Isn’t That Special
The BBC takes a look at the question: Gaza conflict: Who is a civilian?
If you accept the Israeli definition of a “combatant” and apply it to the Israeli population, the only civilians are those below 18 or members of certain religious groups, because everyone else does national service.
This is how Israel can claim that civilian casualties are only 25% of total casualties, by playing Six Degrees of Separation with the population to “prove” they are all Hamas terrorists. Of course, they can’t show you any proof of their claims because that would reveal sources and methods.
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I’ve been seeing these photos of terribly injured children from Gaza. I have a very hard time believing them to be “combatants”
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Gaza is extremely overcrowded and there is no way of using weapons without hitting the innocent. The entire strip would be a “don’t shoot” zone for a police officer operating under NY rules. There are just too many people crowded together.
“don’t shoot zone”…kinda has a nice ring to it.
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Cops are sort of required not to injure the innocent, even if they are taking incoming fire. That is perhaps the biggest difference between police and military training. It is also one of the reason I support police, rather than military, methods when dealing with terrorists – police methods don’t generally create new enemies, while military methods almost guarantee it.
Even the Military know this Bryan. At least, they used to. Hence… ‘Military Police’. I had a friend who became a full time MP, and whilst they had the same basic training, the rest of his training was quite different. It seems to be the perception these days that an MP’s job is to take care of bad soldiers. Originally, their role was also to police occupied areas and to ensure the troops didn’t break the rules of engagement and international laws and treaties, and to make sure civilians didn’t try to annoy soldiers etc. 🙂
From the tales of ‘The good old days'(tm) 😉
Too many US police departments are veering towards the military approach, and that isn’t good for anyone, including the officers.
Yes, military civil affairs units use civilian rules, and should be the troops used for occupations, but Rumsfeld had a “better” idea.
Well… Rummy just did what the Israeli’s wanted him to do. LOL And they just want them all dead or at least, gone. 😉 The land occupied by Israel isn’t big enough by far, though very small in numbers, they do have a huge appetite. They just want the whole desert (and that’s ‘desert’ as in sand, not ‘dessert’, as in ice cream. Though they want that too. With all the cherries on top. Greedy they are. Very.) 😉 🙂 It’s a curious word. The noun means ‘an arid land’ whilst the verb means to abandon one’s people, principles, nation, or faith. Both are appropriate in this case I think. 🙂 Curiously, desert (as in to abandon) and dessert (yummy food) are pronounced the same way (di’zurt). LOL I have always found the English language very strange, and often unwieldy. 🙂
Ahem. 😀
Some people might express Israel’s expansionist views as lebensraum, but that wouldn’t be politically correct. Most of all they want the water resources, because that is what they have been systematically occupying in the West Bank, and that is an important feature of the Shebaa Farm area of Lebanon. It’s all about water when you get down to it: the Israelis use more than they have, so it is cheaper to occupy other people’s land than build desalination plants.
They keep fighting the land, instead of living with it.
Yep. Personally, I think it has to do with their huge guilt and ego complexes built up over many centuries. Perhaps they feel at some level that since people just won’t forget or pretend nothing ever happened, they just have to exterminate everyone so they can live with their minuscule consciences. Though, ironically, it’s the *extermination* part that has given them something to feel guilty about! LOL 😉 Perhaps we should call them Daleks? LOL
In other news… Something you and fellow Floridians might feel happier about (from WaPo):
FL-Senate: Jeb Bush Will Not Run
One small win for Man! 😀
John Ellis is the smart one and he knew damn well he couldn’t win. There were a lot of things that went wrong under his rule, and he appointed a lot of corrupt officials. His parting shot was to involve a couple of state trust funds is some expensive investment decisions.
He needs for people to forget what happened before he tests the waters again.
And so… it continues.
All the relevant links can be found at the original post at C&L:
Destroying the School To Save It
Israel is truly doing their best to be globally despised. The good news is that perhaps they will shift the traditional anti-Christian/anti-American terrorist groups focus to Israel/Jews. Is that the silver lining? Of course, there would be more likelihood of that if Obama were to pull the troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan. I don’t see that happening until the roof caves in, maybe not even then. The USA does seem to have this penchant for being their own worst enemies. I don’t get it.
Among people in the street the belief is that “Israel = US”. It’s a belief, so there isn’t anything you can do other than show by your deeds that it isn’t true. When the weapons and ordnance all have “Made in the USA” stamped on them, you can’t really expect people to believe anything else. The situation in Palestine is the foundation of all of the terrorism in the Middle East. Until it is dealt with in some reasonable fashion, there is no prospect of peace in the area.
