August 11, 2006

Precarious Road

Michael Yon issues a stark warning about the growing civil war in Iraq. His comments are disturbing, to put it mildly, but I trust his analysis. We have soldiers and commanders on the ground that know how to succeed, and it seems they are not being allowed to complete their mission.

I've made it apparent in the past that I've had my disagreements with the present Administration, and while I've been impressed with the efforts of our soldiers on the ground, the leadership—primarily the political leadership—seems to have misjudged how best to conduct this war time and again, and quite frankly, seems on the verge of blowing it if they haven't already.

I think it is time for Donald Rumsfeld to consider retiring. He presided over two very successful and very different military invasions in Afghanistan and Iraq, winning each handily with minimal loses to men and equipment on both sides. I think it highly unlikely two countries the size of Afghanistan and Iraq can easily be dispatched as well by any other nation, and Rumsfeld ran two excellent invasion campaigns. The performance of our individual soldiers and commanders on the ground have also been phenomenal as well, and I cannot say enough about their professionalism or the degree of restraint and respect for civilian life with which they have fought these on-going wars.

But I do doubt how our political leadership have run the occupations and rebuilding of Iraq and Afghanistan after we established a large degree of control over these nations. Too many mistakes have been made.

The Sunni insurgency and their al Qaeda allies have been dealt crippling blows during the rebuilding of Iraq, but no rational person with any knowledge of history expects them to completely go away for years to come. But during this same time, Kurdish forces in the north have been allowed to engage in raids into Turkey with little or no repercussions, setting a stage where Turkey may invade northern Iraq. Shiite militias in Baghdad and southern Iraq have been allowed to exist and strengthen ties with Iran. The country is on the verge of collapsing into sectarian genocide, and our political leadership doesn't seem to have the stomach to crack down on these groups with the force necessary to literally kill the private sectarian armies that are ripping the country apart.

The Administration isn't wholly to blame for the situation in Iraq—it is after all their country and they are the ones killing each other—but it is responsible for Iraq to the point where some people have come to view private armies instead of a national government is in their best interests, as many Iraqis obviously do. The person most directly responsible for these failures in Iraq are not the soldiers on the ground, but their senior leadership in the Pentagon, and the man sitting at the desk of the Secretary of Defense. It is his job to run the military's wars, and he has allowed Iraq to reach its present state.

Perhaps it isn't entirely Rumsfeld's fault—he does take orders from the President, after all—but he is most directly in charge of a situation growing increasingly out of control, and I think it is time to have a fresh set of eyes look at the problem, and seek a better resolution. We must win in Iraq, and by "we", I mean the coalition and the Iraqi people. Their lives matter to me. They deserve a chance to live in a society without fear.

We cannot win this war for the Iraqi people by withdrawing. The "nediots" chanting on a Connecticut stage, and mewling around the anti-victory left, refuse to address the genocide that could certainly occur if we heed their calls for a headlong, cowardly retreat. And yet, we cannot win by slowly reacting or failing to act to changing situations. The 25 million people of Iraq deserve the free nation they braved bombs and bullets to vote for, and we owe it to them as much as to ourselves to make sure they succeed.

Our present top level military leadership is failing at that task, and we need fresh eyes on the ball. I thank Donald Rumsfeld for his many years of hard work and dedication to our great nation, but I think it is time for him to pursue other opportunities.

We owe that to our Iraqi allies.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 10:22 AM | Comments (15) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Flipside of the Ghost War

I spoke several days ago about the Ghosts in the Media Machine, and how media coverage of the war between Hezbollah and Israel in Lebanon is heavily slanted in favor of Hezbollah.

Scan the photos coming out of Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon, and you'll see and unending stream of dramatic photos of dead women and children and anguished rescue workers climbing through the remains of bombed-out residential buildings, and you will see heart-rending photos of toys in the rubble. You will see mourning. You will see pain. You will see a civilian infrastructure in tatters.

What you will not see, except in very rare cases, is Hezbollah.

There is a flipside to that coverage as well, coming from the same photostreams. Photographers chronicling the war from the Israeli side of the conflict also seem to have their own agenda, geared toward the same end.

The photos of Israel's participation in this war are interesting in that they are heavily invested in showing the army component of the Israeli Defense Forces in an odd light.

There is an old maxim that says life in any military is very much a "hurry up and wait" prospect, where soldiers experience an existence that intersperses long periods of boredom with short, intense periods of combat. The photos coming out of Lebanon and northern Israel certainly capture the boredom aspect of military life, to an extent that seems contrived. The same photostream that has provided the scenes of dead and dying Lebanese civilians and bombed out buildings shows a IDF army on the ground that seems to spend a considerable amount of time marching in an out of Lebanon, or sitting around waiting for something to happen. Time and again, the photos show soldiers that seem equally spent and bored... or worse. Certainly, a large part of the IDF soldier's life in this war is sitting around waiting for something to happen, but what this war is not providing scenes of IDF soldiers engaged in the intense, often close-quarters ground combat that has caused most of the IDF's casualties and many more Hezbollah casualties on the ground.

We do not see photographers following the IDF into action; we have not a single photojournalist comparable to a Michael Yon following IDF soldiers into close combat. We have no Kevin Sites embedded with IDF forces as they clear enemy villages (as a side note, while Sites was vilified by many for shooting the footage of a U.S. Marine killing a wounded insurgent in Fallujah, the Marines he was embedded with seem to have no hard feeling, and Sites himself certainly had no animus towards the Marines). There are no stories telling of the bravery or selflessness that so many soldiers display in their character in the heart of war, no stories of individual courage, though almost certainly these events have transpired.

Instead, the media covering Israel's army seems focused on showing the bored, the wounded, and the dead. Proof is simple enough to find. At the time this post was written, the first 15 pages of the Yahoo! News photostream showed 57 photos of Israeli soldiers and their families, some of them duplicates.

Eight photos showed Israeli military vehicles driving, nine showed Israeli soldiers walking. 15 pictures showed Israeli soldiers sitting, or otherwise stationary. Four photos showed wounded IDF soldiers being evacuated. Nineteen photos--the most of any category--were focused on the death of Israeli soldiers and the anguish of their families and friends. One photo showed an IDF artillery round being fired.

Only one photo--a single, solitary photo--showed an IDF soldier in action.

If the IDF itself is not allowing media to accompany soldiers into Lebanon, this perception of a feeble, ineffective army is proof that the IDF itself does not know how to fight a postmodern media war, and the Israelis have only themselves to blame. If, however, the IDF will allow embedded photographers and journalists to accompany their army into Lebanon (and the photo linked above of an IDF soldier advancing in Qlai'a suggests that it does), and the media is refusing to either accompany IDF forces, or else refuses to distribute the stories and images they gather, then we have something else entirely.

An argument can be made that the media photos coming out of Lebanon and Israel of the IDF's ground forces are meant to show an ineffective force that spends most of its time sitting around doing very little when it isn't burying its soldiers. Obviously, "something" is occurring between the sitting and the dying, and the world's media is failing to tell that story.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 08:47 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Ordinary, Average Guys

Noting really wrong with this photo out of Lebanon, but the caption is, well, slightly misleading:

Palestinians, in the Bedawi refugee camp near the port city of Tripoli in north Lebanon, collect leaflets dropped by Israeli warplanes August 10, 2006. REUTERS/Omar Ibrahim

Just normal, everyday Palestinians. On a stroll with AK-47s assault rifles and military load-bearing equipment (LBE) to carry more rifle magazines and grenades, like they would in say, New York or London.

