Is Gaza Bombing Too Much? Bush Won't Say

While Backing Israel's Right To Defend Itself, White House Won't Say Whether Offensive Matches Threat

(CBS)  By CBS News White House Correspondent Mark Knoller

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From Day One of the Israeli air strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza, the Bush administration has asserted Israel’s right to defend itself.

But asked today if the Israeli response was proportionate to the provocation of the Hamas rocket and mortar attacks, the White House declined to offer a view.

“I'm not going to take a position on proportionality, because I'm not even sure if I could define what that is,” said Gordon Johndroe, the lead White House spokesman on this issue.

Yet four months ago, President Bush had no doubts about proportionality. He was certain that Russia was waging a disproportionate military response in neighboring Georgia.

“Russian forces invaded the country in a disproportionate response to a long-simmering conflict in Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia,” he said in a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars on August 20.

So why can the U.S. make an assessment on Russia’s response, but not Israel’s?

“There is not a one-size-fits-all definition of disproportionate,” said Johndroe in an e-mail response to CBS News.

The issue didn’t come up when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice emerged from a discussion of Gaza with President Bush.

“Obviously, the United States is very concerned about the situation there and is working very hard with our partners around the world to address it,” she told reporters.

But she has no plans to launch a diplomatic mission to the Middle East, and the White House agrees..

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Click here to President Bush's weekly radio address, in which he discusses the Gaza conflict.

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Spokesman Johndroe says Rice has been on the phones constantly with key Mideast leaders, and so “we don't see a particular need for her to travel to the region to deal with this one.” He says “she can do this work from here.”

Furthermore, the Bush administration is not taking a public position on the possibility that Israel may launch a ground invasion into Gaza.

“I don't want to speak to an operation that has not taken place, that may or may not take place,” said Johndroe this morning.

But he repeated the White House admonition that Israel “avoid civilian casualties” and “continue the flow of humanitarian goods into Gaza.”

The administration says it wants a ceasefire “as soon as possible,” but Rice says Hamas must disavow any more rocket or mortar attacks on Israel.

Complicating American efforts to bring about a ceasefire is that the U.S. has no direct contact with Hamas, which it regards as a terrorist organization.

Rice today accused Hamas of holding the people of Gaza hostage by staging “an illegal coup” against Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whom she called “the legitimate president of the Palestinian people.”

“Hamas has used Gaza as a launching pad for rockets against Israeli cities and has contributed deeply to a very bad daily life for the Palestinian people in Gaza and to a humanitarian situation that we have all been trying to address,” said Rice.

Pres. Bush has also been working the phones - calling Israeli and friendly Arab leaders. But he has kept a decidedly low profile on the situation in Gaza. Only late this afternoon, did he break his weeklong silence on the situation by releasing his Saturday radio address.

He declares that “the recent outburst of violence was instigated by Hamas.” And he calls its rocket and mortar attacks on Israel “an act of terror.”

He says the U.S. is leading efforts to bring about an end to the violence, but that “another one-way ceasefire” that doesn’t stop the Hamas attacks on Israel won’t be acceptable.

He says there must be “monitoring mechanisms in place” to help ensure that the smuggling of weapons to terrorist groups in Gaza comes to an end.

[stevencee]

I just wonder WHY tell us about the "humanitarian crisis" in Gaza, something painfully evident, yet somehow NOT EVEN MENTION, why they are not receiving supplies???

I''ve heard varying reports, that Israel IS letting in dozens of tractor-trailers full of supplies, yet Egypt is not, & that Israel is not, too. It''s not too much to expect that your story be a bit more thorough, and you tell us WHAT THE STATUS OF SUPPLIES IS!

If all I wanted are brief soundbytes I certainly wouldn''t need watch the CBS Evening News.......

[dbaker13-2009]

israel,blow them all up and put in a huge drive-in movie complex.screw hamas and screw the terrorist loving palestinians!!!!!!!!!!!

[starleo146]

No one will win this, the Palestine people who have suffered even at the hands of people they trusted, and voted for Hamas, and Israel who now have emboldened Hamas, now because they are considered the aggressor, even though for years Hamas has denied their very people food, roads, hospitals, for millions of dollars worth of rockets to rain down on Israel.HAMAS IS A TERRORIST ORGANIZATION AND HAVE HAD HELP FROM IRAN. This is such a bad situation and more to come later I feel.

[starleo146]

Bush won''''t say... But do you think the entire middle east noticed that we vetoed the U.N. cease fire?

Posted by yesbama1 at 09:53 AM : Jan 04, 2009
+ report abus

Your point is well taken, and I feel as well Israel would not have made this bold move (right or wrong) without Cheney and Bushs'' blessing, they can play dumb, but these two war hogs wanted one more harah before leaving their war room house,and make this country more difficult to make a decision of peace by Obama. They have put him in a position of taking sides ,before he can solve the problem peacefully.

[libh8er]

The American LAMEstream media floors me sometimes. They are absent while terrorist groups like Hamas launh home made rockets (unguided dumb bombs) killing
innocent Israeli civilians......

Perhaps the press would be happier if Israel just did the same. Wonder what they would say then?

[gogwgo]

Israel,

Pave Gaza, and put up a parking lot!!

Screw the desert rodent Hamas just as they was doing to the camel when you caught them.

LOL!!!

[gogwgo]

I do wish all you Hamas camel molesting POS posting on here would be honest enough to admit which of your kinfolk awoke this morning to find an Israeli rocket stuck up their keester??

Or, they were sleeping under the cleats of an Israeli tank!!

Pave Gaza, and put up a parking lot!!

LOL!!!

[reaganitegop]

Where were all these "concerned" people during the last 5000 rocket-launches aimed at Israel''s homes, schools, and day-care centers?

