It’s purely a suggestion, but considering the craftily dishonest nature of the US and “Israeli” govt’s, the idiocy of looking to “Israel” as a beacon of Human Rights protections, AND the rapidly declining impartiality & credibility of HRW and Amnesty International … why shouldn’t this be seen as a devious and long-winded exercise in laundering a few few badly tainted reputations?
On the other hand, maybe everyone on the planet is so sick of “Israel” that there’s a clear consensus that it would be safe (and popular) to toss “Israel” under the bus – and drive back & forth over it a few times, just to make sure…

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Nov 7 2014 17:53 utc | 3

Normally when the US military conducts a “lessons learned” it means that the success of the operation or whatever was somewhat limited, it didn’t go quite well, and improvements ought to be made.
So we might conclude the same in this case. The Pentagon wants to do a lessons learned on Operation Protective Edge because even though Israel arbitrarily killed a lot of civilians, 2,200, they killed fewer than the US military normally does in similar operations, like Fallujah, and there must be lessons to be learned, like how to fire roof-knockers before you wipe out the neighborhood, stuff like that. And then don’t talk like Rumsfeld did after random air attacks on “suspected Taliban” in Afghanistan: They are dead because we wanted them dead.
The Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, where Dempsey spoke, is naturally interested in this sort of thing. People should be killed ethically.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Nov 7 2014 18:56 utc | 5

@farflungstar
Wrong! Israel is the pimp – America is the whore. Perhaps you meant “b.tch”?

Posted by: lulu | Nov 7 2014 21:01 utc | 7

a cursory look at dempsey’s career over just the last 15 years or so reads like a blueprint of imperial legerdemain. dispatched to saudi arabia in september 2001 for a couple years as a “program manager” in service to the kingdom’s royal family, then off to iraq to command task force iron, one of the largest divisional-level commands in the history of the u.s. army which, by the way, just happened to coincide with the explosion of the general sunni insurgency. then up and onwards to the highest eshelons of CENTCOM.
rest assured that the good general is extremely well-versed in “extraordinary lengths.”

Posted by: john | Nov 7 2014 21:19 utc | 9

stenographer for the warmongers….
“”The IDF is not interested in creating civilian casualties. They’re interested in stopping the shooting of rockets and missiles out of the Gaza Strip and into Israel,” Dempsey said.”

Posted by: james | Nov 7 2014 22:24 utc | 11

Heres ol Chompers doing his gatekeeping best to try and scare the crap out of everyone
World ominously close to nuclear war – Noam Chomsky to RT
Fake left pro Zio twat that he is

Posted by: JMcC | Nov 7 2014 23:12 utc | 13

No one who calls for the ultimate removal of rabbinical law in Israel can be fairly called pro Zio.
Now if we could only get some of the “true left” to criticise NATO’s Russophobic expansion, we might be getting somewhere because the “fake right” Rand Paul even voted for sanctions against Russia and we understand which way Hillary, Warren and Zionist lite Sanders are going.

Posted by: truthbetold | Nov 7 2014 23:38 utc | 15

Anna News, Novorossia’s news channel, is blocked on Youtube for the 3rd time.
http://youtu.be/48EnhZALYl4

Posted by: brian | Nov 8 2014 0:21 utc | 17

The Empire, and its minions, does what it wants, to whom it wants, whenever it wants. That, in todays world, is reality. The BRICS alliance seems to be the world’s only hope to slow the runaway train. All in the name of ever increasing profits.

Posted by: ben | Nov 8 2014 0:38 utc | 19

@ 20: Gee, ya’ think? Mmmmmm Maybe Jesus will show up and change the world. Until then, the BRICS alliance could change things. Who Knows?

Posted by: ben | Nov 8 2014 1:31 utc | 21

Lol
http://consortiumnews.com/2014/11/05/the-silence-of-the-israelis-on-isis/
Israel has provided training for Syrian rebels.
For example, Abdul-Ilah al-Bashir al-Noeimi, currently the Chief of Staff of the Supreme Military Council (SMC) of the Free Syrian Army, secretly trained in Israel in 2013 after being admitted into the country for medical treatment. [See “Report: Commander of Syrian Rebels Trained in Israel, Jewish Press News Briefs,”  Feb. 24, 2014.
In regard to Israeli participation in training Syrian rebels, see: Jason Ditz, “Report Claims US, Israeli Trained Rebels Moving Toward Damascus,”  Antiwar.com, Aug. 25, 2013,; Jinan Mantash, “Israeli analyst confirms link between Israel, ‘moderate’ Syrian rebels,” Alakbar English, Oct. 17, 2014.]
http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/report-commander-of-syrian-rebels-trained-in-israel/2014/02/24/

