Jan 11, 2009

Blind support of militarism, Israeli or otherwise, is wrong

Update: Rights group: Israel uses white phosphorus in Gaza
Sunday, January 11, 2009 3:41 PM EST
The Associated Press By JASON KEYSER Associated Press Writer
JERUSALEM (AP) — Human Rights Watch said Sunday that Israel's military has fired artillery shells with the incendiary agent white phosphorus into Gaza and a doctor there said the chemical was suspected in the case of 10 burn victims who had skin peeling off their faces and bodies.

This is what Rep. Tammy Baldwin and others are supporting. It's wrong, period.

Reform Dem has an insightful piece out.

Yesterday Representative Tammy Baldwin (D-Madison) voted for a resolution that unconditionally supports Israel's attack on Gaza, and places full blame for both the attack and the resulting civilian deaths on Hamas. The resolution passed overwhelmingly.

The lessons of the Vietnam War, the illegal invasion of Iraq, one can go on, are lost on today's Congress, most strikingly on congressional Democrats.

The thing about war is that it is an utterly destructive act and should be avoided whenever possible, you know?

Most Democrats who voted for the 2003 invasion of Iraq know this truism, but voted for the war anyway out of perceived political convenience.

Now Rep. Tammy Baldwin and most Democrats are making the same mistake on Israeli militarism of the same stripe.

Baldwin is a particular disappointment because we know damn well that she knows better but chooses political convenience over the lives of innocent Palestinian families (and actually Israel's long-range security) out of a cynical political calculation.

SOP? Sure, but one expects better out of Baldwin.

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