Reuters: the gift that keeps on giving.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 05:50 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

August 10, 2006

Stern, But Stupid

German Confederate Yankee reader Niko translates this response from a letter to the photo editor of Stern magazine, a major German news magazine. The Editor-in-Chief, Andreas Trampe, attacks the reader for questioning Stern about "Green Helmet" (article translation available at EU Referendum), the designated dead baby carrier for Hezbollah in Lebanon since 1996:

Dear Mr ...,

As Editor-in-Chief of Stern's Picturedesk I write this in response to
your harsh letter dating from August 5th, 2006. So what is it that you
don't like about our reporting? What do you find lurid about that
report [i.e. the initial report depicting Green Helmet as "some rescue
worker"]? In the first two pages we show the carnage and victims in
Qana, the next two depict the carnage and victims in Haifa. The
following picture pages are equally balanced, even more so the text
which, obviously, you didn't bother to read. There's no dispute that
the Israeli air raid on that building in Qana did happen, there's also
no dispute that it caused a lot of civilian victims. So what's wrong
about that? What about it appears to be staged? Did Hezbollah dare the
Israelis to conduct the air raid in your opinion? Did Hezbollah
initiate the bomb raid on their own? Did the Palestinian [sic!]
civilian casualties never happen? Where's the faking? We did not
conduct a story about Green Helmet Ali, even less so a lurid one! That
man is featured in just a single picture and a single caption. Even if
that man were indeed to parade dead children intentionally before the
eyes of the world, those children were dead nonetheless, killed in the
raid. And sadly, they won't rise again even when fervent supporters of
Israel's politics pull out red herrings to distract from actual
events.

Your accusations of anti-Semitism on our part, or that we were hoping
for the destruction of Israel, are the biggest bullshit I've heard in
a long time (leaving aside the fact that it's factually wrong).
Israeli victims are to be bemoaned equally, the death of people in
Haifa and Jerusalem is lamentable in the same way. But crude
conspiracy theories seem to be the latest trend. Thanks to upstanding
internet bloggers. They're sitting in Norway, England or Germany, and,
of course, they're much more intelligent, smart and incredulously
independent. They possess knowledge of remote locations and events,
they're capable of classifying complex matters and doing quick
research. There you go, brave new digital world !!!

We, however, prefer to do it the old way, we send journalists and
photographers around the world for large sums of money so that they
can speak on location and directly to the people. For instance, with
Green Helmet Ali, who will answer those allegations put out, and he'll
tell our readers where he's from, what's his name, and what actually
happened on that day in Qana. That, of course, you won't find
originally reported in internet blogs. What you will find, though, is
some super post from some smartass guy about how Green Helmet Ali once
again fooled the whole world because, in actual fact, he's a secret
agent of Hezbollah. I hope you enjoy the reading.

Andreas Trampe
stern Bildredaktion / stern picturedesk
PS What was it again about intelligence and ideology?

Andreas Trampe
Stern-Picturedesk
Am Baumwall 11
20444 Hamburg
Phone: +49-40-3703-4122
Fax: +49-40-3703-5685
Mail: Trampe.Andreas@stern.de

Editor-in-Chief Trampe tells us that the crude analysis and questions brought about by bloggers about the incident in Qana isn't up to the standards of the highly trained, well-paid media on the front lines of the war in Lebanon.

Perhaps Trampe should save his self-righteous indignation, at least until he can explain this video footage (from German TV, no less) of "Green Helmet" directing the body of a child to be pulled from an ambulance, placed on a stretcher, and then paraded in front of the media.

I have no doubt that the fine media reporters and photographers in Lebanon are paid "large sums of money" as the editor states, but you might think that someone being paid so much might feel the obligation to tell the entire story, at least as long as they are unbiased, as these many Arab Muslim stringers covering a war with Israel certainly are. Of course, I'm just trying to clarify complex matters by doing quick research from another country, so what do I know?

(Note: replaced text link with Youtube video)

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 02:46 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Meanwhile, in the Psychosphere...

As details emerge on today's foiled mass murder plot from members of the Religion of Peace, most people are thankful that the attacks were thwarted and that many of those involved in the plot have either been arrested or are on the run.

Of course, that would be most normal people.

The Jim Jones wing of the Democratic Party smells a conspiracy.

Although it may not be a "cry wolf" situation, I am skeptical because of the timing.
Granted the timing would have been better for BushCo, Inc. for this to break prior to Holy Joe's spanking in CT, it still fits in the every other year (just before elections) pattern of TERROR!!!! alerts.
Or am too cynical?

Comment by BuzzMon

Yeah, yeah, yeah, even if this is real, the timing is a political event. (9/11 redux.) I'm both skeptical and jaded. Bojinko!

Comment by eCAHNomics

Damn Brits. They weren't supposed to run this op until two weeks before the election!

Comment by Castor Troy

From the latest AP story, he're the key line:

"Officials said the government has been aware of the nature of the threat for several days."

In other words, instead of warning people a few days ago when they would have been out of harm's way, they created maximum inconvenience at a time of maximum danger for maximum effect after setting the whole thing up with tony snow's press conference yesterday.

Comment by angry young man

I guess the 2006 election season has now officially begun

Comment by DeepDarkDiamond

These comments are just a few representative excerpts from one popular liberal blog, but they mirror the comments made by many others.

It would seem a sizable portion of the Far Left thinks George Bush and Tony Blair engineered a massive al Qaeda terrorist plot to punish liberals for selecting Ned Lamont in the Connecticut Democratic Primary. What, you haven't heard that one yet? Don't worry.

You will. They did.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 10:40 AM | Comments (19) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Major Terror Plot Foiled

By now, I'm relatively certain you've heard of a immense terror plot that has been foiled in Great Britain, where between 6-10 international flights (some early reports stated as many as 20) from Great Britain to the United States were targeted for attack. The plotters were apparently intent on using liquid explosives disguised as beverages to detonate the flights in mid-air.

United, American, and Continental flights to New York, Washington DC, and California were specificly mentioned as being targeted. As many as 50 suspected terrorists may have been involved in the plot, and it is not clear if all have been captured. Follow media reports and blog reaction to this story at Pajamas Media and Hot Air. Ace has good round up as well.

So, what do we make of this?

First, we're still short of a lot of details. What we can say with a fair degree of certainty is that a group of Muslim terrorists attempted to carry out the mass murder of western civilians on a scale that, if it had been successfully carried out, could have exceeded the carnage of September 11, 2001. The number of casualties would have been determined not only by the number of people onboard the targeted planes, but also where the terrorists decided to detonate the planes. A bomb detonated on a plane over the Atlantic would most likely kill only those on board; a plane detonated shortly after takeoff or landing on a flight path over populated areas could have the potential to take lives on the ground, as did American Airlines Flight 587 when it crashed into Belle Harbor, Queens, after taking of from JFK International Airport in New York on November 12, 2001.

We also know that this plot is very similar to Khalid Shaikh Mohammed's disrupted al Qaeda plot to bomb 11 planes in the mid 1990s.

More as this develops.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 09:54 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

August 09, 2006

Lamonticide

As I hoped they would, Democratic primary voters in Connecticut unleashed "nedrenaline" on an unsuspecting American public last night, as the single-issue candidate Ned Lamont beat long-time Democratic Senator Joe Liebermann by four percentage points.

Liberals are of course loving this, one even dropping in a taunting comment in my last post on the primary race,"Scared to death, aren't you?"

Err, not quite.

The Lamont victory, which may be known in years to come as the "Lamonticide" of the Democratic Party, is precisely what conservatives would have hope for if we were voting (and judging by the number of new voters and voters who switched parties prior ot the election, we may have) in Connecticut last night. Lamont's vicotry speech chant of "troops out now!" with Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton over either shoulder couldn't have been scripted better if it had been written by Ann Coulter and filmed by Rush Limbaugh. It was the perfect re-introduction of a McGovernite Democratic party as it would occur in Karl Rove's dreams.

Shlock waves rippled across the country almost immediately. A giddy Kos immediately said Senator Joe Lieberman is not a real Democrat, and proclaimed he should to be stripped of his committee appointments.

