Dom - I'm back from my "sabbatical". Suffice it to say, my liver gave out, the fish weren't biting, I got sunburn and windburn and the beach-hut that I was promised had been "Hemingway's writing bolt-hole" turned out to be knee deep in shit. Not, like, garbage and flotsam and stuff but actual shit. Long story. No novel, but I did get to meet Fidel. More later. Look – I've written a column, on the Middle East, but I wasn't sure when you'd get it. Can you lay it up then add some details based on the latest Reuters stuff for me? Cheers, NewsJunkie.

Even for the most chisel-jawed, hard-bitten, war-honed foreign correspondents like myself, there are moments in this job that cause one to stare starkly into the naked face of the horror of the evil that men do. As I can say is this: that terrible thing that happened the other day in a particular part of the Middle East was truly an outrage. While, inevitably, there are some details that will only emerge later, it is already clear that this incident is awful even by the standards of this strife-torn region. 

To the extent that the thing that happened is ongoing, it must stop immediately. If that means securing a resolution or some other decision and/or action from the United Nations, then so be it. The price in human suffering is simply too great for us to sit back and play games of me vs. you, faith vs. faith, "multilateralist" vs. "unilateralist".

A close-up map of the affected region

The group of people who bear responsibility for this particular thing that happened are to be roundly condemned for their actions. While this particular group have suffered a lot over the past 50 years, there can be no justification for their approach to this conflict. No-one could claim a monopoly on suffering in this area, and all parties know that they are trapped inside walls not only of sandstone and barbed wire, but of prejudice, hatred, fear and anger.   

Our feckless leaders deserve nothing but our scorn for their involvement in the lead-up, and, if applicable, aftermath of this terrible day. On the one hand, we can take some little comfort from the fact that those same leaders have reacted with strong words suited to the details of the incident, remarks that are all the more welcome for their specificity. On the other, we must accept our collective culpability and the sense of shame that our politicians and diplomats clearly did not do enough to avoid this senseless generic tragedy. While the fact that the event was completely avoidable gives the victims no comfort, it should give us - the survivors and those who bear witness - pause for thought.  

The tragic results of a disgraceful, immoral and non-specific Middle East bombing

This act is not simply barbaric. It is dehumanising. Its very awfulness reminds us all, no matter how far we are from the angry sands of this ancient land, of the darkness that lives within us all – a darkness that can only grow in the face of this evil generic event and/or series of events. Many, of course, will see this terrible occasion as an opportunity to push existing ideological barrows. The calculus of interest-group politics in the Middle East concedes little to sentiment, and the desert swallows up in an instant those who aren't prepared to make progress even amidst the blood and the tears. Some cynics may even try to exploit this tragedy to cement their own careers as pundits or columnists.  

For me, as I look across the bleak sea of dunes, and listen to the howl of the jets screaming overhead and the rockets roaring as they spew clouds of cordite over the highly specific local features of this particular region of the Middle East, I can only put my face in my hands and weep the bitter tears of the hard-boiled, tough-as-nails, crazy-but-brilliant war correspondent and think: why, God, oh why? Why choose me – most blessed amongst thy creations – to bear witness to the dark unfolding of human history?   

I trust the above paragraphs provide a more than adequate justification.