Obama's Gaza silence condemned

[IndianaGreen]

Obama plays golf while the world burns! :-(

Obama's Gaza silence condemned

Despite growing pressure on Barack Obama to speak out on the crisis in Gaza, the US president-elect has remained silent on the issue.

Obama, holidaying in Hawaii, has made no public remarks on Israel's unrelenting military assault on the Palestinian territory, which has left more than 380 people there dead.

The former Illinois senator spoke out after last month's attacks in Mumbai and has made detailed statements on the US economic crisis.

But some fear that the US president-elect's reluctance to speak out on the Gaza raids could be sending its own message.

"Silence sounds like complicity," Mark Perry, the Washington Director of the Conflicts Forum group, told Al Jazeera.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2008/12/2008123101532604810.html

[Skittles]

1. it's BUSH'S job to speak on this - he is STILL prez

slam that bastard for staying on vacation

[Rosa Luxemburg]

10. yes Bush is still President

and is still on vacation. Bush has been on vacation for the past 8 years.

[bdamomma]

23. just in case you need numbers about how many days

Bush has taken off.

Since taking office Bush has spent more than 450 days at the Crawford ranch and more than 450 days at Camp David.

total 900 days

[IndianaGreen]

13. Israel is using US-made bombs and planes on civilian population in violation of US laws!

Obama could address that aspect of Israel's lawbreaking behaviour.

[Statistical]

20. Which US law?

Civilian deaths are neither violation of US law or international law.

Intentionally targetting civilians is an international crime.

There is NOTHING to indicate that Israel is intentionally targetting civilians.

In every armed conflict since begining of time there have been civilian casualties.

In many conflicts (especially urban ones) civilian casualties OUT NUMBER military casualties.

Tossing out terms like "lawbreaking", "war crimes", "genocide", "indiscriminate killing" is weak.
It weakens the term when they are used correctly.

[bstender]

24. how about this?

if the staggering inhumanity isnt enough for you

"In the evening television news, careful listening – especially to serious reporters like Shlomi Eldar – could reveal the tip of the war-crimes iceberg yet to emerge: a Gazan prison was intentionally bombarded, a clear war crime. Gaza's hospital suffered damages too. All this in an overcrowded Strip in which life has already been strangled by an embargo on anything from cement and gasoline to medical equipment. A couple of months ago, journalist Amos Harel quoted an article of a leading military figure regarding Israel's next war policy, be it in Lebanon, Syria, or Gaza: "Using power without any proportion to the enemy's threat and actions, in order to damage and punish to an extent that would require long and expensive rehabilitation processes." Another Israeli general explained that villages from which shots are fired will be devastated; "we consider them as military bases" (Ha'aretz, Oct. 5; the names of the two generals – for The Hague's ICC – are Gaby Siboni and Gadi Eisenkot). Once the war started, Maj.-Gen. (Reserve) Giora Island – former head of the National Security Council – spelled it all out on television, without a shade of shame: Israel should not confine its attacks to military facilities, he said, but must hit civilian targets as well. The damage to the civil population should be maximized, because the worse the humanitarian crisis is, the better and the sooner the operation would end. "

snipped from: http://www.antiwar.com/hacohen/?articleid=13970

...not that Intl law is of any concern to Israel, considering their partner in crime can block any action whatsoever.

[IndianaGreen]

25. The prohibition against using weapons indiscriminately in areas where civilians are located

The US is a party to several international treaties, violations of which constitute a violation of US law:

International humanitarian law prohibits (1) the use of weapons that are by nature indiscriminate; and (2) indiscriminate use of other weapons.(17) Some commentary on the U.S. use of WP munitions in Fallujah asserts that U.S. military forces used these munitions, and other weapons, in indiscriminate ways that led to large-scale civilian death and suffering.(18) The United States admitted having targeted insurgents with WP munitions but denied using WP munitions indiscriminately.(19) WP munitions are not by nature indiscriminate weapons because they can be directed at specific military objectives and used in ways that minimize incidental loss of civilian life and damage to civilian property.

The extensive damage caused by the U.S. assault on Fallujah raises questions, however, about how the U.S. military used a variety of weapons. It is difficult to identify credible independent information to verify or refute allegations concerning indiscriminate use of WP munitions and other weapons by U.S. military forces. Without further information, no conclusion can be reached as to whether the U.S. violated this aspect of international humanitarian law during the assault on Fallujah.

(17) Henckaerts, supra note 14, at 199, 204.

(18) "Fallujah: The Hidden Massacre," supra note 1.

(19) U.S. Department of State, supra note 2.

http://www.asil.org/insights051206.cfm#_edn17

[LakeSamish706]

2. I think Obama is doing the correct thing by not weighing in on this.....

He will inherit this soon enough and I am sure at that time will have plenty to say about it.

[bstender]

9. the _politically_ correct thing

but not the morally correct thing

[Triana]

3. BU$H is still the pres - NOT Obama. And WHERE is bu$h? On vacation, as usual...

...FUNNY how that's ignored, innit?

[aquart]

4. Mark Perry? Former adviser to Yasser Arafat?

Well, he would know, wouldn't he?

<http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?articleId=11724>

[MrSlayer]

5. Why? Is he the President or something?

Oh, that's right, he's not.

[EFerrari]

6. There were demonstrations all over the country and all over the world today.

This is something people care about.