New York Times editorial this morning fatally misunderestimated the average American's intelligence as it tried to label the Daily Kos/Code Pink/Cindy Sheehan fringe "moderates," while fellow "moderate" Michael Moore, in all of his bloated myopia, issued a threat to all Democratic congressmen and senators that they better play by the rules of the radical left, or else.

Ned Lamont's win has galvanized the netroots and encouraged the progressive movement's most partisan fringe to bring forth their most barbaric yawps.

It is, in short, a disaster in the making. Moderate voters to retch as the netroot's most vile proponents are thrust on stage. By the time November rolls around and moderate Democrats and independents flee the now-radicalized left that has run roughshod over the exclusionist Democratic Party, the radicals will too late learn that the active ingredient in "nedrenaline" is syrup of ipecac.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 12:49 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Ghosts in the Media Machine

Bloggers—and to a much lesser extent some media outlets—have paid considerable attention to specific examples of media manipulation in the war being fought between Hezbollah and the IDF in Lebanon and Israel, but we seem be under-covering the overall framing of the media's coverage, particularly when it comes to the subject matter chosen for coverage.

This comes into sharp relief when contrasted against the coverage we've become used to from the war in Iraq, particularly as it relates to the media coverage allowed and provided by two different insurgencies in Lebanon's Hezbollah and Iraq's predominately Sunni insurgency.

In Iraq, we've become somewhat used to embedded reporters reporting from both sides of the conflict with a fairly wide latitude to operate. Stringers, both print media and photographers, have occasionally embedded within the insurgency, providing coverage from ambushes and sniper's nests alike. The insurgents themselves often seem to be media hungry, filming operations themselves and often releasing the tapes to the media or producing them on DVDs for public consumption in Iraq and throughout the Middle East.

By and large, the vast majority of video reporting allowed and encouraged by the Iraqi insurgency is combat-related. IED ambushes are particularly popular, often released as montages set to Islamist music as propaganda videos. The Iraqi insurgents have often seemed intent on portraying themselves as rebel forces actively waging a war for the people, whether or not the people would always agree.

Hezbollah, however, seems to be fighting a different kind of media war.

Hezbollah has far more control over their battlespace than does the Iraqi insurgency, and has a much tighter rein on the media reporting coming out of Lebanon. Mainstream media outlets have let this be know albeit comparatively quietly, as I mentioned in the comments of Jefferson Morely's Washington Post blog entry, The Qana Conspiracy Theory:

Anderson Cooper has already admitted that his crew has been handled by Hezbollah media minders, and CNN's Nic Robertson has openly admitted his coverage on July 18 was stage-managed by Hezbollah from start to finish. Times' Christopher Allbritton has said that Hezbollah has copies of every journalist's passport, and has "hassled many and threatened one" to cover-up what journalists have seen of Hezbollah's rocket launching operations. CBS's Elizabeth Palmer admits to being handled by Hezbollah, and being allowed to only see what Hezbollah wants them to see. They are the voices of a few, expressing the experiences of the many.

Israel Insider chronicled these disturbing examples of media control, but the media at large has been loath to make the level of Hezbollah "minding" over their reporting widely known.

With this control and the apparent complicity of many media stringers both Arab and western, Hezbollah has chosen to fight a completely different kind of media war than they one we have seen in Iraq. A review of the Yahoo! photostreams (compilations of various media photographers' work released throughout the day) coming out of Iraq and Lebanon paint two very different pictures. While the Iraqi insurgency often sought to crave media attention (especially when it was more active as an insurgency in 2004 and 2005, as opposed to today's more conflict between Sunni and Shiiite Iraqis), Hezbollah's tightly-controlled media war seeks to portray Hezbollah itself as something of a ghost.

Scan the photos coming out of Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon, and you'll see and unending stream of dramatic photos of dead women and children and anguished rescue workers climbing through the remains of bombed-out residential buildings, and you will see heart-rending photos of toys in the rubble. You will see mourning. You will see pain. You will see a civilian infrastructure in tatters.

What you will not see, except in very rare cases, is Hezbollah.

The "Party of God," well-known for their parades of armed masked men in the past, have vanished into the ether. You will see no Hezbollah fighters brandishing their weapons with bravado. You will see no photos of Hezbollah's rocket launchers or rockets prepared to fire upon Israel's civilian population. You will see no photographs of shattered launchers or weapons caches or even fighting aged men amid the rubble. The media itself quietly reports that anyone who does take such pictures may be killed, though you wouldn't know it from the amount of attention that disturbing detail has received in the press.

Hezbollah is fighting the Victim's War, hiding behind civilians that they set up as targeted pawns by firing rockets from inside Lebanon's villages, cites, and towns, from outside apartment buildings, hospitals and schools in residential neighborhoods.

It is a war of cowards, largely covered by sympathetic Arab Muslim stringers and their Hezbollah minders who determine what can and what cannot be reported; a war in which the "professional" media is all too complicit.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 09:10 AM | Comments (9) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

August 08, 2006

Body Shop Bombed?

This is just surreal:

The caption reads:

Lebanese civil defense rescuers, try to remove two blanket-wrapped bodies, found trapped under debris and concrete of the destroyed buildings, attacked late Monday by Israeli airstrike, in the southern Beirut suburb of Chiah, Lebanon, Tuesday Aug. 8, 2006. The raid on the Muslim southern suburb next to a Christian neighborhood killed at least 15 people, police officials said. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

The bodies were found already wrapped in blankets under the debris of the building.

I'm trying to think of rational reasons that Lebanese would keep pre-packaged corpses in their homes, and I'm coming up with nothing. Nada. Zip.

One irrational explanation is that some bodies are being saved by Hezbollah to use in photo ops at a later date, and that the Hezbollah Body Shop (for lack of a better term) got hit, and buried those that should already have been buried.

But that's just nuts. Hezbollah would never use corpses to stage a media event.

Ever.

Update: Same photographer, different angle, similarly-worded caption:

Lebanese civil defense rescuer directs a buldozer as he stands next to a two blanket-wrapped bodies, center, found trapped under the destroyed buildings, which were attacked late Monday in an Israeli airstrike, in the southern Beirut suburb of Chiah, Lebanon, Tuesday Aug. 8, 2006. The raid on the Muslim southern suburb next to a Christian neighborhood killed at least 15 people, police officials said. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

And another.

So either he really does mean to imply the bodies were blanket-wrapped when found, or his preciseness with the English language is right up there with Adnan Hajj's PhotoShop skills.

Further Update It seems Malla was also one of the photographers that took one of the pictures of Twice-Bombed Lady, and was hanging out with with fired Reuters stringer Adnan Hajj, he of the questionable llama picture, among others.

Update: Dig this.

From Brian Denton, a photographer in Lebanon, at photography forum LightStalkers:

i have been working in lebanon since all this started, and seeing the behavior of many of the lebanese wire service photographers has been a bit unsettling. while hajj has garnered a lot of attention for his doctoring of images digitally, whether guilty or not, i have been witness to the daily practice of directed shots, one case where a group of wire photogs were choreographing the unearthing of bodies, directing emergency workers here and there, asking them to position bodies just so, even remove bodies that have already been put in graves so that they can photograph them in peoples arms. these photographers have come away with powerful shots, that required no manipulation digitally, but instead, manipulation on a human level, and this itself is a bigger ethical problem.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 02:53 PM | Comments (24) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

1 Move your rockets to a specific urban location.
Cart along a couple of corpses.
shoot off rockets to kill Israelis,
and reveal your position.
Run away.

Israeli attacks the recently vacated position,
and look,
we see dead people.

Bad bad Israelis!

Posted by: bains at August 08, 2006 04:08 PM (oemUk)

2 To be fair, it doesn't specify that "blanketwrapped bodies" were found under debris, though that is one explanation. Since we have to assume that the photographer is sympathetic to Hizbollah, though, we must also assume that he wouldn't have included that detail if the caption is meant to be read in the manner in which you read it.

