Seattle City Councilmember Nick Licata decided that his socialist colleague Kshama Sawant was getting too much attention, so he decided to join her in using his local position to get involved in foreign policy and perform a political stunt that a fellow Council colleague as defined as worthy of a “fifth grade class”. As a result, members of the U.S. Congress will be treated with a letter fromCouncil member Licata in which he gives his unsolicited (an uninformed) opinion on how the United States should proceed regarding the Israel-Gaza conflict.
In his letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker John Boehner, Licata demands that Congress call for a “public briefing on the tragic bombings of UN facilities in Gaza.”The purpose of the public briefing “would be to determine if innocent deaths could have been avoided and, if so, whether the U.S. bears some responsibility.”
Licata writes that “Our culpability could stem from the recognition that the U.S. funds a substantial portion of Israel’s military budget… I believe Congress should work in partnership with the UN by conducting an investigation as to why there have been such a high number of civilian casualties in Gaza… The investigation should not be conducted with any political agenda, but should instead be an audit of how U.S. foreign aid may be a contributing factor in the Gaza crisis.”
Licata notes that since the U.S. classifies Hamas as a terrorist organization — it is unclear whether or not Licata himself has passed such a classification in his own mind — “we have no direct responsibility for their actions that would warrant a similar briefing.”
In other words, the purpose of investigation would be just to focus blame on the United States and Israel. Guess you can call that the Licata doctrine.
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