I’ve been reading a few articles and several big name blogs that are discussing what I find to be the silliest thing about the war on Lebanon: a bunch of photos that were doctored by a Reuters photographer, more specifically one that added a bit more black smoke to a smoldering building. It’s a perfect example of stupidity in my opinion: ignore the building but for the love of God let’s focus on the black smoke. The photographer made a big mistake but the stupidity that has ensued is just mind boggling.
In another episode people are busy analyzing photographs of children and playing amateur CSI investigators by claiming the splatter of blood is in the wrong place: this picture of a 5 year old girl with blood all over her clothes doesn’t mean she’s dead because there’s no signs of blood on her face. Or this other photo where the streak of blood that runs down the edge of a little girl’s mouth as she’s being carried from the rubble, is absent in the photo taken when she’s placed in the ambulance. Aha! Someone must have wiped the blood from her mouth! What is this CSI: Beirut?
Are you fucking kidding me!? Where is the fucking humanity!? This is the 21st century and THIS IS WHAT PEOPLE OF THE SO CALLED CIVILISED WORLD ARE SO CONCERNED WITH?!
This by the way is the exact same crap that was being thrown around after the U.S. invaded Iraq. It has become more popular in recent times because of the media, the Internet, bloggers, access to information. But the Iraqi body count started piling up to the extent that even claiming one body amidst a graveyard of bodies is a fake seemed silly. I’m of course glad it took that many bodies for people to realize it’s silly. This is also the same crap pulled in Gaza two months ago, a little girl holding the limbs of her family in her bloody hands on a beach picnic that was suddenly interrupted by an Israeli shell and people would rather discuss why they can’t see a crater or why a sandal is in a specific place and why it didn’t get blown away, or the 30 degree angel of blood splattered on the girls shirt is just wrong for this type of shell. Ignore the girl, ignore the situation, and letâ??s concentrate on the photo. But luckily this talk about fake photos or staged deaths was put to rest after Israel couldn’t ignore the fact that it did happen. But then of course they said it was Hamas that did it.
This is also the same crap pulled by the dumbasses who deny the Holocaust. How do we prove that those killed were actually Jews? The Nazis determined who was Jewish based on measuring the length of their noses. Do we trust the black and white photos from the 1940’s or shall we dig up the graves and pull out the measuring tape? Does that sound insensitive? Too soon?
It’s another way to say that Arabs are so barbaric that they use the bodies and limbs of children to stage photographs. Well here’s a bit of enlightenment: with all the bombings and killings and villages completely crushed, Arabs don’t need to stage photos, there are enough body parts to go around without having to make it look worse.
But no no, let’s forget about all the people who have died, one fake photo means the whole war is a lie. All the rubble and body bags, all the refugees, it’s all made up because after all things are not bad enough. We went from bad to worse, so where do you go from worst? How do you make hell feel hotter? And for what? Sympathy? Western sympathy? Because they’ve come to our rescue so many times in the past?
If you really doubt what’s going on then simply book the next flight to Gaza, to Beirut, to Baghdad and take a digital camera with you. In fact take your children with you and make a vacation of it. And when the bombs start dropping you can tell them that “it’s just the A-Rabs playing their silly tricks.”
Yeah, I didn’t think so.
Meanwhile, fake this…
h/t: sabbah
And they’ll say “They’re using their kids for human shields again”. I’m so ashamed.
That is how they dehumanise Arabs and Muslims. Yes, the splatter of blood was in the wrong place for it to have come from the particular Israeli raid. So the 5 year old girl died in a DIFFERENT Israeli raid.
All of their justification ignores the FACT that this girl was murdered by Israelis. Her brothers, father, uncles, cousins, they are the next generation of Hizb’Allah, or whatever group comes of this.
Trust me, murder my children and see what happens.
Kinzi you should be ashamed. They are using kids for human shields again. It is undeniable.
Just because western media eats up the Hizb propoganda – just as they ate up “Baghdad Bob’s” propoganda doesn’t make Hizb’s propoganda true.
Anyone remember this: Baghdad Bob: “The American Army has been destroyed and is nowhere near Baghdad”.
