Sorry people, but McKinney is right on this one. Why aren't you people addressing the blockade? Does nobody else find it morally repugnant that the Israeli government would deny food and medicine to people. There are many innocent men, women, and children dying because of this blockade. It is not a road to peace, but a road to more war, which unfortunately seems to be what some of you want.

First off, for all you "it was medical supplies" proponents, the ship did not heed an Israeli radio call to turn back and it attempted to run the blockade. That was provocation by the ship and its crew. Had the Israeli navy failed to stop it they would have lost credibility and more ships would attempt to run the blockade. Take note that it is a "blockade," not a fishing trip. The nature of blockades is that they stop anything coming in to search it or deny it access.

It appears too that the people on the ship contradict themselves a bit when they state that there was no provocation and no warning, but that communication with the Israeli ship indicated that the Israelis believed them to be engaging in terrorist or terrorist-supporting activities. I'd say if I were not a terrorist and someone thought I was I'd want to make sure to dispel as quickly as possible lest I find myself treading water. Furthermore, I'm more inclined to believe the Israelis than McKinney after that fabricated run-in with the Capitol police officer. Call it trusting someone's track record.

Second, if the Palestinians living in Gaza really want this to end they need to get rid of Hamas. Hamas provokes Israel time and again, then when Israel responds they point the finger as if Israel was the aggressor.

Israel shows incredible restraint repeatedly when Hamas lobs rockets into their cities and towns. They could quite easily have leveled most of Gaza, almost assuredly killing off most of Hamas and thousands of civilians in the process. They don't take that approach, choosing instead to target military installations such as rocket locations. Sadly, collateral damage happens and has happened in every war in history. It is virtually unavoidable.

Third, as for the Israelis denying aid to the Palestinians in Gaza, perhaps Israel has grown a bit gun-shy (no pun intended) with military supplies being shipped in under the guise of aid.

Finally, as Hamas has been identified in the past as a terrorist group would McKinney not be guilty of providing aid and comfort to the enemy? If so, shouldn't she be facing criminal charges when she returns home?

Yeah Cynthia is off doing what I think is a bad thing, but the real question is how the hell she got re-elected in the first place? Surely the people of Georgia are not THAT stupid? Please tell me it was massive voter fraud that got her back in, instead of an honest election?

The arabs bought and paid for her. The last election brought her large donations from the mideast. Just like Jimmy boy she should stay there. After all she and Jimmy are at heart a communist and is opposed to the united states people.

She got mixed up and thought she was going to see aliens.

Did anyone read another account where she ran directly to CNN to report the incident rather than the U.S. State Dept.?

The "higher purpose" is not necessarily "eliminating all human suffering." I propose that it should be "eliminating the suffering of innocents"--or better yet, "eliminating those who indiscriminately use deadly force after they have refused uncounted attempts at reason."

The radical Muslim world cannot be dealt with rationally because they expect unconditional surrender from the rest of us--& they'll kill us if we don't comply.

It looks like the way to minimize human suffering might be to either (1) eliminate radical Muslims, or (2) isolate them where they can't get to those who disagree: I propose Antarctica.

Wish the Isrlei Nvy knew she was on the boat and her dad's stance on Jews! The apple doesnt fall far from the tree
Mr. McKinney has a history of such intemperate comments. In 1996, he came to his daughter's defense and called her opponent, Republican John Mitnick, a "racist Jew"--

11Alive made a point of re-running the footage where Billy McKinney responds to a question about his daughter's "fudging" of Andrew Young's endorsement: "That ain't nothin'. Jews have bought everybody. Jews. J-E-W-S."

He replied, "That ain't nothin'. The Jews done bought everything anyway. That ain't nothin'." When the reporter then said, Did you say 'Jews'?" The campaign manger replied, "That's right. Jews. J-E-W-S."

