Octavia Nasr, an editor with CNN, was fired yesterday for a tweet praising now dead Hezbollah spiritual leader Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah. New York Daily News:

Less than 140 characters cost CNN’s Octavia Nasr her job after she tweeted her “respect” for a terror-loving Hezbollah sheikh who died over the weekend.
Nasr, CNN’s Senior Editor of Mideast Affairs, ran into hot water after she posted on Twitter that she was “sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah… One of Hezbollah’s giants I respect a lot.”
Facing an immediate and harsh backlash, she backpedaled Tuesday in a blog post, saying she didn’t endorse the life work of Fadlallah – who was labeled a terrorist by US officials.
“Not the kind of life to be commenting about in a brief tweet. It’s something I deeply regret,” she wrote. Still, she praised Fadlallah for being a pioneer on “woman’s rights,” and warning Muslim men against abusing their wives.
It was not enough. On Wednesday, CNN fired her.
Parisa Khosravi, senior vice president of CNN International Newsgathering, told the staff that Nasr accepts she shouldn’t have made such a “simplistic” comment without context.
“However,” Khorsravi wrote in a memo, “at this point, we believe that her credibility in her position as senior editor for Middle Eastern affairs has been compromised going forward.”

Other commentary. . .

Glenn Greenwald sees it as a move to placate the neocon right.

Inside Cable News writes:

But was Nasr truly compromised by making such an intellectual distinction about a terrorist? Having clarified what she meant, was it impossible to remain with CNN going forward? Or was CNN worried solely about blowback and bad PR, in which case the decision to sever ties with Nasr looks more like some sort of PC response? That’s the $64,000 question. I don’t have an answer. When you become radioactive as Nasr had sane reaction and analysis don’t apply anymore and it’s tough to second guess a decision.

And Paul Wachter of AOL News asks if CNN should also fire anyone who praises the pope.

More important, however, John Noonan over at The Weekly Standard asks why it’s not a bigger deal that the British ambassador to Lebanon is praising Fadlallah:

While CNN was busy firing senior editor for Middle East affairs Octavia Nasr for tweeting niceties about Hezbollah’s recently deceased spiritual leader, another effusive tribute to terrorist Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah seeped out into cyberspace — this one coming from, shockingly enough, the British Ambassador to Lebanon. Said Ambassador Frances Guy of Fadlallah:
One of the privileges of being a diplomat is the people you meet; great and small, passionate and furious. People in Lebanon like to ask me which politician I admire most. It is an unfair question, obviously, and many are seeking to make a political response of their own. I usually avoid answering by referring to those I enjoy meeting the most and those that impress me the most. Until yesterday my preferred answer was to refer to Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, head of the Shia clergy in Lebanon and much admired leader of many Shia muslims throughout the world. When you visited him you could be sure of a real debate, a respectful argument and you knew you would leave his presence feeling a better person. That for me is the real effect of a true man of religion; leaving an impact on everyone he meets, no matter what their faith….
The world needs more men like him willing to reach out across faiths, acknowledging the reality of the modern world and daring to confront old constraints.

The rest of John’s piece here.