Blogger Yael K in Tel Aviv has an excellent roundup of the doubts so far on this supposed tragedy. I still remain agnostic, but I think it is clear some hanky-panky was involved. Of course to think there could be a sanitary war in general is abusrd. If that’s what you’re looking for, play chess. In order to win WWII, we ended up destroying Tokyo and Dresden. What is going on in Lebanon is nothing at all by comparison, yet the enemy, Hezbollah-Iran, etc., is equally dangerous, perhaps more so. Ironically, what confuses the quondam left is that the developing world could be such a threat. They are reputedly the downtrodden. Why are we picking on them? Well, it’s simple. They are picking on us – and there are more of them, more by far than there ever were Nazis and Brown Shirts, the “acceptable” enemies. And their belief system is locked in by God. If you don’t think that’s scary and worth resisting, I don’t know what you think is.
UPDATE: Haaretz is reporting the Qana body count has fallen sharply (according to the Red Cross). Will this be on the mainstream media tonight? Let’s watch and find out.
The Qana incident is looking more like a well orchestrated scam job. Left wing journalists are already predisposed to believe the worst about Israel. On top of that, these individuals donít want to endanger their own lives. Itís preferable to lie to themselves and not anger the trigger happy Hezbollah militants.
Did you see this article by a Lebanese website that claims it was staged?
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3284514,00.html
Roger, why do you still remain agnostic?
Do you believe that there were Israeli massacres in Jenin?
Shaqilla, the Beirut refugee camp, (sp?) under Sharon’s direction and for which he is still “wanted” for trial in the Hague?
Do you believe the Israelis were also responsible for the previous “massacre” in Qana in 1996?
(Slightly off topic, but they’re still looking for the “mass graves” of dead Muslims in Kosovo/Serbia, too.)
The Hezbos almost managed to get a UN ceasefire using this “massacre.”
And their jihadi pals have shut down many a mission in Iraq claiming the same blood lust of our Marines and our soldiers.
Given that their side of the war is pretty slipshod, these claims of
“massacres” are one of their best weapons to gain an advantage in war they otherwise wouldn’t have.
Way past time for us to stop feeling sorry for them and giving their “word” (think taquiya) the benefit of credence.
I’m not agnostic that it was padded, onlyabout whether there was something there in the first place.
You might want to remember that Saddam and crew used to store the bodies of children in morgues until the need arose for deaths caused by American bombing. Using the dead for propaganda isn’t any thing new, the Nazi did it to cause an incident so that they could invade Poland and the allies used a dead man dressed as a courier to mislead the Nazi before D Day. If we had a Propaganda Department like the one we had during Ww2 or like the Department 6 of the KGB we would be much better off. Just think, we wouldn’t have to lie, we’d just have to show what the Imam and Cleric’s are saying at their mosque’s every Friday. We still have people who think that Islam is the Religion of Peace, haahahhha. We still have people who trust the Saudi’s and its nutcake Wahhabis maniac’s who are setting up schools here in this country. We just have to have the truth told, that’s scary enough with out telling any lies. Just tell the truth about this so called religion.
Ron,
There was a story told by a Baghdad taxi driver,that he used to collect the bodies from the hospitals,can’t find a link.
The weakness lies on the left,certainly, that the oppressed can never do ill,but in general that “these people” could not possibly outsmart us.
There is also a strong element of over-civilisation on our behalf,a total lack of comprehension that anyone could think of such things let alone do them.
Most odd,when there are the horrific events of WWII to go by,perhaps we lose our knowledge base as generations pass by.
What makes Qana suspect is that it has all the elements of a leftists wet dream,from being Qana II,to haveing a disabled man lose his entire family.How this obscure and cut off village could produce so many of the characters for a tableau mort is most surprising
Roger,
Wow, I have to say that I am extremely honoured. You have long been one of my blogging “heroes” –someone I very much respect and have long read. And again I’m very honoured that you wrote about and linked me
I must be honest and note that I’ve just collated on my site the footwork that others have done.
This entire quote from AP puts news gathering into perspective,
Dear Staffers:
“Last Sunday proved to be one of the most dramatic days in the war between Israel and Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon. APís extensive photo team produced a stunning series of images that day that beat the competition and scored huge play worldwide.
Rumors surfaced early Sunday morning that an Israeli airstrike had flattened a house in the southern Lebanese village of Qana. The number of deaths wasnít immediately known, but the seriousness of the incident was clear. Beirut-based photographer Hussein Malla immediately called AP photographers Nasser Nasser, Lefteris Pitarakis and stringer Mohammed Zaatari and advised them to rush to the scene. Nasser arrived as the bodies of many civilians ó including numerous children ó were being pulled from the rubble. Lefteris later took over, enabling Nasser to get his pictures swiftly onto the wire. Kevin Frayer was dispatched from Beirut to boost APís presence. Throughout the morning, APís team filed a steady stream of powerful images.