Billy's a former Atlanta cop who is now a state representative in a "disadvantaged" urban district (read "the ghetto"). He actually (and yes, this story is true and not an urban legend) pulled a knife on another legislator on the floor of the Georgia State House during a disagreement, threatening to "cut" the other representative. Billy got away with it with little more than a slap on the hand.

Did she have the peanut Jimmy Carter With her.??? which is the biggest goof ball.

Reading - Bravo for quoting Ben Franklin. Certainly a great man from America's past, and although I agree with you in philosophy, what Joe said below is really what matters when you get down to brass tacks. It's an Israeli blockade of Gaza. Anything destined for Gaza is slated for blockade, whether it's medical, supplies, food, etc.. It's a matter of strategy to them; starving the Palestinians of supplies. Sure, it's inhumane, but all's fair in love and war. In this case, war.

This was nothing more than what the Navy said, publicity. There are plenty of aid agencies working in Palestine. It seems to me if you really were serious about helping you would join an established organization to help.

Not load up a boat full of your buddies and some soda then try and try to run through a naval blockade, they even announced it before hand. It is called a BLOCKADE for a reason. They are nothing but attention whores and I don't have a hard time believing they didn't do something to get hit.

Let's be honest what would have happened to a former American politician if she had landed in Gaza. Even if it was one we didn't like. Off with her head despite the fact she supports Hamas. Major publicity victory for the terrorists.

What people are over looking in this story is that with the events happening in this area over the last few days, tensions are high to say the least. You can't just go sailing into this area on a whim and not be deemed suspicious. This boat would be viewed as more of a threat after warnings to cease were ignored. I don't doubt that there were legitimate aid supplies on this boat and I highly disagree with the notion that there were any weapons onboard. My frustration comes with the way this whole debacle was probably conceived from the beginning. McKinney's involvement gives my theory validity. I can't think of one thing that McKinney has done during her so-called political career that didn't help the advancement of Cynthia McKinney. She knew full well that this little stunt would get her name back in the headlines. These days she has her pick of groups from all corners of the world who are at odds with the current administration to align with. I don't think she truly cares what some of these groups believe at their core, only that they don't like George Bush...and that's enough for her.

The one most important thing you are neglecting to consider is that the Israelis are letting "legitimate" medical and food supplies through. All they had to do is radio for an inspection team and voila, they are on their way through. But NOOOOO they had to make a show for the media and morons like you.

The 'tripe' is in the article that this very page links to. It doesn't state 'what the passengers claim were medical supplies'. It states that the boat set sail from Cyprus carrying cyprian-donated medical supplies and passengers from many different nations -- among them Britain, Australia, and Ireland. Not exactly nations known for gun-running to terrorists. Again, this is the webwench linking to the article -- so are you saying she's linking an article she knows to be mostly false? Why not find an article that says the boat was full of guns and rockets?

Of course nobody's advocated for destruction of a boat carrying passengers they know to be innocent. What they are advocating, and it's in several posts here, is the destruction of a boat carrying passengers they assume to be guilty of smuggling war materials, when they have absolutely no proof whatsoever that that is the case.

Franklin's quote certainly applies here. People are calling for the blood of a boat full of, from all current accounts, humanitarian aid advocates and equipment, because they *might* be carrying weapons. Now if it turns out that there were weapons bound for Gaza militants on that vessel, then they should be brought to justice by all accounts. But Isreal didn't even check the cargo. They have every right to defend their waters of jurisdiction, but they have made no effort to prove that it was anything other than an aid mission. Maybe the boat will be checked more thoroughly in Lebanon, that has yet to be seen, but until it can be shown that their intent was malicious it will be another case of sacrificing freedom for security. Who can honestly deny medical aid to injured people with a clean conscience?

By all means, please elaborate on what you feel his philosophy on the subject was, since you seem to have an idea of where it does and doesn't apply. Why does it not apply in this situation? It's all well and good to feel I'm ignorant of it, but simple namecalling with no explanation does not aid the discourse.

