Casualites

Every MSM report of US military actions in Iraq and the recent Israeli actions in Gaza and Lebanon emphasize the number of military and civilian casualities. This is, of course, relevant information and should be reported. But the tone and wording of the reports establishes a subtle subtext that implies that if we (or the Israelis) were just a bit more careful or a bit more humane, some of those civilian casualties could have been avoided. No one denies that innocents die during military conflicts. In fact, civilian deaths are a tragic but predictable part of warfare. But do these deaths indicate some basic lack of humanity on our part? I think not.

It is indisputable that Islamist terrorist organizations through the Middle East directly and purposely target civilians. In fact, it is their dominant military tactic. It is also indisputable (by any rational analysis) that the US and Israeli military go to great lengths to avoid collateral civilian deaths. In many documented cases, the US and Israeli military have avoided targets and increased the risks to their own military personnel in order to avoid civilian casualties. However, when terror organizations embed themselves within a civilian population, when they use civilians as shields while attacking or planning attacks, they purposely put innocents in harm’s way. As a consequence, collateral civilian deaths do occur.

But who is really at fault? The MSM implies that the fault lies with US or Israeli forces, and sometimes it does. But in most cases, the deaths should be placed on the doorstep of AQ, Hamas, Hizbollah, and the dozens of related Islamofascist terrorist groups. The sad reality is: these barbarians simply don’t care.