There is very little to disagree with in this New York Post editorial.
Associated Press reporter Matt Lee caught deputy State spokesman Mark Toner by surprise at a briefing this week. Lee asked about Saturday’sUS bombing of a hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, that left 22 patients and staff dead.
The administration has called the attack a tragic mistake. But Lee recalled Israel’s August 2014 shelling of a UN school in Gaza — which State immediately labeled “disgraceful,” adding: “The suspicion that militants are operating nearby does not justify strikes that put at risk the lives of so many innocent civilians.”
Lee asked: Does that policy still hold?
Toner was at a complete loss. He haltingly apologized for the loss of life, stressed that the United States avoids civilian casualties, said any further comment would be “too much speculation” and begged Lee to “give me a pass [while] we wait for the investigation to run its course.”
The Post goes on to say that Toner’s request is a reasonable one. I totally agree. We don’t know all the details, so we shouldn’t rush to snap judgments. However, rushing to snap judgments is exactly what this administration has done every step of the way with regard to Israel, and it is incredibly unlikely that they will learn a lesson from this.
Kudos to a reporter (there are still some good ones out there, despite what you may think) for asking the question. It’s a question that needs to be asked. Why are you allowed to immediately criticize an ally for something, only to do it yourself and beg for the time for it to be reviewed? I mean, either way this goes down, you’re in trouble. You made an honest mistake or you were tricked by an enemy into bombing a civilian hospital. You absolutely deserve the right to let the evidence show whether or not you are guilty.
But that right is also one that our allies, and other nations around the world even, are allowed. Team Obama doesn’t see it that way, because Team Obama is on Team Arab Nations (because that will bring peace or some such nonsense), and Team Arab Nations do not feel some nations (including ours!) have a right to even exist. So, beg for understanding and forgiveness. Don’t be surprised when you, the administration that has promised peace in the Middle East, get called out for bombing civilians there. This is your glass house, after all.
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