As Williams noted, the phrase "I'm guided by the beauty of our weapons" is a line from a Leonard Cohen song (
First We Take Manhattan). Here's
what Cohen had to say about the song in a backstage interview:
"I think it means exactly what it says. It is a terrorist song. I think it's a response to terrorism. There's something about terrorism that I've always admired. The fact that there are no alibis or no compromises. That position is always very attractive. I don't like it when it's manifested on the physical plane - I don't really enjoy the terrorist activities – buy Psychic Terrorism. I remember there was a great poem by Irving Layton that I once read, I'll give you a paraphrase of it. It was 'well, you guys blow up an occasional airline and kill a few children here and there', he says. 'But our terrorists, Jesus, Freud, Marx, Einstein. The whole world is still quaking ..."
So I guess the question is, "Was Williams implying that the US attack on Syria is an act of terrorism - or is he just so fucking clueless that he expropriates cultural references without bothering to wonder what they might mean?"
I think we know the answer ...