Meanwhile, in Beirut, a small Hezbollah demonstration exploded into violence at word of the Qana attack. Hezbollah supporters stormed the nearby United Nations building, scaling walls and smashing their way past bulletproof glass barriers to enter the building itself. Photographers Hussein Malla, Kevork Djansezian and Ben Curtis were all there to capture the rioting. Beirut-based photo editor Dalia Khamissy coordinated with photographers in the field and handled a steady stream of stringer photos. All day long, AP photographers relayed what they were seeing to AP reporters for print stories.
Nasserís most haunting image showed a man emerging from the rubble carrying the lifeless and dust-covered body of a child. Calm, morning light shone down on man and child, highlighting them against an almost monochrome background of pure rubble. … Nasserís image ran on the front pages of at least 33 newspapers, including the San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the New York Post. It also won a double-page center spread in The Guardian of London. Lefterisís image of a resident weeping next to a row of bodies made the front of The Washington Post, among many others. Hussein, Kevork and Benís images of the storming of the UN building easily beat those of the competition.
For a day of outstanding a memorable photos, taken in conditions of substantial danger, the Lebanon photo team of Nasser Nasser, Lefteris Pitarakis, Kevin Frayer, Mohammed Zaatari, Ben Curtis, Hussein Malla, Kevork Djansezian and Dalia Khamissy shares this weekís $500 Beat of the Week award.”
From lgf
Nice to know they got $500 “Beat of the Week Award” hasn’t got the same ring as “Thirty Pieces of Silver”,but then…it’s only money.
If it bleeds it leads, nothing new here unfortunately… :-/
Roger, Yael K: Thanks for these posts. It is very heartening (and educational) to find these voices of truth and reason on the Internet. I have learned so much on this site and on the sites whose links are posted here. This is important work you are doing. Yael, I think the way you presented and wrote about the Qana affair is a little more than merely collating. It’s good citizen journalism. Good work. Thanks!
Peter:
How obliging it was of those people to die and give AP this wonderful oppurtunity to get some pics. Hey, there are Pulitzers to be won out there, can’t let a little thing like respect for the dead get in the way.
Look for the “controversy” to become a little box somewhere within Time Magazine’s 12 pg cover story.
Welcome to the world of the “that’s the way it is” and never does truth prevail. Unfortunately, the MSM will not come out with the facts after all is determined so the first impression will remain as usual.
Hey, anything that the opposition does during warfare is a massacre.
Modern warfare: the second front is the media
Roger,
See my thoughts in the previous post on the Lemann article:
Read More
Terrye,
After the Massacre of Haifa Street Baghdad,AP should be forced to divulge the how and why of all their spectaculars.
Peter:
Yes, they should. In this country that would be considered a crime. But in the Middle East? All is fair….
I really hope someone will be able to do an analysis of exactly who has been removed from the Qana body count.
For example, it has been pointed out that there was a huge concentration of disabled people children among the dead. I wouldn’t put it past Hezbullah to select them as martyrs for their Qana fabrication as I remember the retarded boy in Baghdad who the “insurgents” kitted out with a suicide belt but he panicked and ran for help, living to tell the tale.
If you don’t think that’s scary and worth resisting, I don’t know what you think is.
A rhetorical question. For a bunch of aging boomers that blossomed in the 60s protest era.
In their minds, none of these third world terrorists will be able to hurt them in a real sense. Even though they hate the military, the first thing they would demand in any conflict is protection for themselves.
What is more terrifying for them is, of course, King George. And the real dread of not able to grab power anytime soon.
Re: the discrepancies in the body count… …recalls Jenin and the more recent finding that the PA grossly exaggerated the birth rate when they cooked up their population count.
Re: the story behind the building’s collapse, recalls the discrepancies between the initial claims around the recent Gaza beach bombing story, with Israel initially taking the rap and the Palestinian media getting fisked in the German media for the orchestrated photo session.
Consequently, I am not prepared to underestimate Hezbollah attempting to “sex things up”.
“And their belief system is locked in by God. If you don’t think that’s scary and worth resisting, I don’t know what you think is.”
By design, some people find anything truly scary not worth resisting. The set of people that think terrorism is only a law enforcement matter–and not much of one at that–corresponds highly with the set of people that think “social conservatives” in the U.S.A. are a mere steps away from creating the 4th Reich under the Stars and Bars.
That kind of cognitive dissonance is simply not obtainable without first being educated into it (whether self-taught or from less colorful forms of Ward Churchill). It requires gross, willful ignorance of history, coupled with massive amounts of sophistry. Then throw in a bit of civic cowardice–the kind that refuses to tackle any truly serious problem but will get hysterical about non issues. In other words, a certain sect of idiotarians.
So the theology of the belief system is rather irrelevant. In the end, it doesn’t really matter why our enemies want to kill us. Sure, it is helpful to know why to the extent that it gives us openings, but the main question has always been what we intend to do about those enemies.
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