OT: I thought you would be interested in the fact that the reason the incoming First Family is being put up at one of the world’s most expensive hotels at taxpayers expense, rather than at the official guest house, is some retired politician named Howard is going to be staying there to pick up a medal from the Shrubbery. It would seem that Tony Blair and Mr. Uribe will be staying at their embassies, but Mr. Howard isn’t comfortable doing that.
I was thinking of commenting on the ‘Israel = USA’ belief. And you are quite correct. Before Bush, it was a *perception*. Now, it’s a globally held truth. *shrug*. And there is only ONE way of changing that, and rhetoric and propaganda isn’t going to do it. I doubt that even Rome seriously thinks (at least in private) that the USA is a ‘Christan Nation’ now, though of course they will certainly be aware that many of the citizens believe it is (and always was and will be), so their revenue streams are fairly safe. 🙂
LMAO @ Howard! 😀 We have the distinct belief here that Howard will be applying for US citizenship any day now! As have many of our a**holes who discovered that Australians are NOT Americans, and will only tolerate their crap only for so long. 😉 LOL He certainly won’t be missed, even by his own party. 😀 The political parties here tend to be rather fickle about huge losers. 😀 No… Howard wouldn’t be feeling at all comfortable in the Embassy, assuming they even let him in. 😉 Perhaps Howard decided it would be prudent not to put it to the test. LOL
You really don’t want to know what’s behind the beliefs of the evangelicals about Israel. Compared to some of the “Christian” groups that back Israel, the Shi’ia Twelvers have PhDs in logic. I don’t think Israelis would be very comfortable to know that some of these groups believe that Israel must regain its historic borders and rebuild the Temple, so the End Times can come. There is nothing like religion to bring out the worst in people.
As you say, agitprop is not going to change anyone’s mind. It is going to require long term consistency in an even handed policy before even the moderates will begin to separate Israel and the US.
As for Howard, the Shrubbery might offering a two for one deal, the medal and citizenship if he asked for it, that is if the price were right. The Shrubbery has to think about his retirement, because the speaking fees aren’t going to be flowing in this economy, and there are a lot of countries he doesn’t dare visit.
The evening news here on our ABC wasn’t very impressed with Howard usurping Obama for the guest house! LOL Bush apparently offered the guest house to Howard, Blair & Uribe, but Howard was the only one to accept the invitation. This in spite of the fact that Bush knew the Prez elect Obama would be there at the same time (for the ex-Prez summit) and should have been offered the guest house. LOL I guess we know who Bush really likes. 😉
I was just laughing. LOL Enjoy Howard! 😀 He’s all yours! LOL He can stay with the other losers we don’t want back. 🙂
I was watching Countdown last night and Olbermann made the comment that Bush asked Howard to stay at Blair House. Apparently he needed a reason for turning away the Obamas. And apparently Howard is still doing Bush’s bidding since he agreed to stay there. And unless he is applying for political asylum, quite possible I suppose, he can go back home. We don’t want him either. 🙂
Well, it could be pettiness and spite, or just the inability to master the calendar, with the Shrubbery it’s had to say. After 8 years in the bubble returning to be a West Texas goat roper will be a real let down.
Maybe Rupert Murdock can find Howard a job so he isn’t dependent on old friends letting him sleep on their spare couch.
The Israelis claim that the fighters are hiding behind civilians. Even if that were true, here in civilization we have a name for that scenario: “Hostage situation.” We call in a hostage negotiation team, we bring in a SWAT team to make it clear to the bad guy that he’s outgunned and the only sane thing to do is peacefully surrender, we bring in police snipers in case the bad guy opens himself up to a sniper shot, and otherwise do everything to resolve the situation with live hostages rather than dead ones. It’s only in vicious oligarchies like Putin’s Russia, or Israel (if the hostages happen to be, like, brown), where it’s acceptable to just shoot the hostages in order to shoot the bad guy. Except I suppose that in Israel’s case, they don’t view the hostages as human, so as far as they’re concerned it’s just a little housecleaning of vermin…
– Badtux the Scenario Penguin
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Given the population density of the Gaza strip, there isn’t exactly a lot of room to create “militant areas” to make things convenient for Israel. Maybe if the Palestinians had a state that could give them passports and such, many could emigrate to areas with more space, rather than having to be smuggled everywhere or live in refugee camps.
As you say, this is no way to run a hostage situation, and the Israelis know how to run a hostage situation, but, as you say, they don’t put much value on the lives of the “hostages”.