This latest example of well-armed humans being cruel to relatively helpless humans has embarrassed Israel, as it should.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJaPZLNLBu8[/youtube]
Meanwhile, there are more than 100,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, doing who-knows-what because the U.S. media is not covering Iraq anymore. The official word is that our soldiers are still out there “defending freedom.” I wonder what we’d learn if we had unfettered and vigorous reporters following them around. How, really, are we treating Iraqi civilians these days? We do have some disturbing stories. How corrupt are things these days? And why did we build that mindlessly extravagant new embassy in Iraq. If only we knew.
My comments are not meant to impugn all U.S. soldiers, but only to demand accountability for all. If only we had a vigorous media reporting on what goes on in war zones, all of the soldiers that are doing good works will shine and those who aren’t would be exposed. Sure, war is hell. But don’t well-armed governments have faith that the citizens can deal with the truth? I have faith in the citizens, but well-armed governments apparently don’t.
Truly, as Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis once said, “Sunshine is the best disinfectant.” We need a LOT more sunshine in all war zones.
There is also a video that, if one accepts the English subtitles as accurate, implies that the Israelis have a policy of warning Palestinians in Gaza when they are going to bomb the home of important Palestinian leaders, and that one (presumably) Hamas leader called over a thousand civilians to be a human shield.
The subtitles are misleading. Apparently some Israelis have been calling Palestinians in the Gaza strip to warn of planned air strikes against the homes of Palestinian leaders so the civilians can stay a safe distance from the areas. In recent days, however, hundreds of civilians, in a spetacular display of civil disobedience, have instead of avoiding the target area, formed voluntary human shields at the targeted sites, with tv media coverage.
The Israeli airforce destroyed tv stations in Gaza in an attempt to control and contain this information, but alternate communication channels have succeeded in getting the word out.