Don’t worry though. Hizb has just declared victory. So it’s all over now. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3289572,00.html
Not sure how they can declare victory in the midst of their sissy whines for a cease fire, but hey they’re Arabs it’s about symbolism not substance.
I’m not holding my breath waiting for a post condemming the muslim suicide bomber that killed 30+ muslims outside a Shiite shrine in Najaf. That wouldn’t help your position as a perpetually persecuted, opressed, and misunderstood muslim, so you couldn’t care less.
Marcus, what a craven way of looking at the situation. first of all there’s no need for hizballah’s propaganda to know that people are being slaughtered by Israel. Every media outlet in the world is covering this event. To say nothing of Israeli propaganda.
Lastly, I can condemn all bombings that result in the death of civilians including and especially those where sucide bombers kill fellow muslims. But you’re more about the fact that I don’t condemn them on my blog frequently, you could care less that an innocent Muslim has died.
As for human shields, that’s not a credible charge coming from a country that has a tendency to invade people homes and apartment buildings to loan out their roofs for sniper posts amongst many many other atrocities.
I’ve yet to hear you criticise Israel let alone admit to it killing hundreds of innocent people. Or wait, did Hizballah do that too?
Nas,
This is actually a brilliant post; I’ve noted the comparison with the Halocaust deniers; startling and interesting, and maybe you have a point here.
Now, I’m one of the American right wing bloggers who’s been following the photo-shopped photographs. The point is first aimed at the US — we need our media to publish facts; it’s one of the pillars of our democracy — and they’ve been fudging. Part of this is cleaning our own house.
Second, though — nobody is denying the tragic deaths, or the horror of children being killed. By any name of God, it is heart rending. However, it is even more revolting to see the dead bodies paraded around for international press consumption, for the purposes of whipping up public opinion against the Israeli’s. Also, the aim here, I think isn’t necessarily to get the Arab world to hate Israel — that’s already established. It’s to get international opinion to overlook the fact that Hezbollah started the war, and to pressure the Israeli’s to pull out and let the terrorist group claim victory (and become even more influential in Lebanon); it’s aimed at France, Germany, Britain, America and so forth.
WE’re probably going to disagree on these points: Hezbollah shoots rockets from civilian residences; their fighters do indeed use civilian structures for war purposes. That happened with the UN building. This is also characteristic of other terrorist organizations; in Iraq, insurgents will fire on Coalition troops from inside mosques, and store their weapons there. Then, they’ll claim American insensitivity. That’s also how civilians get killed.
In my estimation, Hezbollah does not care about how many Lebanese civilians get killed. The organization could stop the war today by releasing the Israeli prisoners, and by refraining from lobbing rockets into Israeli territory, which they have been doing since Israel pulled out of Lebanon six years ago. The reason I think this is not so much that Israel has good will to Lebanon — but because if Hezbollah did that, then Israel would come under enough international pressure to cease and desist. But, you don’t see Hezbollah doing that — because I think their ultimate goal is to take over Lebanon and put it under their own rule. The group is also supported by Iran, but I’m not going to inflict you with that just now.
I’d like to add this about Hezbollah. It also seems to be a social, political and charitable organization. Nobody else has cared about the Southern Lebanese, or offered jobs and services. It’s little wonder that support for Hezbollah is strong in Southern Lebanon; I’d lay odds that everybody’s husband, father, uncle, brother and son works for them, and maybe fights for them.
The problem is that while Hezbollah helps the Lebanese with one hand, they set them up for murder with the other. Love or hate the Israeli’s — I think they would have stayed out of Lebanon without provocation.
Sorry to have run on so long.
Nas — where’s the source for the images you printed? I’d like to post them on my own blog as photo’s that do not need to be faked, with your permission. But I need a source.
