David Ignatius finds a liberal Islamist – a cleric who doesn’t want to kill Americans, just all the Jews.

I came away with sincere respect for [Sheik Mohammed Hussein] Fadlallah's intellect and passion; he is one of the few Muslim clerics who recognize that there is an urgent need for Islam to find a better accommodation with the West. And he has a nimble mind, which is evident in the curious eyes and the arched eyebrows that seem to reach almost to his black turban as he listens to questions.

But Fadlallah expressed such a deep and unyielding opposition to Israel -- a state he referred to at one point as "this bizarre situation called Israel" -- that I left his headquarters more pessimistic than ever about the prospects for anything that deserves to be called "peace."

We have met the enemy, and he ain’t us. You might remember Fadlallah – it was his people who bombed our Marine barracks in Beirut. Anyway, if this is as “enlightened” as our Islamists friends get, then we’re in for a very long war.

But you knew that already.