Posted by: DaveS at August 08, 2006 04:19 PM (kC3nL)

3 Ooops... that came out wrong. To be fair, it doesn't specify that the bodies were wrapped in blankets at the time that they were found.

Posted by: DaveS at August 08, 2006 04:26 PM (kC3nL)

4 Hmm. The bodies are not wrapped in a way that suggests the victims were sleeping. Well, let's take a look at Hezbollah, shall we?

1) Hezbollah controls press access to the area. No matter when or where -- they control it.
2) Hezbollah has been proven to make up stories before. (Jenin, among others.)
3) The press operates out of fear. That is why so few N. American presses ran the Mohammed cartoons. Remember the Boston Globe's admission on that one? Hezbollah deals in fear. The press goes along.
4) Terror organizations use the media to get across their messages. Bin Laden's tapes, to Iraq beheading videos, and on and on.
5) There is no absolute truth in Islam. Lying is encouraged (takkiya) if it beneftis Muslims in the time of war.

Now, with all this as a backdrop, let's just say that Hezbollah's credibility is extremely low. Anyone who swallows what they've been spoon-feeding the gulliable Western press should be ashamed.

Posted by: InRussetShadows at August 08, 2006 04:56 PM (dYwY/)

5 What makes this more interesting is the fact that the Israelis are leafletting areas before they bomb them to allow civilians to escape....

Would that same information make it easier to know where to stash a few handy corpses?

Nah... that's too paranoid of me. I reject my own suggestion.

Posted by: Lokki at August 08, 2006 05:08 PM (wSBsc)

6
Whatever Israel does, the neocon damage control team rolls in to nibble at the edges of the story's credibility. But there are ALWAYS hole in every narrative, and the notion that the Arabs have invented wartime spin must cause many a glass to clink behind closed doors in Hollywood.

Are we really being asked to believe that the Palestinians have an advantage in the US media? That defies reason by any head count, whether on television. the newspapers or in the movies. I cannot even name a prominent arab-american voice anywhere in the US media.Yet Wolf Blitzer, formerly of AIPAC, is our "honest broker"?" Please!

Posted by: skip at August 08, 2006 05:44 PM (JxU2K)

7 But there are ALWAYS hole in every narrative

If they're fabricates ones there certainly is.

Truth OTOH stands on its own and is irrefutable -- because it is absolute.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at August 08, 2006 06:05 PM (c/xwT)

8 The interesting part is the complete lack of attention on how the Hezzies orchestrate these civilian casualties while focusing their fire purely on Israeli civilians.

Typical MSM/TSM bias, of course, but their ability to focus solely on the Hezzie/Arab propaganda without even the littlest sop to objective reality or the basics of civilized war must require a lot of effort.

And, skippy, bias isn't the same as identity politics. Ya gotta get your memes straight.

Posted by: iconoclast at August 08, 2006 09:52 PM (Jpc2l)

9 Judging from all the photos that came out of the Qana incident, one can safely assume that these bodies were not wrapped in the field, right after being located. If anything, the bodies would have been paraded for at least an hour, making sure that any photographer within a 3-mile radius got a shot.

Posted by: dna at August 09, 2006 12:21 PM (xjpGM)

10 My understanding is that Hezbolleh has a special corpse-launching mortar stationed at a central location in each major city in Lebanon. Whenever an Israeli rocket lands, Hezbolleh launches a couple of prepared bodies in a high arc over the city to the recently-hit building. The bodies land, and the force of the impact creates "wounds" consistent with being at ground zero when a missile lands.

I mean, it's the only reasonable possibility.

Posted by: Michael at August 09, 2006 01:24 PM (73MDr)

11 skip wrote:
Whatever Israel does, the neocon damage control team rolls in to nibble at the edges of the story's credibility. But there are ALWAYS hole in every narrative, and the notion that the Arabs have invented wartime spin must cause many a glass to clink behind closed doors in Hollywood.

Admit it -- after the first picture of a child's body in Qana, you broke down, started crying, and went into the fetal position. After that, you accepted anything that your Hizballords said.

Anyway, if you were capable of independed thinking, then you would've come to wonder what's up with White Shirt, and his camera posings. There are plenty of photos out there, but you can see what I'm talking about by looking at the pictures posted on EU Referendum. Notice how White Shirt doesn't display any emotion while in the "basement", and the two red cross guys are carrying out the girl, while later, he can be seen running with the girl and putting on an anguished face. Following that, another guy takes a picture with her.

Just keep babbeling about neo-cons while ignoring facts.

Posted by: dna at August 09, 2006 02:15 PM (xjpGM)

12 Maybe they were saving them for dinner?

Posted by: Dave at August 10, 2006 05:53 AM (T5XyM)

13 You know, instead of trying to manufacture conspiracy theories you might just realise that of course those corpses were only wrapped in blankets after they were found, which is a perfectly natural thing to do. Bog standard procedure during any disaster, natural or IDF caused, is to spare the victims some dignity by wrapping them up before moving.

I can't believe I just spent thirty seconds havint to explain this to you.

Posted by: Martin Wisse at August 10, 2006 05:56 AM (Nggyy)

14 Um, one rational explanation is that, um, the caption says that the bodies were found trapped under debris, and also that they were wrapped in blankets, but does not, er, in any way specify that they were already, um, wrapped in blankets when they were found trapped under debris.

Or wait, try it this way. There's a photo that shows a cheeseburger with lettuce and tomato that I made on the grill and ate for lunch:


Confederate Yankee: “I’m trying to think of a rational explanation for how someone could put an object made of beef, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, and a bun on a grill, yet somehow only the beef shows signs of frying. I’m coming up with nothing. Also, how is it possible to take a picture of a cheeseburger that is already eaten?”

There’s a Claremont fellowship in store for Mr. Yankee, no foolin’.

Posted by: blackshire at August 10, 2006 09:26 AM (nCSsq)

15 Wow, you really aren't the brightest byte in blogdom, are you?

You realize that the caption doesn't, in any way, imply that the bodies were FOUND in blankets?

Go back to the drawing board, swiftie. I'm not sure why anyone would aspire to hit the heights of Little Green Footballs, but even with those low standards, you fall short in every way imaginable. Nice job.

Posted by: beedlebaum at August 10, 2006 04:16 PM (vENsJ)

16 Um...question.

If they're trying to remove the bodies trapped under the rubble, well...

How do you wrap a body that's trapped *under* rubble? Wouldn't you have to un-trap the body in order to *wrap* it? I mean, *covering* it when found, maybe, sure, but *wrapping* it? If it's partway buried or obscured by debris in such a way that it has to be un-trapped? How do you wrap something like that?

Just sayin'.

Posted by: Bill Reach at August 10, 2006 08:04 PM (CyuEc)

17 Um...question.

If they're trying to remove the bodies trapped under the rubble, well...

How do you wrap a body that's trapped *under* rubble? Wouldn't you have to un-trap the body in order to *wrap* it? I mean, *covering* it when found, maybe, sure, but *wrapping* it? If it's partway buried or obscured by debris in such a way that it has to be un-trapped? How do you wrap something like that?

Just sayin'.

Posted by: Bill Reach at August 10, 2006 08:06 PM (CyuEc)

18 Couldn't "blanket-wrapped bodies" mean that they wrapped themselves in blankets before they were killed? We can't tell from the photo that they're wrapped completely (i.e., face and everything, as a corpse would be by another). Just that they're wrapped (and clearly appear to have been found that way).

Posted by: Jim at August 13, 2006 01:06 AM (ZUxAa)

19 The raid on the Muslim southern suburb next to a Christian neighborhood

Am I the only one that finds this language incredibly awkward? What difference does it make if the suburb was next to a Christian neighborhood? The caption writer didn't just add this to make it look like the Israelis were targeting Christians too, knowing that most folks just glance at a caption, did he/she?

