"Restorative justice", for those unaware of the trend, is a PC hogwash idea that centers around the concept of bringing the criminal face to face with their victims (or the families of their victims, as the case may be) so that each can understand the other. It's hogwash, because in certain crimes, there's nothing to understand. The job of the government in those cases is to ensure that that criminal never has the chance to reoffend, not to "heal" the criminal or the victims.

Using the logic of restorative justice, Timothy McVeigh would not be currently among the deceased. He would have had to face the families of his victims and come to terms with why he did what he did. We would be striving for "healing" instead of justice, ignoring the fact that once a person commits cold blooded murder, they've pretty much ceded any claims to legitimacy in the debate.

But even the proponents of the concept of restorative justice seem to be inconsistent in their understanding of just when, or if, that should apply. In the case of Hezbollah, they insist that the US and Israel are somehow remiss in not bringing these killers to the table to talk about their "feelings" and precisely what it is that they want. They will point to Israel's distant past as an indicator of why Israel should not be considered seriously in their demands for peace, yet conveniently ignore the more recent terror acts by STATESMEN of Muslim countries, including the actions of the late Yassir Arafat, who, prior to 9/11 held the record for most plane hijackings orchestrated in a single day, and who certainly didn't consider the feelings of Leon Klinghoeffer when his thugs consigned Klinghoeffer to his fate in the Atlantic.

The insincerity of those who call for restorative justice could not have been made clearer than it has been in response to the recent actions by Mel Gibson. Nobody is apologizing for Mel Gibson's recent actions; they were deplorable, and to say anything different is pretty deceptive. But, ironically, Mel Gibson, who killed NOBODY in his actions, and harmed only himself, has begged for "restorative justice" in his apology. He has asked for people in the Jewish community to step forward and to help him address this darker side of his beliefs. While some Jewish rabbis have taken him seriously, many more have insisted that Gibson should be boycotted, that he should be blacklisted, and that he should "never work in this town again" at the EXACT SAME MOMENT as we defend Hezbollah for raining missiles daily on the nation of Israel half a world away. It doesn't take much to figure out which is more dangerous: stupid words spoken by a drunk in LA or missiles rained down on the nation of Israel. There are far more reasons to try to work with Mel Gibson than there are to try to negotiate with Hezbollah.

There are those proponents of restorative justice, of course, who will claim that we SHOULD have exercised restorative justice in the case of McVeigh; that we SHOULD have brought him to the table and listened to his point of view. If we had responded to McVeigh in the same manner which so many expect us to respond to Hezbollah, there would be a statue of McVeigh on the site of the Murrah federal building instead of the monument that now fills the space.

And I can think of 160 reasons why that would be a bad idea.