Word: civilian
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...Israel, the triumphalism that followed the air strike - Prime Minister Sharon called it one of Israel's "greatest successes" - quickly turned into a chorus of self-flagellation Wednesday in the face of fierce international criticism over the civilian casualties. Israel's President Moshe Katsav, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and a number of military officials described the decision to drop a one-ton bomb in densely populated Gaza as a mistake. The IDF and the Shin Bet security service even launched an inquiry into the "intelligence failure" that resulted in such high civilian casualties...
...Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the most important fact was that Israel's midnight air in Gaza killed an alleged terror mastermind - the resultant civilian casualties were a regrettable side issue. For the Palestinians, throughout the Arab world and even in the West the focus was on the thirteen bystanders killed (nine of them children) and 140 wounded in the strike. Those divergent responses suggest that despite U.S. and allied efforts to forge a new path toward peace, a new upsurge of violence may be inevitable. And that has the Bush administration more than a little concerned...
...That's a little disingenuous; Gaza is estimated to be the world's most densely populated city, and civilian casualties in such an attack were inevitable. The strike was heavily criticized by U.N. General Secretary Kofi Annan for precisely this reason, and even White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said Tuesday that "This heavy-handed action does not contribute to peace." Even in Israel itself, the decision to use a one-ton bomb dropped by an F-16 drew strong criticism, and even Israeli military officials called it an "error." Indeed, despite Sharon's lauding of the raid's "success...
...said that a New Hampshire economics professor estimated the total civilian death toll in Afghanistan to be between...
Zinn also said that the government often lies and misrepresents civilian casualties to the American public...