Posted by: Bozoer Rebbe at August 13, 2006 01:46 AM (3+Uhm)

20 Lets see the few facts we can understand trough this photo...

1) The bodies are fully wrapped (even from below), before being "rescued".
2) There are very few pictures of the moment.

What makes me get to some conclusion (obviously "my" conclusions, you can make yours if you want).
1) "Somebody" is manipulating the media in the area.
2) "Something" slipped from "Somebody"'s censorship.

Posted by: malki at August 13, 2006 05:13 AM (sqXic)

21 Apparently, no one told you about Operation Zionist Scapegoat yet, CY. Sorry about that. Aren't you on Green Helmet's mailing list?

Posted by: Andy at August 13, 2006 04:35 PM (1JunT)

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Left Wing Fascists

Today is the day when Connecticut Democratic primary voters will decide on whether or not Joe Lieberman or Ned Lamont will be their Senate candidate, and to a certain extent, determine the near-term future of the Democratic Party. I'm pulling for Ned Lamont.

Why?

Ned Lamont, a proven liar (yes, anyone who pals around with Jane Hamsher of Firedoglake, let's her film his campaign commercials starring lfty netroots superstar Kos, and then states, "I don't know anything about the blogs." is a liar, pure and simple) is precisely the kind of extremist that exposes the far left for the opportunistic, back-stabbing lynch mob that they so transparently are. An example of their viciousness comes from none other than Lanny Davis, former special counsel to President Clinton, in the WSJ OpinionJournal (via Instapundit):

A friend of mine just returned from Connecticut, where he had spoken on several occasions on behalf of Joe Lieberman. He happens to be a liberal antiwar Democrat, just as I am. He is also a lawyer. He told me that within a day of a Lamont event--where he asked the candidate some critical questions--some of his clients were blitzed with emails attacking him and threatening boycotts of their products if they did not drop him as their attorney. He has actually decided not to return to Connecticut for the primary today; he is fearful for his physical safety.

This is the face of the rabid netroots that I'd like to see exposed to America's apolitical and moderate voters, those swing voters that decide elections. Take the mask off the beast, and show America the rotten, seething, vicious core that the totalitarian Left represents. Show America a radical left wing that shares the political goals of Hamas and Hezbollah in a defeated American military, a left wing that seeks to lynch American soldiers without the benefit of a trial, that seeks to make America subservient, docile, and weak.

This is face of "liberalism" that I want the world to see, it all of its repulsive glory.

So please, Connecticut, vote for Ned Lamont.

It's just what Dr. Rove ordered.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 08:42 AM | Comments (10) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

1 I, too, hope Lamont wins for the very same reasons you lay out. I want the Dems to finally come out of the closet and expose their leftist views, instead of keeping them out of the view of the voters. I want Karl Rove giggling like a school girl because the Dems are tacking so far left right before an election where National Security is the prime consideration of the public.

Posted by: Stormy70 at August 08, 2006 09:05 AM (SXQle)

2 Left out a comma up there, but I can hardly be blamed since the Dems are so horrible. Oops, did I just use the leftist tactic of blaming everything bad on Bush and Republicans?

Posted by: Stormy70 at August 08, 2006 09:07 AM (SXQle)

3 LOL Stormy.

I'm not sure what will happen though. Joe was closing the "poll" gap pretty quickly for the last few days. I think more of the moderates are waking up. We'll see. I still think Joe will win the general election.

Posted by: Specter at August 08, 2006 09:23 AM (ybfXM)

4 I hope Lamont wins so Lieberman can run Independant. Moderate Dems, swing voters, and Republicans will vote for him then.

Posted by: Retired Navy at August 08, 2006 09:25 AM (elhVA)

5 I wonder how much Joe's "outing" will effect his loyalty to the party when he is elected in the general election. I suspect he is a little PO'd at the likes of Dean, Pelosi, etc.

Posted by: Specter at August 08, 2006 10:09 AM (ybfXM)

6 Man o man it was close. Lamont predicted a landslide and won by less than 4%. He is toast in November.

BTW - one of the leftist nuts hacked into Lieberman's site yesterday and took it down. But - I know - they all play so fair and ethically. Yea - right

Posted by: Specter at August 09, 2006 10:45 AM (ybfXM)

7 Scared to death, aren't you?

Oh, and Specter, Lieberman's site went down because he was only spending a whopping $15.99 a month for his hosting. Deal.

Posted by: blogenfreude at August 09, 2006 11:21 AM (kKMmn)

8 blogenfreude,

New here eh? Welcome. Not scared at all - I've said all along Joe will win in the November election. Doesn't that worry you? It should. He's no friend of Demoncrats anymore. But there are lots and lots of Republicans in CT.

Site was still hacked and official investigation ongoing.

Posted by: Specter at August 09, 2006 03:23 PM (ybfXM)

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August 07, 2006

Shaking the Dead

Not a PhotoShop, but quite obviously staged for Reuters cameraman Ali Hashisho's benefit, adding drama to the already dramatic picture of a hand protruding from the rubble. Pay special attention to the section of concrete-reinforcing iron rebar just over the victim's hand.

Another photo from the scene, this time from Mohammed Zaatari of the Associated Press. Notice the iron rebar has been bent out of the way, moved up and to the viewer's left, but that the rescuer's grasp on the victims' hand has been reestablished.

Another photo from Mohammed Zaatari. Perhaps it is merely an illusion due to how this photo was cropped, but it appears as if the rescuer may have moved slightly forward so that his hand is more parallel with the bottom of the photo, and that the rebar appears to have been bent downward to facilitate this pose.

Why would a rescuer move a piece of rebar two or possibly three times, reestablishing contact with the hand of a corpse each time, if not to create a more dramatic photo op for the Reuters and Associated cameramen assembled?

Update: A brilliant catch. The Passion of the Toys.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 02:34 PM | Comments (20) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Houla Oops

Read about the "horrific massacre" at Houla, Lebanon while you still can:

Lebanon's prime minister said Monday an Israeli airstrike on the southern village of Houla left 40 people dead.

"An hour ago, there was a horrific massacre in the village of Houla in which more than 40 martyrs were victims of deliberate bombing," Fouad Siniora told Arab foreign ministers in Beirut.

A Lebanese law enforcement source told CNN an estimated 60 people were trapped in the rubble of homes in the Houla area.

Six homes were destroyed, and fires engulfed the area, the source said.

The Israel Defense Forces said it is checking the reports on Houla, noting that it has warned residents for the past two weeks to leave.

Siniora choked back tears, wiping his eyes as he spoke, The Associated Press reported. The ministers applauded.

The deaths Prime Minster Siniora claims as the result of an Israeli air strike haven't materialized to any great extent in the rest of the world's press, an odd circumstance for such a large loss of civilian life. As of now, the only other online mention I can find of the story is from the AP's Sam Ghattis, and no photos or first-hand reporting seems yet available from the scene. As of now, we have only Siniora's word that these deaths took place.

Looking around the various news sites, it seems that few news organizations are willing to give Siniora's word the benefit of the doubt, indicating perhaps that news organizations snake-bitten by the still unresolved questions about Qana and the quite thoroughly resolved frauds of Reuters photographer Adnan Hajj, are not willing to give the terrorist-friendly Prime Minister the instant credibility they might have eight days ago.

The trust of the people that the media needs to survive has been severely damaged in their often one-sided and occasionally staged and faked coverage of the war in Lebanon and Israel. The western media has been finally forced into looking at the reliability of their foreign reporters, photographers, and even the public pronouncements of government officials, and they do not seem to like what they see. A propaganda war is only effective if people are willing to swallow the information they are given, and at this point, it seems even the media is gagging on the taqiyya that seems to flow so freely in Lebanon's fog of war.

