Is the word terrorist a useful way to describe Hezbollah?

Clearly captures some aspects of Hezbollah.

Shooting missiles into territory, unguided missiles,

not knowing where they're going to land,

and expecting them to land in civilian population clearly counts as terrorists.

But I think the clear point is to call Hezbollah a terrorist organization is not to capture the

totality of what it is. It is part and parcel of the

Lebanese society. It came into being as a genuinely sheer resistance movement

to Israeli occupation of Lebanese territory

for nearly 20 years from 1980.

It provides services, it provides education, it provides welfare. it is supported at

it attracts significant support democratic support from among

Lebanese sheer population of nearly 40% of the total Lebanese population. It has 14 members in

Parliament it has two cabinet ministers. So I think to say it is terrorist

movement and simply to leave it to that doesn't really in fact provide us with a very

...