Today’s news about US missile strikes against a suspected terrorist hideout in Somalia is short on details but rich in quality of imagination. Take this quote from the article, for example:

“When we came out we found our neighbor’s house completely obliterated as if no house existed here,” Fatuma Abdullahi told The Associated Press. “We are taking shelter under trees. Three planes were flying over our heads.”

This report comes, of course, on the heels of the usual claims of the obligatory child victims:

Residents and police in Dobley said at least eight people, including four children, were seriously injured when a home was destroyed.

This is an update for readers of my old blog, on which I announced sometime back that I would be enrolling for a local community education course called “Understanding the Middle East and Islamic Culture.” I promised I’d report on my experience, despite expecting nothing exciting, such as turning the class into a “bull in the china shop” incident, as one subscriber put it.

As it happens, I was able to keep an even lower profile than I had intended; the class was unfortunately canceled for “lack of interest.” Imagine that, if you can: not being interested in the Middle East or Islamic culture. It’s unthinkable, at least in the post-9/11 era.