[still_one]

7. Obama hasn't even been sworn in, and since the election he has been attacked

on all fronts from Blagojevich to the economy

Barney Frank jumps on Obama for not taking an active part in the Congressional negotiations after he became president elect

The media have been hitting him on an association with Blagoievich, as though it was Obama himself trying to fill the seat

and now we can blame Obama on this new crisis in Gaza

Maybe we should just start the impeachment proceedings for Obama, since it looks like the media, and others want to blame him for all the problems anyway before he has even spent one day in office

I have no doubt there will plenty of opportunities to legitimately criticize Obama, but those that do so now before he has even served one day, should ask how THEY would feel if they were evaluated on their job performance even before they started working at a particular job

[IndianaGreen]

14. We took off our rose colored glasses when Obama named Rick Warren the Invocator in Chief

There is no way in Hell we are going to let this guy become a DLC flunkie!

[cali]

18. lol. you never had any use for Obama. Why not try being honest?

[IndianaGreen]

26. Au contraire, my smearing colleague!

I was a strong advocate of Obama, after Biden dropped out, and worked my ass off for him in Indiana (a small contribution to turning Indiana blue).

What I am not, is one of those people that see Obama as some fraking Messiah incapable of making a mistake. Well, guess what? He broke a campaign promise already by acquiescing to postponing repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" until after 2010, the Warren invocation, and his silence on the Gaza genocide by Israel.

[still_one]

21. I am not happy with the warren invocation, but why not wait and see what his policies

actually are after he takes office?

[IndianaGreen]

27. Obama already broke his campaign promise to repeal DADT

He broke a campaign promise already by acquiescing to postponing repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" until after 2010,

[Puzzler]

8. Do they expect Obama...

... make public a different position than the White House right now? The US has one foreign policy and one president at a time. It may sound trite repeating this, but it's true.

What these guys don't understand is that it's one thing to name your cabinet and to hold press conferences about your future economic policies... but it's quite another to articulate a different foreign policy than the White House... when you are not president yet!

[AnnieBW]

11. Repeat after me

He's not sworn in yet.

We can only have one President at a time. Even if * is coasting, it's still his job for 20 more days.

[IndianaGreen]

12. Activists urge Obama to rethink role in Mideast

Obama can't hide behind the "there's only one President at a time" facade when people are being butchered by American bombs dropped by US-made planes!

Activists urge Obama to rethink role in Mideast

Pro-Palestinian activists protest outside President-elect's vacation home

KAILUA, Hawaii - A handful of pro-Palestinian activists protested outside President-elect Barack Obama's vacation home on Tuesday and urged a new approach to the Middle East.

Eight activists marched with signs to the edge of the property's security perimeter, telling reporters that they want the incoming administration to take a fresh look at the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian territories, especially given the current fighting in the Gaza Strip. They also said Obama needs to take a more active role in the conflict, even though he doesn't take office until Jan. 20.

"We feel there's a great need for change. We need to stop giving Israel a blank check to do what it's doing," said Margaret Brown, a 66-year-old Honolulu resident who held a handmade sign that read "Yes we can change U.S. policy toward Israel and Palestine."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28436778/

[Bobbieo]

15. Please give the man a chance to become president before you tear him to pieces!

Bush is still making the decisions that affect our nation and we can handle only one president at a time!!!

[IndianaGreen]

16. Obama's charm is not going to turn a bigot like Rick Warren into an egalitarian

anymore than it will change the proclivity for violence of the parties in the I/P conflict.

[FrenchieCat]

17. You're right!

He isn't the Magic Negro afterall....ready to serve before putting on his butler's suit.

[Vegasaurus]

19. Obama has said that he would not allow rockets to rain on his daughters either

He has great sympathy for the terrorism that the Israelis endure on a daily basis.

What he will do when he is sworn into office remains to be seen.

[IndianaGreen]

28. Israel's Occupation is 24/7 terrorism on the Palestinians!

Obama's daughters did not have to endure the indignity, mistreatment, and horrors of what Israel has been doing in Gaza for 41 years. The Obama's were not driven out of their home by Israel and forced to live in the same conditions Palestinians have had to live since 1948.

Obama's comments in Sderot were a manifestation of his negligent ignorance about the human rights catastrophe caused by Israel in the region.

Can anyone who is following the Israeli air attacks on Gaza-the buildings blown to rubble, the children killed on their way to school, the long rows of mutilated corpses, the wailing mothers and wives, the crowds of terrified Palestinians not knowing where to flee, the hospitals so overburdened and out of supplies they cannot treat the wounded, and our studied, callous indifference to this widespread human suffering-wonder why we are hated?

Our self-righteous celebration of ourselves and our supposed virtue is as false as that of Israel. We have become monsters, militarized bullies, heartless and savage. We are a party to human slaughter, a flagrant war crime, and do nothing. We forget that the innocents who suffer and die in Gaza are a reflection of ourselves, of how we might have been should fate and time and geography have made the circumstances of our birth different. We forget that we are all absurd and vulnerable creatures. We all have the capacity to fear and hate and love. "Expose thyself to what wretches feel," King Lear said, entering the mud and straw hovel of Poor Tom, "and show the heavens more just."

Party to Murder
by Chris Hedges

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/12/30-11

[bdamomma]

22. hmm...unfortunately Bush is still President and he is not

stopping his vacation either. Bush had a conversation today since the conflict started with Olmert, I bet he told Olmert for him "bring it on". Bush is not going to do crap about this.

In my opinion, Obama should not say anything.

One President at a time.