It is of course possible that once reporters reach the scene in Houla that the stories will once again begin to flow lamenting the loss of innocent Lebanese because of indiscriminate Israeli bombing, but that moment has not yet come, and even the tearful display from Lebanon's Prime Minister seems not enough to sway a skeptical press.

Hezbollah and their allies still retain the support of Iran and Syria, but seem to be losing, temporarily at least, the support of their nominally reliable propaganda allies in the western media, and that might be the most important division of this war so far.

Update: Siniora has retracted his claim.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 10:50 AM | Comments (9) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Terror of the Tumbleweeds

Cindy Sheehan has once again resumed her lonely vigil in Crawford, Texas, and I do mean lonely.

Even with a flattering AFP photo angle that seeks to fill the frame as much as possible, only a handful of protestors can be viewed in frame, with just over a dozen supporters noticable.

Support for the dictator-loving, America-loathing anti-war mom seems to have dropped a bit since her September 21, 2005 march that drew just 29 supporters.

"For What Noble Cause" indeed.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 09:50 AM | Comments (10) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Patriot Act Used to Charge CIA Contractor

Via WRAL-TV:

In the weeks after the Abu Ghraib prison scandal stunned Iraq, a story emerged from Afghanistan about a CIA contractor named David Passaro, a former Special Forces medic accused of beating an Afghan detainee so severely that he later died.

More than three years later, after several soldiers working at Abu Ghraib have been sentenced to prison, Passaro will finally stand trial when jury selection begins Monday -- in a civilian court in his home state of North Carolina. He is the first, and so far only, civilian to be charged with mistreating a detainee during the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

To bring charges against Passaro, who as a civilian isn't subject to military justice, prosecutors turned to the USA Patriot Act, arguing the law passed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks allows the government to charge U.S. nationals with crimes committed on land or facilities designated for use by the U.S. government.
When U.S. District Court Judge Terrence Boyle agreed last year, prosecutors received a license to enforce the nation's criminal laws in "any foxhole a soldier builds," said Duke University law professor Scott Silliman.

"Until 2005, Passaro ... was unreachable in federal courts," said Silliman, who runs Duke's Center on Law, Ethics and National Security. "What we're seeing is Congress moving to ensure there is criminal accountability for civilians accompanying the forces."

Silliman said the law represents a dramatic expansion of the reach of federal prosecutors, whose jurisdiction most experts believed was limited to places like embassies and consulates, and not locations like the remote U.S. base in Afghanistan where detainee Abdul Wali turned himself in to U.S. forces.
"What the Patriot Act said was that part of Afghanistan is now part of our ... jurisdiction," Silliman said. "The charge of assault is as if it had occurred in Raleigh. All you have to show it's an assault."

Waiting for the left side of the blogosphere to condemn this expansion of federal power against a U.S. citizen? Don't hold your breath.

While the Glenn/Ellison/Wilson/Ellers side of the blogosphere (and that's just in one house in Brazil) is quick to condemn the Patriot Act for just about any other application of it's power, I strongly suspect that when it comes to this case, Lefties will fall silent. An ACLU challenge would be most unexpected.

Why?

The answer should be obvious. Liberals seem only concerned about the "Good Americans," i.e. them, that might have their rights infringed upon by what they see as an abusive Patriot Act. Men such as Passaro, as emissaries of Bush Administration foreign policy, aren't seen to have those same rights. They are, in effect, "Bad Americans."

I happen to be thankful that the Patriot Act gives the government a legal option to seek redress for crimes committed by U.S. civilians, and hope that Passaro gets a fair trial in the courts to resolve his guilt or innocence.

No man should be above the law, regardless of politics. In this instance, the Patriot Act provides that law.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 08:26 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

I Question the Timing

From Amnesty International:

The results of the IDF investigation state that the IDF "operated according to information that the building was not inhabited by civilians". Yet survivors of the attack interviewed by Amnesty International researchers in Qana shortly after the bombing, stated that they had been in the building for some two weeks and that their presence must have been known to Israeli forces whose surveillance drones frequently flew over the village.

So according to Amenesty International, the extended family hit in the Qana air strike did not move into the building until after the war started. What father purposefully moves their family into a combatant neighborhood in an active war zone? Certainly not someone who wants to keep them alive.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 12:40 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Is Lebanon Faked?

This lady is a fraud, as is this jet's "bombs", this burning koran, this ambulance and llama—yes, I said llama—and this bombed city. In each and every one of these events, the professional media's photographers either failed to capture true events, or were complicit in faking events. In the so-called "media war," the media has clearly chosen sides.

Against that backdrop, the Hezbollah staging and media complicity in the Qana air strike of last weekend seems well within the realm of possibility.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 12:01 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

August 04, 2006

Shadi Business?

When I saw Dan Reihl's post noting that refrigerated trucks came from Tyre before the media arrived after daybreak, I thought that the trucks were suspicious.

Now IsrealInsider (h/t A.J. Strata) is reporting that the Lebanese rescue worker known by many simply as "Green Helmet" that appeared in so many of photos brandishing a dead toddler by the neck, is a man named Abu Shadi.

In the days leading up to the Israeli attack on Qana, Abu Shadi, a mortician for the hospital in Tyre, had been driving refrigerated trucks packed with dead bodies.

Could it be another man named Abu Shadi? Perhaps. Another Shadi with a certified-by-the-media truckload of corpses? Not very likely.

The odd and unanswerable continue to add up in Qana.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 01:06 AM | Comments (26) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

August 02, 2006

Schwinns of War

And the questions surrounding the air strike at Qana keep coming.

This photo was first noted as a possible staged photo by A.J. Strata on July 31st.

This photo came one day later on August 1st.

Most people viewing this photo, noticing the shattered toy perched precariously on shattered slabs, are even more convinced it was placed there by human hands, most logically the photographer's.

Is staging photos a conspiracy? Not necessarily, thought it is unethical for a news photographer, especially when the photographer is posting on a polarizing subject.

Speaking of ethics, did you click the link to the picture Strata suggested might be staged? Did you happen to notice who the photographer was?

His name is Nicolas Asfouri, one of the same photographers who was acused of staging photos of the body recovery after the Israeli air strike in Qana earlier that very day.

Update: Ace takes this, and writes it better.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 03:16 PM | Comments (18) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

1 "Most people viewing this photo, noticing the shattered toy perched precariously on shattered slabs, are even more convinced it was placed there by human hands, most logically the photographer's."

What did you do, take a survey? How do you know what most people think? And you assume most people are convinced ab initio that it was placed there by human hands (probably the photographer's) and then become even more convinced when they notice the slabs?

I must be in the minority, looks like random rubble to me. Maybe the bike is on top because it blew down from a higher story than the slabs.

No, on second thought, it must be a conspiracy. Enough of these toddler bike photos and the terrorists will surely win. One look at that photo and most people are even more convinced, as you say. Let's take our own perceptions and conspiracy theories and attribute them to most everyone else. It is truly comforting.

Posted by: aplomb at August 02, 2006 03:34 PM (778mn)

2 Good catch Yankee! I had not made the connection. This photo (my other classic staged photo from that post) is by Kevin Frayer - husband of a CNN news exec who I believe also claims no staging. Will check further

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/060731/481/b85891ea617d4765a40b20d951c37238

Cheers, AJStrata

Posted by: AJStrata at August 02, 2006 03:42 PM (67DAA)

3 BTW you have seen the EU referendum's analysis of some video footage haven't you?

http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2006/08/stretcher-alley.html

Posted by: Francis at August 02, 2006 04:26 PM (aiAZs)

4 CY - They are clearly staged photos.

Perhaps the photographer of photo #2 can explain why everything in the vicinity is complete, unrecognizable rubble, and yet the bike remains remarkably intact, albeit a little dusty.

And then perhaps the photographer of photo #1 can explain how the bike is remarkably untouched, in fact not even touched by any debris or dust.

