Posted on 03/05/2004 12:35:22 AM PST by yonif
ATLANTA, Georgia Only a year ago, the month of March would have held the same positive associations for me as it has for many - the beginning of the end of winter, the promise of springtime and even summer. This year, and for every year for the rest of my life, the approach of March will mean something else entirely - the anniversary of the brutal death of my cousin, Rachel Corrie.
On March 16, 2003, an Israeli soldier and his commander ran over Rachel with a nine-ton Caterpillar bulldozer while she stood - unarmed, clearly visible in her orange fluorescent jacket - protecting a Palestinian home slated for demolition by the Israeli army.
The death of Rachel Corrie, and the response that her case has - and has not - received, reveal several disturbing, indeed immoral and criminal, truths.
First, Rachel died while attempting to prevent the demolition of a home, a common practice of the Israeli Army's collective punishment that has left more than 12,000 Palestinians homeless since the beginning of the second uprising in September 2000. This practice violates international law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Second, Rachel was run over by a Caterpillar bulldozer, manufactured in the United States and sent to Israel as part of the regular U.S. aid package to Israel, which amounts to $3 billion to $4 billion annually, all of it from U.S. taxpayers. The use of Caterpillar bulldozers to destroy civilian homes, not to mention to run over unarmed human rights activists, violates U.S. law, including the U.S. Arms Export Control Act, which prohibits the use of military aid against civilians.
Third, the self-acquittal of the Israeli army for Rachel's death and the resistance of the state of Israel to an independent investigation into this case reveals both the Sharon administration's unwillingness to take responsibility for the death of a U.S. citizen and the Bush administration's cowardice in allowing another nation to attack U.S. citizens with impunity.
Fourth, Rachel's death was in fact only the first of several Israeli attacks on foreign citizens in the West Bank and Gaza. Brian Avery, from New Mexico, was shot in the face on April 5; Tom Hurndall, a British citizen, was shot in the head on April 11 and died Jan. 13, and James Miller, another British citizen, was also shot and killed in April. To date, only in Hurndall's case will the Israeli soldier responsible for the attack face trial, and this is because the British government, after several months, finally responded to the overwhelming evidence presented by the Hurndall family.
As we approach March 16, residents and citizens of the United States should ask themselves how it is that an unarmed U.S. citizen can be killed with impunity by a soldier from an allied nation receiving massive U.S. aid, using a product manufactured in the United States by a U.S. corporation and paid for with U.S. tax dollars. When three Americans were killed, presumably by Palestinians, in an explosion on Oct. 15, 2003, as they traveled through Gaza, the FBI came within 24 hours to investigate the deaths. After one year, neither the FBI nor any other U.S.-led team has done anything to investigate the death of an American killed by an Israeli.
Why the double standard? Perhaps this reveals the most disturbing truth of all.
Elizabeth Corrie is an administrator and teacher in a school in Atlanta.
On March 16, 2003, an Israeli soldier and his commander ran over Rachel with a nine-ton Caterpillar bulldozer while she stood - unarmed, clearly visible in her orange fluorescent jacket - protecting a Palestinian home slated for demolition by the Israeli army.
Can you count the lies in this paragraph?
1) Rachel Corrie was not run over by the bulldozer. She was struck by a falling pile of dirt and rock. If she had been run over by the gigantic machine, there would have been nothing left resembling a human body. At least Elizabeth Corrie didnt repeat the other standard lie, that she was run over twice.
2) Commander? This is the first time Ive heard this one; everything else Ive read stated that the driver was alone in the cabin of the bulldozer. Every time the story is repeated by one of these terror enablers, it gains a few more colorful details.
3) Corrie was not visible from the cabin. These are armored bulldozers, and the drivers visibility is severely restricted. The driver was thoroughly investigated, and took several lie detector testsand he testified that he did not see Rachel Corrie. (Of course, antisemites like Elizabeth Corrie will never accept any Israeli investigation.)
4) Corrie was not protecting a home. The IDF has stated that there were no homes slated for destruction that day. They were clearing brush used to hide smuggling tunnels.
Wow! Four big lies in one simple sentence! Do we have a record here?
I could go through the rest of the article, which is just as full of shameless lying, but in this case one sentence is enough. And strangely, none of these attempts to use Rachel Corries stupid death to advance the cause of Palestinian terror ever seem to mention this photo of Saint Rachel teaching the little children of Gaza how to show their hatred for America:
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