CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr can be seen here saying this morning on the cable network that the use of American-made hardware to destroy that Hamas leader's house with 18 people inside is "very problematic" because "these weapons are supposed to be used for self defense…" And this bold insight:
"The world community only is going to stand for this for so long,"
continued Starr. "It's this reason that you're seeing people look for a
political settlement." She added that Israel now intends to launch a
ground campaign in Gaza to "get rid of Hamas once and for all," but —
as the US has learned in Iraq and Afghanistan — it is impossible to
wipe out an insurgency by military force along without first getting
the civilian population on your side
continued Starr. "It's this reason that you're seeing people look for a
political settlement." She added that Israel now intends to launch a
ground campaign in Gaza to "get rid of Hamas once and for all," but —
as the US has learned in Iraq and Afghanistan — it is impossible to
wipe out an insurgency by military force along without first getting
the civilian population on your side
Starr is great. "You can't kill them all," she says. And we've learned this over years. Yes and Israel has failed to learn it for 60 years. But the realist lessons from Iraq are coming into the American mainstream. You can't win an occupation. You can't smear as "terrorists" people who have been denied political rights and any access to resources. Next maybe we can start instructing Israel in minority rights…