One look at these photos and I can discern that they are not what they allegedly depict. However, we must consider the fact that the IAF is remarkably precise in their targeting. Perhaps they sighted the bikes and aimed slightly to the - left.

Posted by: Enlightened at August 02, 2006 05:08 PM (iB7ZQ)

5 CY - Take a look at the youtube video on Powerline -

It shows Hezbollah terrorists/innocent civilians firing missiles from innocent civilian homes. Of course the conspiracy theorists will avow that these are not "missiles" coming from a "house" fired at "Israel." They are just "fireworks" coming from a "house" fired at "thin air".

So when Israel strikes back, and destroys the "house" and just about EVERYTHING in it, we are to believe that the "bikes" in pictures #1 and #2 above - survived pretty much intact, and the poor "civilians" that just got annihilated for shooting off "fireworks" were - innocent!

Posted by: Enlightened at August 02, 2006 06:04 PM (iB7ZQ)

6 Trackback here

Posted by: Granddaddy Long Legs at August 02, 2006 06:20 PM (alXDI)

7 AJ, Frayer's wife is ME Bureau Chief for CTV, not CNN.

Posted by: clarice at August 03, 2006 12:16 AM (QKUux)

8 Just to verify, take a look at the pictures, this is NOT the same bicycle you are looking at. It has not same shape, colour, wheels. I'm either pro or con of Isreal or Libanon, but please stick to the facts.

Posted by: Karin at August 03, 2006 03:30 AM (4IQnr)

9 Karin,

I think most folks knew that, but thanks for clarifying it for those who weren't paying attention.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at August 03, 2006 06:10 AM (psJM2)

10
It shows Hezbollah terrorists/innocent civilians firing missiles from innocent civilian homes. Of course the conspiracy theorists will avow that these are not "missiles" coming from a "house" fired at "Israel." They are just "fireworks" coming from a "house" fired at "thin air".


It was obviously a "wedding party"!

Posted by: LagunaDave at August 03, 2006 08:21 AM (4CpEr)

11 I work for a newspaper in the photo department and this is not uncommon in the past. They don't stage as much as they used to but I used to work with a photographer who kept a teddy bear in his car to toss into the center of a burned out home or building. True story.

Keep in mind that the photographers need to show the Hezbollah as the oppressed. Otherwise, they will get kicked out and not allowed to follow them around. Prime example? CNN being lead around by a Hez spokesman, shown only the areas they want them to see.

Posted by: Pixelflash at August 03, 2006 02:37 PM (O+1/6)

12 I could fake better pictures in my garage.

Posted by: Tom TB at August 03, 2006 04:10 PM (y6n8O)

13 You missed some of the worst photographs. This one is extremely distressing, and probably not safe for work. I think the man's name in the photo is Bernard.

Posted by: Kevin at August 04, 2006 08:39 AM (++0ve)

14 Karin,
Not sure exactly what your point is. However, I was thinking the same thing: that the two trikes ARE different. Not only that, but are those fingerprints on the wheel of the bottom photo? Looks like it was placed there to me.

That being said, I don't think that's the point of this story. The point is that hezbollah is amazingly adept at manipulating and staging almost anything they want to sway world opinion against not only Israel but anything Western.

Posted by: MBV at August 04, 2006 09:58 AM (Odhi4)

15 I left a comment here:

The Jerusalem Post says Qana may have been totally staged.

It is also a story about bloggers.

Bloggers get results

My bit included a link to here so it served as a blogger track back.

Also you got a mention in the JP article.

Did I offend you?

Posted by: M. Simon at August 05, 2006 03:05 PM (vk2SY)

16 Uh Oh. Me bad.

I got cross threaded.

My bit is still in the other thread.

Apologies.

Posted by: M. Simon at August 05, 2006 03:08 PM (vk2SY)

17 http://www.kohm.org/archive/21july2006.php

another bike. Of course, those fragile bunny ears somehow managed to not get hit by falling concrete. Who took the picture, I wonder wait for it now....

Posted by: just me at August 07, 2006 09:05 PM (RV6nX)

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Cold-Blooded Libel

America's most disgusting Ex-Marine is sued for libel over his allegations that Marines in Haditha "killed innocent civilians in cold blood."

Attorneys for Frank D. Wuterich, 26, argue in court papers that Murtha tarnished the Marine's reputation by telling news organizations in May that the Marine unit cracked after a roadside bomb killed one of its members and that the troops "killed innocent civilians in cold blood." Murtha also said repeatedly that the incident was covered up.

Murtha argued that the questionable deaths of 24 civilians were indicative of the difficulties and overpowering stress that U.S. troops are facing. The congressman, a former Marine, has been a leading advocate for withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq.

In the court filing, obtained by The Washington Post, the lawyers say that Murtha made the comments after being briefed by Defense Department officials who "deliberately provided him with inaccurate and false information." Neal A. Puckett and Mark S. Zaid, suing for libel and invasion of privacy, also wrote that Murtha made the comments outside of his official scope as a congressman.

[snip]

This case is not about money; it's about clearing Frank Wuterich's name, and part of that is to identify where these leaks are coming from," Zaid said in an interview. "Congressman Murtha has created this atmosphere that has already concluded guilt. He's created this environment that really smells, and he's the only one who has done that."

It is work noting that Murtha's claim of a cover-up has already conclusively debunked.

h/t AllahPundit at Hot Air, who has more.

Update: I question the timing:

Evidence collected on the deaths of 24 Iraqis in Haditha supports accusations that U.S. Marines deliberately shot the civilians, including unarmed women and children, a Pentagon official said Wednesday.

Agents of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service have completed their initial work on the incident last November, but may be asked to probe further as Marine Corps and Navy prosecutors review the evidence and determine whether to recommend criminal charges, according to two Pentagon officials who discussed the matter on condition of anonymity.

The decision on whether to press criminal charges against four Marines ultimately will be made by the commander of the accused Marines' parent unit, the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton, Calif. That currently is Lt. Gen. John Sattler, but he is scheduled to move to a Pentagon assignment soon; his successor will be Lt. Gen. James Mattis.

My initial reaction to this is, "Where's the news?"

We've known since this story broke that the Marines killed these civilians. That fact has never been in doubt at all, so to breathlessly say that the evidence supports what you already know is, well, grandstanding.

Nothing has changed.

It seems quite suspicious that the AP chose to break this non-story on the same day that it was announced that the three Marines decided to sue Murtha for libel.

Perhaps the goal of the AP isn't as much grandstanding as it is trying to deflect attention from their "Democratic Hawk" of record.

8/3 Update: I speculated above that the sudden and unexpected AP account above might have been to distract attention from the lawsuits against Murtha. This morning, Time magazine seems to support that line of reasoning, directly contradicting the AP claims (my bold):

DOD officials tell TIME that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld recently set up a Pentagon task force, which meets once a week, to track Haditha and prepare for the eventual release of the investigations' results. But a Pentagon source familiar with the criminal investigation says that contrary to the suggestions of some media reports Wednesday, there have been no conclusions that the Marines deliberately killed unarmed civilians. This source also says that the bodies of those killed at Haditha have not been exhumed, which makes proving murder 'very challenging.'

That seems to take the air out of the sails for certain liberal bloggers and their fans, who seem all too eager to see these Marines in front of a firing squad, trial be damned. As I said back in May as this story wasdeveloping:

Someone who truly supports the troops, even if they do not support the war, would want this incident fully investigated to uncover the truth. They would want to know the facts.

They would want to know if the Marines fired out of blind rage at the loss of their friends, and they would be equally interested in finding out if the Marines assaulted that location because someone inside fired upon them, as they claimed. Was it a slaughter of innocents, or were insurgents firing from within civilian homes? Were those that triggered the IED among the dead? We do not yet know, and some are already passing judgment.

We all want the truth of the matter in this incident, and if the Marines did murder Iraqi civilians, they should be tried in a court of law and then sentenced for their crimes if convicted.

