"Israel's government and military offered a level of cooperation in seeking to illuminate their actions that is highly unusual in such a context, offering open, clear responses to an examination that went far beyond what our own countries would expect to have to reveal even to allied militaries."
What?
Of course they did, they told them what they wanted them to know
Where is there any indication that they checked what they had been told by the Israelis - at the record speed the report was produced, they would not have had time.
This was a report on a war - where are the statements from the other side - or the observers - or the medical staff - or the press - or anybody else other than the Israelis - .
Are you really suggesting that you can produce a fair report by only interviewing one side of the conflict.
The press reports, from Britain, America, from Israel (Haaretz) contradict the report absolutely - you've been given a small number of them - many, many more waiting in the wings, from all over the world.
Where is the explanation of the commander telling the occupants of a medical home after he had told them to stay in the building - widely reported in the press, not even mentioned?
Or the report from Israeli soldiers describing some of their men picking off survivors struggling over the rubble of their homes - not even mentioned, never mind denied?
Or the press reports of Israeli troops launching rockets from yards of occupied schools, or the flechette anti-personnel missiles in built-up areas, or the destruction of homes with families inside... or the hundreds of eye-witness reports of other incidents - not mentioned, not denied, certainly not disproved -NOTHING.
The U.N. has taken a year of deliberation on a report of these events so far and there is still no sign of it coming out - this **** report was 'investigated, written up, printed and distributed in a matter of weeks.
One fundamental rule of any report such as this is you don't associate yourself with one side or the other and you gather your information from the protagonists of both sides and as many neutral and reliable observers as you can find NOTHING - NOT ONE WORD FROM ANYBODY OTHER THAN THE ISRAELI MILITARY AND POLITICIANS - AND ALL CARRIED OUT FASTER THAN YOU CAN READ AN O HENRY SHORT STORY (usually about three pages long)
It is not only a whitewash, it is downright shoddy a#d insulting to the intelligence - they time they took, the witnesses they spoke to or in this case, didn't speak to), the trouble they took getting both sides of the story (by their own admission, " an extensive fact-finding visit to Israel of the High Level Military Group (HLMG) in early June 2015 and several follow-up visits by individual HLMG delegates and staff." ONE TEAM VISIT TO EXAMINE A WAR THAT LASTED - HOW LONG????
Downright insulting, to say the least!!!
No wonder they found themselves "not guilty" at Sabra/Shatila
Jim Carroll