Video: Journalist Calls Out Obama Admin. Hypocrisy

At a State Department Briefing with Deputy Spokesperson Mark Toner, an AP journalist called out the Obama Administration for its blatant hypocrisy: Last year, the Administration called Israel’s shelling of a terrorist-harboring school in Gaza “appalling” and “disgraceful,” yet they refused to condemn with similar language an American bombing of an Afghan hospital they accused of harboring Taliban insurgents.

The following is a transcript of the conversation:

QUESTION

But what I — what I want to ask about is just administration policy in general. So not that long ago — in fact, just a little over a year ago, in…

QUESTION

The coordinates of this school, like all U.N. facilities in Gaza, have been repeatedly communicated to the Israeli defense forces. We once again stress…

QUESTION

And then the sentence that’s key here — and this is what I want to ask about — it says the suspicion that militants are operating nearby does not…

QUESTION

So I just want to — let me see — is it administration — still administration policy that the suspicion that militants are operating nearby a site…

Mark C. Toner

Well, first of all, you know, I just would like to add the State Department’s voice to what the president and the Department of Defense have already…

Mark C. Toner

We mourn obviously, the loss of life at the Doctors Without Borders Medecins Sans Frontieres hospital in Kunduz, which occurred on October 3rd. You…

Mark C. Toner

You’re asking about whether a policy has changed. We always take great care, and we are very adamant about stating when we see, elsewhere, attacks in…

Mark C. Toner

That obviously stands. That’s — you know, there’s no other, frankly, country or government that takes greater care to investigate incidents like this,…

Mark C. Toner

What we’re looking at, in terms of what happened in Kunduz, the facts are still emerging. There’s, I think now, three investigations underway; one by…

Mark C. Toner

So, we’ll let those investigations run their course, but generally, you know, these are difficult situations. It was, I think, General Campbell spoke…

Mark C. Toner

We’re still collecting the fact.

QUESTION

Right.

Mark C. Toner

But in speaking to you — sorry, your specific question, you know, I mean, of course we — you know, we take every measure possible, and would encourage…

QUESTION

Right, I understand that, and I under — but my question was not about the idea — and I’m not challenging the idea…

Mark C. Toner

Yeah.

QUESTION

And I’m not challenging the idea that you take — that the military makes every effort to avoid civilian casualties.

QUESTION

What I’m most curious about is that this statement said the suspicion that militants are operating nearby doesn’t not justify strikes, which — and…

QUESTION

But MSF says that they had been given the coordinates, much in the same way the IDF had been given the coordinates of the school in Rafah.

QUESTION

So, the question is — and I realize this is under investigation, but the question is, if — the question is, if the suspicion that militants are operating…

Mark C. Toner

It’s just — look, Matt, you know, I think it’s safe to say that, you know, that this attack, this bombing was not intentional.

Mark C. Toner

I can’t get into what may or may not have happened on the ground, whether the coordinates were known, whether they were acknowledged. It’s just too…

QUESTION

OK.

Mark C. Toner

So, you’ll hopefully give me a pass as we wait for the investigation to run its course.

QUESTION

OK, that’s — and that’s fine. I understand it. But in the case of this — the Rafah situation, you called for a full and prompt investigation of this…

Mark C. Toner

Right.

QUESTION

…like it. The — that statement began by saying that the U.S. is “appalled by the disgraceful shelling”. That’s before an investigation even happened….

Mark C. Toner

Again, I would only reiterate our sincere condolences to the victims of this attack. And just again, underscore the fact that we’re going to investigate…