Josh Marshall on the outing of a demented Foreign Service officer:

It seems that 20-year career Foreign Service officer Patrick Syring wasn’t cut out for bringing America’s message of tolerance, peace and democracy to the Middle East.
Last summer, while the bloody but inconclusive war between Israel and Hezbollah raged over the skies of Israel and Lebanon, Syring reached out to James Zogby, the highly-respected head of the Arab-American Institute to let him know that “The only good Lebanese is a dead Lebanese. The only good Arab is a dead Arab.”
That was in a phone message left on Mr. Zogby’s voice mail.
Later he followed up in an email, noting that “You wicked evil Hezbollah-supporting Arabs should burn in the fires of hell for eternity and beyond. The United States would be safer without you.” And while Zogby does not represent the Israelis, Syring made a point of praising them for “bombing Lebanon back to the Stone Age where it belongs.”
And if all Syring’s other shortcomings weren’t enough it seems he’s also a little lacking in brainpower since he identified himself in his voice mails and sent the emails from his personal email account.
Syring retired from the Foreign Service last month and was indicted on Wednesday for sending threatening messages by phone and email.