We're fortunate to have Anthony Bourdain's account. Honest, bare bones and without bias. A "privileged" visit to be sure but a true story - reporting in the truest sense of the word and tradition.

I don't think I can express right now how utterly angry I am at Israel - and even more so at the Bush Regime. Bourdain's description of their despair at watching the footage of that bastard eating that dinner roll.

I am just so, so angry. And the humanity described by Bourdain, and the tragedy, make it all the more so. His description of the beauty of Beirut being destroyed reminded me of stories of Sarajevo during that tragic war.

I won't be happy until George W. Bush is sitting in a jail cell at the Hague, awaiting trial. It's a shame Slobo won't be there to keep him company.

So much reporting has focused on the plight of the Israelis, the bind they are in, and how they need to protect themselves by moving into Lebanon. This article, from the heart of Beirut, by a reporter who is becoming enamored of the city, further supports the Israeli response...do the Lebanese need rescuing from themselves (and, of course, Syria)? How pathetic George Bush, and by extension, all of us in the US, must look to both the Israelis and the Lebanese...unable to tune in to the potentiality of a massacre, starting in Lebanon and spreading to Iran and beyond...we need a regime change of our own...2008 seems like a long way off...

This is first class journalism.

The sad truth is that this current team of superstars from West does not really have the stomach for this stuff. We like to invade weak enemies and give orders and aid so called loyaly friends like Israel even though it flies in the face of all that is true and good and right. We watch it all on TV and we tut tut or worse we applaud. And in the end the Israeli's will not have the stomach for it either they being propped up by the west. It sadens me that my tax dollars went to pay for some of the smart savvy bombs that murdered UN peackeepers and the other children and women and men of Lebanon this week. We are reaping a harvest now of what we have sowed. And, don't forget, the West are the team in this World Cup who will forever be playing their games away from home, at least until the game finally does come back to our home towns and we won't have much of a stomach for it then either Im afraid!

A candid crafter of entertainment derived of international curiosity, broad interest in people and ceaseless love of food and drink, Bourdain is precisely the person from whom I wanted to read a firsthand account. Save the veneered CNN host, spare me the detached BBC correspondent; without knowing it I wanted to hear a slice of that madness from a blunt New York chef.

Dear Mr. Bourdain,

Beautifully written piece -- thank you for conveying so well the ache of lost possibility in a country that cannot escape war. If it makes you feel any better, that footage of Bush boorishly stuffing his face and spouting inanities was deeply depressing to me, too.

I had read a comment Chef Bourdain had made on egullet the other day, before he and his crew got out of Beirut. I am a huge fan and the comment disappointed me--it was so frustratingly glib, along the lines of "We're not going to leave here, we're going to get drunk and watch the bombs going off." It made me sad. But now I see that it was just hubris.

Because now there is this piece. A genuinely beautiful piece of writing that I think accurately reflects the tender feelings he has for countries that most Americans don't give the time of day. Well done Tony. I'm glad you're safe and I hope the same is true for your fixer, your security and their families.

If Hezbollah terrorists didn't hide behind the skirts of Beirut women and their children, Israel wouldn't have had to touch Beirut. Get the terrorists out of Lebanon and, once again, Beirut can become beautiful and artistic.

Dan Robbins

This is the best article from Salon I think I have ever read. Simple, eloquent and made me tear up a little as no other piece in my local paper or news station as done yet. This is the kind of articles and pieces I want to read/see. This is true, this is war, this is terrifying because who knows what will happen next. Well done Bourdain. He even recognized he was damn lucky and priviliged to get out. He does deserve his own column.

RD

What I have always loved about Anthony Bourdain -- in addition to

his seemingly effortless mastery of lively, incisive, and funny writing --

is his evident respect for other cultures. He communicates his sorrow over the bombing of Beirut powerfully, giving us all the small moments that drive

the reality home. (Wish that GW could see himself and that buttered roll in a

searing moment of clarity and shame.) Bourdain is already a gifted writer and observer, and I can only wonder how this experience will affect his life and work.

Thanks for sharing the article.

Elizabeth Bluemle, Bookseller

Charlotte, VT

It's articles like this that keep me coming back to Salon. Thanks so much to Anthony Bourdain, for the clarity of your writing. Reading your essay helped crystalize my own feelings about the destruction of this country that has struggled so much, and was so justifiably proud of its achievements: whatever the geopolitics, whatever the President's conviction that some history book, someday, will vindicate everything he's ever done, whatever...

this...is...immoral.

I'm at a loss to express my sadness for the Lebanese people, my sadness and my shame at being a citizen of the country that is allowing and encouraging the destruction of their homes and history.

Again, thank you. Glad to know you and the people in your crew are now safe.