Israel has dealt in good faith there for 3 yrs, and got terrorism in return. Until the missle launchers are taken-out, and the terrorists stacked-up like firewood, there will be no peace with the maniacs of Hamas.

Those who think they could manage the situation better than Israel would be well-advised to study the nature of the enemy a little.

Like the fact that the Gazan legislature, dominated by the medievel savages of Hamas, recently approved crucifixion for "enemies of Islam"... good grief.

The ignorant leftists who push for land concessions, aid for Gaza, and diplomatic contacts with Hamas, the fact that they and other radical Palestinian factions are wholly dedicated to Israel''s destruction and "Islamic global domination" appears to be just some small, irrelevant detail.


Perhaps the west should listen (for once) to Iranian-proxy Hamas'' openly proclaimed intentions, or maybe actually read their charter, rather than continuing to project idealized wishful thinking upon them... it''s not like they''re hiding anything.

"Land for Peace"? Where is the precedent, Gaza? Truth is, the Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.

Light ''em up, Israel... and Iran, you''re next-

http://reaganiterepublicanresistance.blogspot.com/

[redcdiver1]

Everyone that supports this type of aggression fails to point out the root cause of this conflict. Israel invaded the Palestinian lands with the help of the western world all in the name of the so called chosen people, give me a break. The Bushies that are backed by the religious Christian nuts don''t care about anything except killing innocent human beings in order to keep Israel firmly planted with their thumb on the Palestinians who have the right to their homeland. This conflict will never end as long as the United States takes a neutral stand to allow the Palestinians the right to exist and cuts off the none debated support of millions of tax dollars each and every year to Israel. If the United States wants to prove to the world that it is a leader of human rights and freedom, let them prove it by taking a different stand on this already one sided policy that is going to threaten the very existence of democracy.

[wardoglrs]

GOOGLE:
BENJAMIN FREEDMAN SPEAKS: A JEWISH DEFECTOR WARNS AMERICA


Now imagine how silly it was for the great Christian countries of the world to say, "We''re going to use our power and prestige to repatriate God''s Chosen People to their ancestral homeland, their Promised Land." Could there be a bigger lie than that? Because they control the newspapers, the magazines, the radio, the television, the book publishing business, and because they have the ministers in the pulpit and the politicians on the soapboxes talking the same language, it is not too surprising that you believe that lie. You''d believe black is white if you heard it often enough. You wouldn''t call black black anymore -- you''d start to call black white. And nobody could blame you. That is one of the great lies of history. It is the foundation of all the misery that has befallen the world.

[Stratmaster7]

Typical response from the Bush Admin. when they are challenged with logic and facts, they pull out words like "disproportionality" and make the discussion about te word instead of the problem.

Bush checked out weeks ago. It took the POTUS a week to say anything about an attack/response (pick your perspective) by one of our biggest allies that is greatly exacerbating an already volatile world situation.

[gogwgo]

I do wish all you Hamas camel molesting POS posting on here would be honest enough to admit which of your kinfolk awoke this morning to discover an Israeli rocket stuck up their keester??

LOL!!!

[middleman8]

The Bush white house idea of going GREEN is to kill off the people of the world.

[tpraskac]

Keep it up. Show Hamas dont mess with Israel

[renojmc]

Go Israel, go! Hamas has been killing innocent Israeli citizens for years with relative impunity from the international community. It''s time to stand up and demolish this terrorist organization once and for all.

[samthetvcat]

pt 1

---"there exists this bizarre notion of %u201Cproportionality%u201D"---
Posted by AlanW1077

I THINK people are looking at the casualties - like 14 dead in Israel over 2 years or something like that, and 400 dead in Gaza. They''re not factoring in total bombs overall, or the pschological warfare aspect of having to constantly live in fear with the drip drip of bombs as opposed to having one targeted carpet bomb (?)

I''ve tried to look at it from the angle of have the bombings of either side acted as a deterrent? No. Have either side inflamed the other side? Yes. But will either side stop? No.

So on the question of proportionality, I don''t know if it''s as clear as people make it out to be, but I don''t even know that it''s as relevant as how do we get both sides to de-escalate, more importantly over the long-term.

[samthetvcat]

pt 2

I''m kind of troubled by Bush''s staunch support for Israel, not because it sort of gives us ownership of all the deaths in Gaza because if it were in furtherance of a greater quest for peace I''d just accept it. But I''m worried he''s making things worse rather than better because he''s not associating us with the concept of peace and resolution.

Does standing up for the idea that Israel ought to exist necessarily mean we have to give them bombs to kill hundreds of people, support aggression without qualification even as a duly elected Government on the other side is being targeted for destruction?

I don''t know . . . I''m sorry if I''ve offended anybody with my opinions - maybe I just don''t know enough about the situation to appreciate all the ramifications.

[alanw1077]

endrepubs , good one!
Even as a Reagan supporter, I thought your post was pretty clever.

[rocketjl]

Someone is trying to kill you and yours. Fighting back is not limited to what ''non-involved'' folks feel would be appropriate. Israel should listen to what the world is saying, then bomb Gaza as much as possible before the pressure forces them to stop. Throw in more gunboats and use a little artillery.

[alanw1077]

This all begs the question: since Israel is being criticized for their disproportionate response to Hamas attacks, does that mean that the critics would be fine and dandy with Israel responding by firing thousands of small random rockets at Hamas neighborhoods? Would that work for you? Of course not. Imagine the international response to Israel randomly targeting civilian neighborhoods, rather than how they target only Hamas leaders at this point. And why would that be? It%u2019s because Israel is held to a much higher standard than Hamas. We EXPECT Israel to be smart and humane and selective, and we expect Hamas to be vicious terrorists. Gee, I wonder why is that?