Gaza has never been easy. Most of its 1.5 million people, the families of refugees from Israel in 1948, live many to a room in buildings separated by alleys little wider than a big man’s shoulders. Even in 2002, when I first visited, when tens of thousands of laborers still streamed daily into Israel, unemployment was as high as 40 percent and most residents received supplementary food from the United Nations. Since Hamas won elections in 2006 and Israel has sealed Gaza’s border, conditions have grown much worse. Unemployment reached 60 percent or more; fuel, food and water were often in short supply. Fed by impotent rage, family violence and clan conflicts escalated.

In 2007, we surveyed 500 children. Fully 70 percent said they had witnessed a killing — by Israelis or in factional fighting. Almost 30 percent had post-traumatic disorder: agitation, inability to concentrate or sleep, violent outbursts, nightmares of traumatic events and flashbacks of them during the day, withdrawal from ordinary activities and emotional numbing.

You know life can't be easy for all the brave Israelis Joe mentions in his little commentary/rant. I'm sure it's stressful as all hell. But to be a child in Gaza? That boy or girl is in Hell. A hell our tax dollars have helped pay for. A hell our President and his crack National Security Team helped create. A hell for which much of the rest of world (particularly the Muslim world) blames America and Americans.

What's happening in Gaza isn't war. It is sheer unadulterated horror and because Israel has outlawed foreign journalists and is targeting Palestinian TV reporters we don't know the half of it. We do know that Israel has bombed UN schools, hospitals, mosques, and ambulances besides numerous private residences. [...]

Yet, members of the US Senate and House of Representatives have overwhelmingly seen fit to proclaim their "vigorous support and unwavering commitment to the welfare, security, and survival of the State of Israel and recognises its right to act in self-defence to protect its citizens against Hamas's unceasing aggression, as enshrined in the United Nations Charter".

Just 13 Israelis dead since the start of hostilities (ten of them soldiers) against more than 900 Palestinians (40 per cent women and children) and Congress calls this "self-defence". This nauseating stance on the part of America's "fine" lawmakers is as disgusting as it is ironic. There is nothing in the UN Charter that supports a bully occupier waging war on a caged population.

And when you get blamed for your "friend and ally" killing children, no good will come out of it. Trust me.

KABUL (Reuters) - More than a thousand Afghans signed up on Thursday to say they wanted to go and fight Israel in the Gaza Strip, many of them blaming the United States which has some 30,000 troops in Afghanistan, for supporting the Jewish state.

No good whatsoever.

BAGHDAD (AP) — Anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Wednesday urged reprisals against American forces in Iraq to protest Israel's Gaza offensive, as Arab anger grows over civilian deaths in the Palestinian territory.

So have fun on your little guided photo ops with the Israeli military, Joe. In reality, the effort you are putting in not covering this war is not that much different from many other US media outlets. It sure isn't any different than the response of most of our politicians, including President-elect Obama. At least you're honest about it, I'll give you that. And damn hilarious in a sick, morbid sort of way.