Anthony Cordesman, advocate of “excessive force” for Palestinians
PBS NewsHour (7/12/14) wanted to “put the latest round of fighting between Israel and Hamas in a broader context,” so it invited Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) to consider possible policy options for “both sides.”
The problem is that Cordesman is on the record as advocating the option of brutality against Palestinian civilians. Back in 2000, Cordesman authored a CSIS report–condemned at the time by an Amnesty International spokesperson–that recommended “excessive force” to control Palestinians and ensure the implementation of a potential peace agreement (Extra!, 1/01).
In this report, Cordesman grimly elaborated what “excessive force” consists of:
Effective counter-terrorism relies on interrogation methods that border on psychological and/or physical torture, arrests and detentions that are “arbitrary” by the standards of civil law, break-ins and intelligence operations that violate the normal rights of privacy, levels of violence in making arrests that are unacceptable in civil cases, and measures that involve the innocent (or at least not provably guilty) in arrests and penalties.
Cordesman hasn’t changed much since his 2000 CSIS report, based on his PBS appearance. He had a wide range of recommendations for the Israeli side–all involving military force–while claiming that Hamas’ options were “very limited.”
As an option for Israel, Cordesman suggested that Israel could simply continue their current airstrike campaign against Gaza, because they have the power and capability to do so. He also suggested a “ground offensive,” saying that Israel could “try to take control of populated areas, which would mean a lot more fighting but give them direct control over the government, the structure inside Gaza.” He noted that it would take a “considerable amount of time” to control the population.
Toward the end of the NewsHour segment, Cordesman acknowledged that “every round of fighting does more damage to the Palestinians in Gaza.” But, he said, “the problem with stopping is they [Israel] probably have not really intimidated Hamas to make it stop for a long period of time.” This encouragement of “damage” to the Gaza population for the purposes of “intimidat[ing] Hamas” is exactly what you should expect when you bring on advocate of “excessive force” against Palestinians and “methods that border on psychological and/or physical torture.”
Aldo Guerrero is a FAIR intern.
Dear Aldo Guerrero,
Thank you for this FAIR Blog and the good points that are made throughout. As you know, we at FAIR are media activists. I think this blog did not sufficiently discuss how the PBS Newshour interviewer (whom you did not name) failed to challenge the violent, biased, and ignorant statements made by Anthony Cordesman during the interviewer. Of course, you provided the link to that interview at the beginning of the Blog. But just imagine if some reader on FAIR who has never seen the interview, unlike myself, only read this Blog. Recall, newspaper editors, for instance, are aware that most their readership just read the headlines and captions. I say all this with the kindest of intentions and as constructive criticism. I look forward to reading more of your work.
If this is what the “Public” system offers viewers, what would a private system do? At least we know what the last two letters of PBS stand for.
Cordesmann is a reknowned international expert who undoubtedly is aware of the fact that Hamas is dedicated to the destruction of the State of Israel and has acted consistently toward this objective.
And on this alternate planet your living on, I suppose that Germany was also only responding the vicious Polish attacks on the “Gods Blessed” Third Richt?
While Hamas is not entirely innocent, by no stretch of the imagination is Israel the ‘Poor Victims’ only. Many of the atrocities they have committed in the past 40 years alone are enough that would have caused most nations to be labeled as Rouge and Out of Control.
Great article. We cannot expect anything better from the media, be it PBS, FOX or some other one. They are paid by those who have Zionist interest in mind. If it was an “expert” calling for such violence toward any other people, there would be a public outrage. Even the president would be publicly condemning such. Of course, this is about Palestinian and every Palestinian who does self-defense is a terrorist.
In other words he advocates systematized violations of the Geneva Convention’s provisions for the protection of civilan populations…
@Eric – We already know what the private system does. A cursory look at FAIR’s archives is all the evidence one needs.
@Harold Shabo- You, sir, have been bamboozled by the MSM over the true course of events. You said, “What the terrorists did was embarrass Abbas by apparently going behind his back after he had announced that Hamas and the PLO were going to unite.”
If by “terrorists” you mean Israel, then you would be correct: http://greenshadowcabinet.us/statements/witness-international-crime-israeli-state-terrorism-gaza