U.S. to pay $48 million to cover damages to Gaza power station

United States officials said they expect that U.S. funds will be used to pay for the damages caused by an Israel Air Force strike Tuesday on a Palestinian power station in the Gaza Strip. The power station was insured by a U.S. government agency, according to The Boston Globe.

The Foreign and Defense Ministry departments that oversee foreign relations were unaware of the decision to target civilian facilities in the Strip, or the decision to attack the power station. Because of this, officials did not know that the station was insured by a U.S. government agency. Israel did not inform the U.S. prior to attacking the power station.

The power station in Gaza was built over a period of five years, at a cost of $150 million. In 1999, the Enron Corporation, along with Palestinian businessman Said Khoury, began working on the project, In 2000Khoury's Morganti Group purchased Enron's share of the project.

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Let me get this right, we provide Israel with billions of dollars of military aid which they purchased U.S.-made F-16s and U.S.-made bombs. Then they use those planes and bombs to commit war crimes, which the destruction of civilian infrastructure constitute under the Geneva Convention(s). Then we get stuck with the almost 50-million dollar bill repairing it. Granted, the use of monies to repair this power plant is the only use of funds I've mentioned so far that doesn't make me want to throw up, but it's amazing that in this particular event we've funded both the attack and the repair.

As a friend said a few days ago, "What a world, what a world!"