Posted by: JMcC | Nov 8 2014 2:21 utc | 23

The Joint Chiefs upcoming seminar on “acceptable” civilian slaughter in Gaza strikes me as rather remedial. After all, not that long ago USians successfully completed their campaign to slaughter 100 million civilians in order to fully seize their resource-rich continent. And put the remaining survivors in Gaza-like concentration camps, where they remain to this day.
Of course, there were those unfortunate civilian terrorism incidents in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which lacked a certain subtlety and deniability. But let’s look forward. What is left for the Joint Chiefs to learn about the art of disproportionately deliberate civilian killings?
Dempsey is indeed disappointing. For a moment there, I thought he might actually be sane.

Posted by: Pluto | Nov 8 2014 3:10 utc | 25

It would be interesting to know the context of that ludicrous statement from Dempsey.
Almost certainly it wasn’t part of his speech, but was given as an answer to a question from the audience.
Was it a softball, pre-prepared question lobbed in Dempsey’s direction precisely so that he could put that statement on the record?
Or was it an aggressive, accusatory question that, essentially, dared him to pour a bucket on the Israelis?
In which case Dempsey’s answer is of the Oh-shit-I’m-not-falling-for-this-trap answer.
It would be interesting to know. Does anyone know if a transcript is available?

Posted by: Johnboy | Nov 8 2014 5:09 utc | 27

Interesting exchange between Matt Lee and State Dept Flunky Jen Paski at today’s State Dept Press Briefing, where Lee pointed out that Dempsey is a military man, and so if he says that Israel did its best then the State Department should bow to his superior knowledge Of All Things Military.
The State Dept’s Official Spokesflunky – and this really is extraordinary – was having nothing to do with such logic.
Lee: ….”How do you reconcile these two apparent divergent points of view? When this statement came out, the United States was appalled? Did that just mean the State Department was appalled?”
Paski: “No, that is the position of the Administration; it remains the position of the Administration”….
Lee: “Okay. But I’m still confused as to how you can reconcile the fact that the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff” …. “says that the Israelis essentially did the best that they could and lived up to – by extension lived up to their high standards by taking – by going to, quote, “extraordinary lengths” to limit the collateral damage”
Paski: “Well, I would point you to the chairman’s team for his – more specifics on his comments. But it remains the broad view of the entire Administration that they could have done more and they should have taken more – all feasible precautions to prevent civilian casualties.”
That’s a remarkable comment, because what it amounts to is the State Department repudiating a statement by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs regarding a military matter.
Dempsey said that Israel actions smell of roses, and Paski replies by saying words to the effect that Dempsey doesn’t know what he is talking about.
Quite remarkable. One or other is going to have to walk their comment back, so it will be interesting to see who caves in: the Pentagon or Foggy Bottom.

Posted by: Johnboy | Nov 8 2014 5:52 utc | 29

He’s going to Israel to reinforce the idea that Israel ‘deserves the Nobel Peace Prize’ for killing only 69-75% civilians during their massacre in Gaza. In fact they were and are ALL civilians. Obama has a Nobel Peace Prize and Israel deserves one. Dempsey is ‘on the team’, ready for life on the take after the revolving door revolution.
Israel could have done more … it could have refrained from expropriating and murdering Palestinians all together. The US and Israel are pariah states, hated by all of the 95% of humanity that is not American or Israeli. And deservedly so. God knows they’ve been working hard enough to achieve that end.

Posted by: jfl | Nov 8 2014 8:36 utc | 31

Golden opportunity here for someone at the State Department to sabotage the notion that American officials *must* kiss Israel’s arse in public.
Dempsey is lying to the public, because that’s what’s expected.
But during that conflict the military must have given briefings to the White House and to State, and in those briefings the truth would have been told: the IDF is going ape-shit on the civilians of Gaza, precisely because That’s What The IDF Does.
So someone at State should leak those briefings, and by doing so leave Dempsey wide open to the public ridicule that he so richly deserves.
Because this is a simple truth: it’s well past time that US officials are held up for public ridicule when they kiss Israel’s arse, and Dempsey’s arse-kissing-display is as good a place as any to start.

