I Want To See Bush, Pelosi, And Reid Defend This

Since Israel started their military offensive in the Gaza Strip there has been a concerted effort by elected leaders on both sides of the aisle to promote Israel's point of view and dehumanize the Palestinians living there. If you heard President George Bush, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, or Majority Leader Harry Reid talking about this conflict you woudl think that every single resident of Gaza is a member of Hamas and they all deserve to die for daring to fire rockets into Israel.

Now the pervasive excuse for all of the civilian casualties from these same leaders has been that Hamas is hiding amongst them and using them as shields and that many sites that have been targeted by Israel such as mosques and homes were actually store houses for Hamas weapons. They use the "Human Shield" argument that the civilian casualties are actually Hamas' fault because they are hiding in the civilian population and putting everyone at risk. It is worth noting that many of the Hamas leaders who have been killed were targeted at their homes that they live in, not some hide out that they requisitioned from innocent Palestinians. And many of those attacks have killed not just the Hamas leaders but also a lot of their innocent family members including their wives and children. Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks had a very good take yesterday about this and other tactics Israel is using and I would recommend everyone checking it out.

But today there are confirmed reports that Israel has launched airstrikes with in a few feet of two different U.N. schools killing 30 people or more and wounding countless others. So I want to know if our cowardly fearless leaders are going to claim that Hamas was hiding out/storing weapons there or if they will finally call Israel out for their dispproportionate response. And if they will not call them out for this what exactly would Israel possibly have to do in order to EVER earn their condemnation?

From the AP

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Palestinian medical officials say the death toll from an Israeli airstrike outside a United Nations school in the Gaza Strip has risen to 30.

The attack occurred about 10 yards (meters) outside the school in northern Gaza. It was the second deadly Israeli attack to strike a UN school in the past few hours.

Hospital director Bassam Abu Warda confirmed the 30 deaths from the second airstrike.

In both cases, the schools had been used as shelters for people displaced by Israel's offensive against Hamas militants. More than 500 people have been killed in the 11-day operation, including many civilians.

A top U.N. humanitarian official has condemned the violence and demanded an investigation.