Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : American Presidential Politics and foreign affairs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TimF who wrote (37559)	10/16/2009 2:30:23 PM
From: Peter Dierks	1 Recommendation Respond to of 71588

Britain's Terror Double Take Help on Afghanistan, a moral disgrace on Gaza. OCTOBER 16, 2009. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown this week made the politically hard call, no more than eight months before a national election, to send another contingent of 500 British troops to Afghanistan. Perhaps President Obama, playing Hamlet over whether to boost American forces, can take inspiration from Mr. Brown's commitment. The British are concerned about American wavering and the mounting weeks of uncertainty, and they want to see Mr. Obama sign himself back up to his original Afghan war strategy. So it's especially unfortunate to see Mr. Brown's government take a different side in another front of this global war on terror. Today at the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, the U.K. plans to abstain in a vote on a 575-page account of a "fact finding mission" into the January war in the Gaza Strip. Among Western allies, Britain will likely be alone in not trying to stop the so-called Goldstone report from reaching the Security Council, from where it could go on to the International Criminal Court. This latest U.N. product—no need to pause for suspense—slams Israel. According to South African jurist Richard Goldstone's report, Israel engaged in "a deliberately disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate and terrorize a civilian population." Israeli solders could be held liable for prosecution in international courts. Little is said about Hamas's months of rocket strikes that indiscriminately killed civilians and prompted Israel's decision to invade Gaza. The U.K. says the report "raised serious issues" and "is perfectly valid," though it allows that the report fails to give a full account of Hamas's behavior or properly acknowledge Israel's right to self defense. Otherwise Britain may have voted in favor. Bringing Goldstone to the Security Council serves Hamas's purposes to a tee and damages the ability of Western democracies to defend themselves against all such terrorist groups that don't fight by accepted rules of war. By declaring Israel's war against Hamas possibly a "crime against humanity," the Goldstone report could make any other country think twice before engaging a terror group. By its reasoning, Winston Churchill may have been charged with ordering bombing raids on Germany that took civilian lives. For that matter, the current Prime Minister might find himself in the dock for civilians harmed in Britain's fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan's Helmand province. That's what's on the line in Geneva today. online.wsj.com