Al Jazeera English has a piece all about the Ethan Bronner story, questioning the Times point of view. Reporter Richard Ginzberg says AJ contacted the Times twice seeking an interview with Bronner or his editor. "We received no response." Remember that Bill Keller, Times executive editor, talked to NPR about the story; and was the only one quoted. American media are so much more reliable!
(I think the Times wants the Bronner story to go away now.)
Seham passed this along to me, and she writes:
I doubt that Ethan Bronner’s son’s decision to join the the IOF was an independent one. He joined the army of a country that for decades has maintained its program of illegal land expropriations, illegal arrests, torture, human rights violations, extra-judicial assassinations, destruction of homes and land, state-terrorism, war crimes. A country that is unstoppable in flouting international law, the Geneva Conventions and every other internationally recognized norm that an "enlightened democracy" is supposed to abide by.
And Jr. wants to go defend those guys before going to college.
I’m sure this is partially his father’s fault. I mean just go to minute 7:16 and hear the terminology he used to describe the use of white phosphorus on civilians. "The dozen or so civilian deaths seem like the painful but inevitable outcome of a modern army bringing war to an urban space." That’s what he taught his kid: it’s "inevitable" to burn Palestinian babies.