Posted by: Johnboy | Nov 8 2014 10:18 utc | 33

Ps
This idea that there is something fundamentally different between the way the ZioNazi Mil acts and the way the US Mil act is just weakminded nonsense
Fundamentally there no difference at all
Dempsey, as CJCS, criticising the IDF is an utterly preposterous notion

Posted by: JMcC | Nov 8 2014 10:33 utc | 35

If one compares IDF in Gaza vs US in Fallujah, the ZioNazis come out looking like choirboys

Posted by: JMcC | Nov 8 2014 11:35 utc | 37

@34 “I’m pretty sure “shame” or “ridicule” would have little effect on the likes of the CJCS”
Really? Even the Emperor was brought up short when the boy pointed out that The Royal Donger was bouncing around for all to see.
Nobody likes being held up as a figure of ridicule, and especially not when it is for doing something that you can just as easily NOT do by keeping your mouth shut tight.
“Certainly not unless the whole of the MSM joined in”
Oh, I quite agree – ridiculing Dempsey in private is not going to matter one whit.
It’s being held up to PUBLIC ridicule that might just make a difference, and you are quite correct that this will never happen unless the MSM runs with it.
But it has to start somewhere, and a carefully-leaked memo with Dempsey’s signature on the bottom of it would be the place to start.

Posted by: Johnboy | Nov 8 2014 11:57 utc | 39

I aint talkin bout what the US was criticised for, in fallujah
I’m talking bout what they actually did in fallujah
From my recollection of reading various reports by medical orgs, Over half the fatality figures from fallujah, those bodies showing up i n the morgue, were female
And that stuff about delaying the assualt was in some respects merely PR, designed to fool. There were also reports at the time of many others refused passage through the checkpoints
For example 12 yr old males and older were refused passage through the checkpoint.

Posted by: JMcC | Nov 8 2014 12:19 utc | 41

Btw
The female bodies collected after the US massacre in fallujah were not mainly as a result of bombing etc, just in cae you think they were
These bodies mostly had bullet wounds
From snipers most likely
US snipers most likely
And the morgue bodies covered ALL age ranges, from young to old
So on that one metric alone the US in fallujah was far worse than the ZioNazis in Gaza

Posted by: JMcC | Nov 8 2014 12:29 utc | 43

@21 Ben
Yeah the Brics is the best chance at stabilizing the world economy and fostering peace. MULTIPOLAR is the best economic situation for the globes entire population.

Posted by: really | Nov 8 2014 13:18 utc | 45

There were controversies about white phosphorous use at Fallujah.

Posted by: truthbetold | Nov 8 2014 22:08 utc | 47

OK, I think it’s pretty obvious that john/JMcC is an Israeli who has come here for no other reason than to troll.

Posted by: Johnboy | Nov 8 2014 22:29 utc | 49

Boorish troll. Not worth any further attention.
Come back when you decide to grow up.

Posted by: Johnboy | Nov 8 2014 23:04 utc | 51

Regarding Dempsey, Harry Truman’s thoughts are apropos.
“I didn’t fire him [General MacArthur] because he was a dumb son of a bitch, although he was, but that’s not against the law for generals. If it was, half to three quarters of them would be in jail.” — Harry Truman
Here are some recent headlines where Dempsey is feeling his oats, way above his grade:
–Chairman: Israel Acted Responsibly in Gaza
–Top US general: Israel protected civilian lives in Gaza
–Dempsey Encourages Iran to Embrace Diplomacy on Nuclear Issue
–Russia Pushing Limits of International Order, Dempsey says
–Chairman: People of Iraq, Syria Will Defeat ISIL
–Gen Dempsey ‘Worried’ Because ‘We Know So Little’ About Ebola Virus
–Joint Chiefs chairman: ‘I don’t see’ Baghdad falling’
–Dempsey: Iraqi Shiites must back expanded mission

Posted by: Don Bacon | Nov 9 2014 3:46 utc | 53

here we go again…
OK, I think it’s pretty obvious that both john and JMcC are one and the same person…
what’s obvious to me is that another one of our ‘savvy’ little empire-slayers, when called out for his blatant ignorance, rather than do a little research or watch the video that i posted, resorts to hurling stupid defamatory bullshit based on nothing but a wild hair up his asshole. so look, you little fucking asswipe, you grow up!