Instead, many liberals seem willing to skip the trial in favor of simply lynching those accused, based upon sometimes faulty and always incomplete media reports.

Our Marines, and the Iraqi people, deserve better than that.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 08:48 AM | Comments (66) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

IDF Investigating Qana Because of Blog Reports

From the Jerusalem Post:

The IDF is looking into allegations raised over the past few days by several pro-Israel, Jewish and conservative Weblogs that Hizbullah may have staged aspects of the Kana tragedy on Sunday, in which some 60 Lebanese bodies were removed from a building that collapsed seven hours after being hit in an Israel Air Force strike.

The dead were mainly children, women and elderly people.

The International Committee of the Red Cross Mission in Israel said Tuesday that it would inform its Swiss headquarters about the allegations and seek to clarify the questions raised.

Israel has acknowledged hitting the building, and said 150 Katyushas had been fired from the village in the previous 20 days, with Hizbullah hiding rocket launchers in civilian buildings there. Israel said it did not know civilians were inside the building and expressed sorrow over the tragedy.

The IDF is investigating questions raised by Confederate Yankee, EU Referendum, and other blogs and web sites.

The questions include:

• When did the building collapse, and what caused the collapse?
• Were the photos taken of the victims staged?
• Why do the bodies of the victims not show the crushing injuries one would expect in a building collapse?
• Why weren't journalists allowed near the building?
• Why is their such a discrepancy in the initial casualty figures cited to the world (55-60) and the number of bodes recovered by the Lebanese Red Cross (2?
• Who is the man known as “Green Helmet” who was in so many of these pictures, and why was he in other, similar photos dating back to 1996?

The International Committee of the Red Cross is currently preparing a report based upon data collected by the Lebanese Red Cross.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 08:27 AM | Comments (14) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

1 FYI, Jonah Goldberg provides a link to your blog in his article today on NRO.

Posted by: Matt at August 02, 2006 08:43 AM (3bFaP)

2 Yep. The link is here.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at August 02, 2006 08:50 AM (g5Nba)

3 Who is the green helmet guy? via An Unsealed Room:

His name is Abdel Qader. He claims that they couldn't reach the building before 8 am because of the conditions of the road and the danger of being hit by the Israeli airforce. His voice is girly and his clothes look impeccably clean!

There's a video of him on youtube now (aljazeera interview)

Posted by: Kevin at August 02, 2006 10:36 AM (++0ve)

4 Good video, clearly shows it was a photo-op.

In comparison, I remember footage from suicide bombing in Israel, where everybody would be rushing to clear the area, the paramedics in the area would be rushing to help the injured, and would yell to everybody to get the f*ck out of the way.

Here -- although different from a suicide bombing -- they aren't even trying to find survivors; the death of the civilians seems to be a forgone conclusion.

Posted by: dna at August 02, 2006 11:02 AM (tJzld)

5 You da man, CY!

Posted by: Retired Spy at August 02, 2006 12:55 PM (Xw2ki)

6 Yep. CY is on the job -- worldwide investigative journalism from the back of an El Camino in North Carolina. Thank God for bum-leg Bob.

Posted by: Lint at August 02, 2006 01:28 PM (1SuKf)

7 Why is this dust covered baby's pacifier completely clean?

http://www.eureferendum.com/admin/media/green%20helmet%20004.jpeg

Posted by: Dave at August 02, 2006 01:34 PM (ptid4)

8 "In comparison, I remember footage from suicide bombing in Israel, where everybody would be rushing to clear the area, the paramedics in the area would be rushing to help the injured, and would yell to everybody to get the f*ck out of the way."

there are LOTS of photos at this gallery:
http://www.ghaliboun.net/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=22

i dont think you guys are aware of that URL yet.

Posted by: archduke at August 02, 2006 03:31 PM (PAyi1)

9 Here's one of the weirder images - from that gallery

http://www.ghaliboun.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=22&pos=98

anyone else think it slightly strange that a cameraman is allowed INTO the collapsed building and allowed to get in the way of the "rescue" effort?

Who is "Mr Cameraman" ?

Posted by: archduke at August 02, 2006 03:40 PM (PAyi1)

10 archduke wrote:
anyone else think it slightly strange that a cameraman is allowed INTO the collapsed building and allowed to get in the way of the "rescue" effort?

You're right: the press-crew seems to be intrinsic to the rescue effort, as if it couldn't go forward if they weren't there.

Also, what about this one? I thought the building collapsed.

Posted by: dna at August 02, 2006 06:18 PM (tJzld)

11 Here are the answers you seek:

When did the building collapse?
At 1am, as _all_ the eyewitnesses reported from the start:

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/744332.html
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=101b250b-92be-4dae-9bd9-be7b62b02192
http://kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2006/08/01/5159.shtml
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5228224.stm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1833884,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=1

and what caused the collapse?
Er - the IAF dropped a bomb on it? Just a guess. But the IDF admits dropping the bomb, and the people in the village say it landed on them. I'm sure the conspiracy theorists can come up with something much more complicated though, if it suits their prejudices.

Were the photos taken of the victims staged?
This is no evidence of this - though a lot of people seem to want it to be true.

Why do the bodies of the victims not show the crushing injuries one would expect in a building collapse?
Because the basement they were in was _not_ crushed - this is clear in all the pictures of the site. They died from the blast or from being buried under earth and rubble. They were certainly injured though, killed in fact, a lot of them. According to this report by a journalist who witnessed the rescue:
"They came across the smallest corpses last, many intact but with lungs crushed by the blast wave of the bombing."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1833884,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=1

Why weren’t journalists allowed near the building?
They were - that's how come there are hundreds of newswire photos of it all over the net. Doh!

Why is their such a discrepancy in the initial casualty figures cited to the world (55-60) and the number of bodes recovered by the Lebanese Red Cross (2?
28 bodies recovered, 13 still missing = 42. Full report, with the names and ages of those identified so far, is at:
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HRW/c934b8a94f226d3ab6461928c606cb65.htm

The initial reports were based on the number of people known to have been in the basement (63) less the number of known survivors at the time (9). The initial figure of 'over 60' was given to journalists by the Lebanese police.

Who is the man known as “Green Helmet” who was in so many of these pictures, and why was he in other, similar photos dating back to 1996?

He is a Lebanese civil defence worker named Jradi, from Tyre, and it is his job to help at these kinds of incidents in the Tyre area. He was interviewed many times on the day. Try this Google news search
http://news.google.co.uk/news?q=jradi&btnG=Search+News

Posted by: billy at August 02, 2006 07:35 PM (lY0Zo)

12 Were the photos taken of the victims staged?
This is no evidence of this - though a lot of people seem to want it to be true

Depends on how you interpret "staged". Were the rescue workers posing with the bodies so that the cameramen could get the best shots? Absolutely - but this is just propaganda, not a crime.

Were the deaths faked somehow? No evidence to support that.

The initial reports were based on the number of people known to have been in the basement (63) less the number of known survivors at the time (9). The initial figure of 'over 60' was given to journalists by the Lebanese police.

In other words, they have reversed the regular way of reporting fatalities to increase the propaganda value. Rather than saying "26 killed, 28 unaccounted for", or something similar, they assume that anyone not known to be alive is in fact dead. Get the high number out fast, because it's going on page one and the correction will be on page C-27. Again, though, just propaganda, not a crime.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at August 02, 2006 09:26 PM (FRalS)

13 I see that LGF is making the point on the inverted reporting too.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at August 02, 2006 10:42 PM (FRalS)

14 >In other words, they have reversed the regular way of reporting fatalities to increase the propaganda value.

Do you remember the reported fatalities on 9/11 ? There were initially 60,000 people inside WTC. Several hours after the planes went in, news programmes talked about 6,000 people dead. This number went down and down the following days to about half.

Posted by: daniel at August 06, 2006 03:39 AM (yh5S4)

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