Something occurred to me in the wake of the coverage of the
Qana bombing in southern Lebanon which killed 50+ civilians, the majority of which were children: The treatment of the Lebanese civilian victims of Israeli airstrikes seems eerily familiar to the treatment of black Katrina survivors.
Just as the Right blamed stranded poor blacks in New Orleans for their own inability to evacuate, they've begun heaping the blame for civilian casualties in Lebanon on those who haven't been able to get out. It's a great showing of "compassion" from conservatives if I've ever seen one.
A few thoughts on the ridiculousness of this "blame the victim" game:
Check
this quote--
Something like Qana, the bloodiest single strike by the IDF since war erupted on July 12, had been feared ever since Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon redefined Hezbollah last week to include all the civilians who have not left south Lebanon.
"Everyone who is still in south Lebanon is linked to Hezbollah," Ramon said, suggesting that "maximum firepower has to be used."
It could just be me, but when you purposefully bomb the highway infrastructure (in particular, the main roads leading out of the country to Syria) and Beirut's airport, put up a naval blockade and constantly run air sorties, it makes it fairly difficult for people to escape the fighting. How many stories have we heard in the past few days like this:
At the main border crossing into Lebanon from Syria, Israeli drones fired at two trucks and a third truck was destroyed by a warplane, security sources said. Four Lebanese customs officials and the three drivers were wounded.
"Lebanese customs officials?" Sounds like a real targeted campaign there. Look, I understand the need to stop the supply lines of Hizbollah, but firing from drones at any vehicle coming across the border?
I love how easily conservatives think it is to abandon your hometown, particularly when you're poor. "Why, the only reason they don't have a Ford Expedition to pack everything up in and leave is because they're all welfare mothers." No, idiots, it's because they're poor. They don't have money sitting around the house to handle emergencies like this. How easily do you think someone in the U.S. making $20,000/yr. at WalMart can pay for living out of town in a hotel for a few weeks? How easy would it be for the rural Lebanese? Of course, we shouldn't be surprised--conservatives really gave a shit about those folks in Darfur, didn't they?
Now conservatives are scrambling to claim that "historically in war, civilians are killed" as though that exonerates their killing. By purposefully deep-sixing a ceasefire, Bush and his cabal are, in effect, signing the death warrants for a couple hundred more Lebanese civilians. It's reminicent of when, after warned that the levees could fail in New Orleans and asked days in advance by Governor Blanco for assistance, President Bush fiddled away.
How can anyone, after Katrina and now this Lebanese crisis, consider conservatives to be the least bit "compassionate" toward anyone but themselves?