Posted by: john | Nov 9 2014 11:01 utc | 55

#17 et al.
Here is the full transcript from Dempsey’s appearance at the Carnegie Council with relevant section excerpted:
“QUESTION: I’m James Starkman. General Dempsey, thank you so much for your service to the country.
How would you evaluate the ethical conduct of the recent war by Israel against its opponents? It seems to me from all I’ve read that extraordinary measures were taken to limit civilian casualties in that operation. I just wanted to know what your evaluation was.
MARTIN DEMPSEY: Nothing like a softball right off the top. [Laughter]
The reason I say that is, early on in my tenure as chairman, for some reason—to this day, I can’t figure it out—I was portrayed as being anti-Israel in my advice. It was shocking, because the chief of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), Benny Gantz and his wife, Revi, are probably Deanie’s and my closest friends in the international world.
Now that you’ve asked me that question, I’d better be sharp with my answer, or I’ll be right back in the timeout chair.
I actually do think that Israel went to extraordinary lengths to limit collateral damage, ensuing casualties. In fact, about three months ago, we asked Benny if we could send a lessons-learned team. One of the things we do better than anybody, I think, is learn. We sent a team of senior officers and noncommissioned officers over to work with the IDF to get the lessons from that particular operation in Gaza, to include the measures they took to prevent civilian casualties and what they did with tunneling. Hamas had become very nearly a subterranean society. That caused the IDF some significant challenges.
But they did some extraordinary things to try to limit civilian casualties, to include making it known that they were going to destroy a particular structure. They even developed some techniques to—they called it roof-knocking, to have something knock on the roof. They would display leaflets to warn the citizens and population to move away from where these tunnels were.
Look, in this kind of conflict, where you are held to a standard that your enemy is not held to, you’re going to be criticized for civilian casualties. I think if Benny were sitting here right now, he would say to you, “We did everything we could. Now we’ve learned from that mission, and we think there are some other things we could do in the future, and we’ll do those.”
The IDF is not interested in creating civilian casualties. They are interested in stopping the shooting of rockets and missiles out of the Gaza Strip and into Israel. It’s an incredibly difficult environment.
But I can say you to with confidence that I think they acted responsibility—although I think Human Rights Watch just published a report that there were civilian casualties. And that’s tragic, but I think the IDF did what they could.”
http://www.carnegiecouncil.org/studio/multimedia/20141106/index.html#section-31079

Posted by: lally | Nov 9 2014 17:25 utc | 57

here is another example of dempseys slavish attitude to his wall st and etc. masters..
“WASHINGTON, Nov. 5, 2014 – Russia is “pushing on the limits of international order,” the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said today.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia in general are pushing the limits because they don’t believe the international order was crafted in a way that met their national interests, Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey said during a question-and-answer session at an event on hiring veterans in New York.
Putin and Russia express a sense of victimization following the collapse of the Soviet Empire, the chairman said. Noting that the Russian president recently delivered a speech on that narrative, Dempsey characterized it as “an anti-Western soliloquy that literally lasted for about three hours.”
neil clark articulates a response fair better then i, here at RT.

Posted by: james | Nov 9 2014 18:10 utc | 59

I do not think the word “limit” means what he think it means. And/or “civilian”. Wonder what it feels like to stand up there and lie like that, and know that EVERYONE knows you’re lying? I think it reflects in just how powerful the Israel lobby is, that, or how much money he’s been promised, or possibly what dirt they have on him. Could even be a combination of those three things, and probably is.

Posted by: Colinjames | Nov 10 2014 1:57 utc | 61

The moral categories that Amnesty and HRW cover can only exist inside areas controlled by the hegemon, where judeo christian values hold sway and the post 1946 separation of Church and State, Civilian and Military still makes sense. Gaza lies outside of the zone of control and hence outside of Western moral categories and judgements. Gaza is part of the House of Islam and Islamic values and moral codes hold sway and the essential unity of Mosque and State, Civilian and Military is the rule. In a military arena like Gaza, the term civilian itself is a misdirection, especially in a time of War. These are not our rules but are the rules that Arab/Islamic culture imposes on the conflicts it engages in and to ignore them is to ignore reality.

Posted by: Northern Observer | Nov 10 2014 13:12 utc | 63