Left I on the News

From Gaza to Afghanistan, it's the same story. The occupiers are "forced" to kill civilians through aerial bombing.

In Afghanistan:

The general’s [Lt. Gen. David Richards, the British commander of NATO troops in Afghanistan] forces came under repeated attacks, both on patrol and at their bases, forcing NATO to call in air and artillery strikes that inevitably killed scores of the very civilians he was trying to win over.

And in Gaza:

Backed by helicopters and pilotless planes, Israeli troops have staged ground operations in eastern Gaza in the last three days, killing 20 Palestinians and wounding about 30. Most of the dead were Hamas militants who were targets of airstrikes, but several civilians also died.

Yes, those poor British and Israelis, "forced" to kill civilians through aerial bombing. "Forced" by the equation which says that even risking the life of one of their own soldiers is worth the lives of any number of innocent civilians, who count for nothing.

In that regard, consider the caption to this picture from the New York Times:

Israel bombed this house in Rafah Saturday, saying it hid a smuggling tunnel. No injuries were reported.

"No injuries were reported." Even if this "reporting" were accurate, which is dubious, look closely at the picture, showing near total destruction of this house. Can we not imagine that the psychic injuries to the inhabitants of this house, the children above all, will last a lot longer than a lot of physical injuries? Don't worry though. "No injuries were reported." That's ok, then.

The dead Palestinians, when they are not the afterthought civilians ("several civilians also died"), are invariably either "militants" or "gunmen." Some are described, perhaps accurately or perhaps not, as being on their way to or from launching largely symbolic rockets against Israel. But the rest? What is a "militant" or a "gunman" in this context? Someone who is willing to defend his homeland against attack from foreign invaders. Since when is that something that is punishable by death, and able to be passed off as acceptable?