Frau, I’ve replied to most of what you just posted on you blog http://www.haloscan.com/comments/fraubudgie/115520945491827238/
The photos you can get from sabbah mentioned at the bottom of this post
but to respond to some of the points i might have missed on your blog:
how do you know hizballah fires from civilian buildings, because israel told you? or cnn? or israel? this is a war frau and you can’t take the story of one side thats fighting it (with bombs and good PR) and not take the other. what now, hizballah was following those UN guys around and Israel went looking for them? the UN personel warned israel several times that there were no fighters there and in response they got a bomb dropped on their heads.
alqueda is a terrorist organization that has been let into a volatile iraq because of the american occupation. it wasnt there before.
hizballah was created in opposition to Israeli occupation and that occupation is ongoing till today. in lebanon’s case it’s like someone is occupying a part of your backyard, in palestines case you live in the backyard, or what little is left of it. why does no one ever talk about this. it’s like suddenly these groups decided to come together because they had nothing better to do. how did hizballah start this war? by kidnapping two soldiers? what about the hundreds of lebanese that have been kidnapped by israel over recent years? or are the israeli soldiers more important?
lastly, flattening entire cities and towns with no regard to civilian life under the claim that you want two soldiers back is about as legitamite as america invading iraq for WMDs. granted that the latter is much worse but that takes us back to what americans are willing to believe what they see on tv: colin powell at the UN with google satellite photos…and bush and rummy saying “we know they’re there”….good enough for me!
one last thing…with all honesty do you believe that someone who photoshoped some additional black smoke can negate the entirety of what’s happening? if this was happening in texas…how would you feel about someone analyzing pictures of your own daughter in, God forbid, such a bloody state and saying she’s not really dead, it’s all a big lie?
what should make a lebanese daughter and her mother any different?
Marcus Augustus, I hope you come back and read this.
First, I am an Evangelical follower of Jesus, American-born blonde. I live in Jordan, and get my news from many other sources – but mostly on the ground from friends in Gaza, Nazareth, Tulkarem,Beirut, Baghdad etc. Christian friends and Muslim friends.
If you had been around Nas’ blog you would see his outcries against Muslim against Muslim violence as well. Go check out what all the JP bloggers said about our November bombing.
Nas doesn’t whine, but uses a strong voice to point out Israeli acts of terrorism. We don’t agree on everything, but I think that it may be you that needs to look at the situation from a different news source.
Something I have to Answer to FrauBudgie: This discussion about where Hizbollah fires rockets from and just whose fault it is that civilians get killed is a support of atrocities. I don’t know just when this attitude and discussion started in history, but I suspect it’s been around for a long time in human history. I saw photographs from people who were in Iraq. I heard accounts from people who went there. My grand-parents saw two world wars. And one thing is for sure: Civilians NEVER are protected from violence. I mean it. Please contemplate this.
Anybody who claims that surgical bombings of military facilities is possible and without civilian casualties is disregarding the evidence of many wars. That means lying. You know, even soldiers with high ranks and excellent training lie. Please take your distance from your point of view, because it is not doing justice to the innocent people killed in wars.
Now if we assume that the rockets are fired from civilian regions, lets face the following: if an army installed special areas from where to attack the opponent, they would get blasted to bits within one night of air raids. War is not a card game with taking turns or a 12-round fight, war is dirty. Whoever is in it. Israel fights dirty, Hizbollah fights dirty and the US fight dirty as well. War is about killing people. Killing people means they put an end to you. Or the members of your family. No second chance. Nothing.
Let’s try a different example: Hezbollah sits in Kindergarten with their rocket launchers, firing rockets right from the lunch table. If Israel wants to fight them, there are a couple of methods: Try a big bomb, one that blasts away the entire village. Bad move, the attack would seem too harsh of an answer.
Why not go in with foot-soldiers? You know they could make out the innocent kids or shoot only those babes with grenades tied to their little bellies. But the casualties among their troops would be too great. So somewhere in the middle between the big blast and the infantry you get focused air raids and tanks that only take out buildings. This is like economy, how many casualties do you invest for securing your country. So don’t try to make something so utterly economical and cruel look like a well-meant war for freedom. It’s just math. If you want freedom remember that with two conflicting parties only one will have their freedom.
So please do me a favor and stop discussing who does the nicer torturing. I am not asking you to become left-wing, you can feel free to continue supporting a war. But remain honest and know that it is killing we are talking about, not freedom. The freedom comes after the killing. Maybe.
SORRY! I didn’t mean to address Frau Budgie! My mistake, I was replying to Marcus.