And of course, the classic 'if you have any criticism of the country, leave'. This from the same people who cry about the fairness doctrine silencing their free speech. Freedom of speech is to protect unpopular speech, not just speech you agree with. One doesn't have to hate America to disagree with the opinions and ideals of some of its citizens. In fact, that's part of what made the country great originally, the open exchange of ideas. You may not like these ideas, and that's your perogative -- but demanding that these ideas just disappear so you can live in a world of only people who agree with you? That's anethema to the principle.

Reading,
How dare you quote Benjamin Franklin in the same uneducated diatribe as you defend Cynthia "The C**t" McKinney. We would have been blessed if someone had held her head under water for about 2 minutes during her anti-American tirade.

I remember the last time we went through all of this and was wondering (as I do EVERYTIME it happens) when will they start lobbing rockets at the Israelis again? You never hear anything about this conflict until they are fed up and fight back...then WHOA wait a minute! Everyone calm down! It's SO clear who the bad guy is here. McNutjob's involvment speaks volumes about her character.

It doesn't matter what was in the crates. Israel is blockading Gaza because the people there are launching rockets indiscriminately into thier country. It is Israel's right to do so, doesn't matter what that idiot McKinney had in there.

She apparently never learned the painful lesson as a kid that if you insist on throwing rocks at a Hornet's Nest, there's a good chance you will be stung...

Reading: The protection of "innocent until proven guilty" is a protection for citizens against their government and its legal system. It is not a protection against public opinion. Ditto for "due process". And no, the public does not require "tangible proof" for the opinions it holds.

To begin with, apparently the webwench feels the article has enough veracity to be linked instead of some other article that reports the same event without mentioning that the supplies were medical supplies. I'd like to say I'm shocked at the readiness to dismiss the claims with no proof whatsoever that the supplies in question were anything other than humanitarian aid, but in today's America it's simply not surprising.

Whatever happened to 'innocent until proven guilty'? Due process? Nobody in this thread was actually involved in the incident, and certainly hasn't seen the contents of the supply crates, but shouldn't there have to be some tangible proof of it being war materials in order for people to start saying that the boat should have been sunk on sight?

"The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either." -- Benjamin Franklin

just might mean what? Night vision devices so we can 'operate' at night? Missiles for 'surgical' strikes? Antibiotics, oops, biotics that can be used for biological warfare? See, they've said medical supplies before and *gasp* lied. Cynthia McKinney wouldn't even have to have been in on it, she's stupid enough to have been taken advantage of as cover.

Have any police officials been assaulted yet?

I'm sure the boat was "rammed" because she's a female BLACK congresswoman (her words - not mine)

Oh sure. Medical Supplies. Of course those containers hold "medical supplies". Let's believe everyone only has good intentions and those rockets that Hamas has been firing over into Israel were "good humor" bombs. Terrorists are just misunderstood. Cynthia is really the best friend of terrorists worldwide. The left is the first to condemn evil acts by despots and terrorists and then the first to condemn the use of force to stop same.

According to the linked article, the boat was carrying medical supplies, including surgical equipment and antibiotics.

I know how fun it is to wish death and harm on other human beings because war is popular, but some people -- the crew of this boat, for instance -- believe in the higher cause of easing human suffering regardless of who those humans are.

And you people wonder why the world hates the US. Maybe your unchecked hatred for other people and your doom-wishing on a boat full of peace activists loaded with medical supplies is part of the problem.

But then, you're the same people who think torture is awwwwwright so long as it's not on US soil where you can see it.

She's a fidiot.

You guys think with America's support of the Saudis and trade actually increasing un the Bush administration to Iran that America does not support terrorism? You guys should look up Michael Scheuer and see what he says on the Palestine/Israel problem.

Of Course she is trying to break the blockade of Gaza and support the terrorist groups, it's where most of her campaign funding is located. They have a pawn from the U.S. use it!!

Just let her go through and not let her come back. She how she likes Gaza on a more permanent basis. That would have solved many problems with one swift action.