AI researchers continue investigating attacks against southern Israel and are currently documenting the true scale of devastation wrought on civilians in Gaza. The stories they report are harrowing.

In the early afternoon of January 4th, three young paramedics walked through a field on a rescue mission to save a group of wounded men in a nearby orchard. A 12-year-old boy, standing by his house, assisted the operation by pointing to where the men could be found. An Israeli air strike on the area killed all four.

The bodies of the four victims could not be retrieved for two days. Ambulance crews who tried to approach the site came under fire from Israeli forces.

Our researchers later traveled to the scene of the strike with the two ambulance drivers who witnessed the attack. They met with the boy’s distraught mother and found the remains of the missile. The label of the missile read, “guided missile, surface attack” and cited the United States as the country of origin.

This is just one of many similar stories.

Under the Geneva Conventions, medical personnel searching, collecting, transporting or treating the wounded must be protected and respected in all circumstances. Clearly, this was not the case on Jan. 4th.

Since we last wrote, more than 87,000 of you have written Congress and former administration officials. These emails, along with the massive outpouring of letters from around the world from other Amnesty sections, are making an impact. Just this week:

• the United Nations pledged $613 million in aid for Gaza
• 60 members of Congress signed a letter to Secretary of State Hillary of Clinton calling for humanitarian support for Gaza
• And yesterday ago, the US pledged $20 million in aid

We have a small window of opportunity to build on this momentum: urge Secretary Clinton and Ambassador Susan Rice to push for a full-fledged independent investigation.

This investigation is critical for many reasons, not the least of which is the clear evidence of the use of white phosphorous, as well as the mounting evidence of the misuse of US arms. As you read this, Amnesty researchers continue documenting the use of arms, and we expect an action specifically calling on Congress to investigate the misuse of US weapons in this conflict in the coming weeks.

Everyone is responsible for the protection of international law. The US government must not turn a blind eye to possible war crimes and crimes against humanity. It should support an independent international inquiry by the United Nations into allegations of violations of international humanitarian and human rights law – by all groups participating in the conflict.

The story of the paramedics and the young boy is not an anomaly. Write Secretary Clinton and Ambassador Rice today and urge accountability for abuses in Gaza and southern Israel now.

For those who do not follow Ron Paul quite so much, this is unusual as he typically constrains himself from showing anger.  Well, this 4-minute video released Tuesday night by the Campaign for Liberty reveals why.  The House had called a last minute vote the night before and started the session one hour earlier than normal.  Dr. Paul claims he was notified at the last minute and was barely able to arrive and interject with his opposition for two minutes. (photo)

Paul also related that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair are skipping their appointments with the House Finance committee to fly off to the Swiss Alps to meet with the international banking cartel known as the BIS, or Bank of International Settlements. My guess is that their conversation will cover the price of gold at some point.

[For readers who may have missed it, I have explained here "The Money Matrix - How the FED Works" that the Federal Reserve is a fraudulent, powerful quasi-private banking cartel that wields the power to create and destroy money at its own whim.  I also explain here "Rioting at the Gates of Thermopylae" how the FDIC’s so-called "Deposit Insurance" is a complete scam.]

However, it is perhaps fortunate that Ron Paul is probably not aware of the following.  Reuters reported last week that extremely large ammunition shipments will be shipped from our military depots in Greece to Israel, 325 standard shipping containers packed with explosive death.  Why do we have or need depots in Greece you ask?  We are a Military-Industrial Empire, baby!  Led by our wacky Keynesian economists, this “builds wealth” for our arms dealers (the US government and the defense industry), but accomplishes only destruction in warzones.

In early December, the United States shipped another 989 standard containers filled with “2.6 million KG of net explosive weight” from North Carolina to Israel.  In September Congress approved the sale of another 1,000 bunker-buster bombs to Israel to be used on “penetrating Hamas’s underground rocket launcher sites.”

Well, at last check, the Palestinians are still unable to afford a Palestinian Navy, so likely this new ammunition will end up being used against both civilians and Hamas in Gaza and elsewhere.  The amount of ordnance shipped in December and January works out to over 2 KG of net explosive weight per Palestinian.

Gotta love to see our tax dollars to see at work!  Right?  Oh, lost your job or scared of losing it?  Wondering if you will ever be able to pay the mortgage or spend time in bread lines?  Wonder what type of country your child will grow up in?  Don’t worry Obama’s Big Government Stimulus Plan will make everyone soldiers or good little socialist puppets – oops, did I just write that?

I meant to say it will soon be all better now!

The only international reporters in Gaza now who can show what is actually happening there are the ones from Al Jazeera.

Under pressure from the Bush administration, the major cable providers in the US have not offered Al Jazeera in the US. The number of communities that have it in their available cable offerings can be counted on one or at most two hands.

But you can watch Al Jazeera’s English channel’s live feed free by downloading Livestation, a program that also offers the BBC, Deutschewelle (Germany) and French TV.

Incidentally, as I watched a young woman from Al Jazeera, dressed in a flak jacket prominently labeled “PRESS” and wearing a military helmet, gingerly walk towards the scene of an Israeli massacre of a Gaza family, doing her standup into the mike as she walked, I was struck by the shamelessness of our own corporate media.

Does anyone think that if Wolf Blitzer or Brian Williams took a network helicopter and announced to the Israeli government that they were flying into Gaza, they would be shot down? Of course not! It would be the end of US support for Israel.

They’d be able to fly in at will and report on what is happening. So why aren’t they doing it? It can’t be fear. At least not fear of the IDF. Fear of criticism here at home maybe, for being too even-handed on this story?