Reuters doctored photo
Little Green Footballs has done a good job at proving a Reuters photo of smoke billowing from Beirut, was faked using Photoshop. Not enough smoke so they added more on!
Reuters have accepted it was fake, but tried to explain it by saying the photographer “was trying to remove dust marks and that he made mistakes due to the bad lighting conditions he was working under”. Sure.
No TweetBacks yet. (Be the first to Tweet this post)
Tags: Media
August 7th, 2006 at 11:26 am
Go to the eu referendum website and see the devious use of dead children at Qana for propaganda purpsoes. The deceit of the Western media.
August 7th, 2006 at 11:55 am
That is a hilariously bad photoshop job. I find it hard to believe that a professional photographer – who probably spends as much time developing images in photoshop as they do in the field – would produce such an amateur work. No doubt that it has been manipulated, note – just sayin’
August 7th, 2006 at 12:17 pm
Wow, they’re on to something there
Looking at the ‘fake’ it looks like a Lebanese town on a cloudy day with the crap blown out of it.
Looking at the ‘real’ one it looks like a Lebanese town on a sunnier day with the crap blown out of it.
Good on you, Little Green Rascists, for not letting the Liberal media get away with the lie that it was overcast in Lebanon yesterday!
August 7th, 2006 at 12:20 pm
Go to the eu referendum website and see the devious use of dead children at Qana for propaganda purpsoes. The deceit of the Western media.
Sigh … it’s been interesting to see who has embraced the puerile Qana-was-a-hoax theory (LGF, Malkin, Limbaugh) and who hasn’t (Glenn Reynolds has gone up in my estimation with his withering rebuttal of the loons). Sadly, leigh is in the former camp.
The claims by the nutjob at EUReferendum are based on a woeful misunderstanding of technology and, in parts, on him *just making things up* (eg: the aid worker who he had a “gut instinct” was a Hezbollah official). It’s an example of everything bad about blogs.
But yeah, the Beruit pic is puzzingly bad – it’s even worse than the crowd mock-up the Evening Standard did after the fall of Baghdad, and it’s a wonder it was ever used. The photographer has been sacked, but you’d hope a few editors have had a bollocking too.
But let’s be realistic: this is not an iconic picture, or one that has been the basis of particular claims (ie: you don’t need it to deduce that acres of Beiruit are in fact rubble). It’s just a really shitty photoshop job.
This isn’t the first time a war pic has been juiced up and certainly not the last.
Cheers,
RB
August 7th, 2006 at 12:46 pm
The media, and RB I suppose, has defended numerous investigations into Bush’s AWOL story with: “the allegations are serious”.
But in this case? No one is interested. But the Red Cross will do a report on Qana as well. Let’s see what they come up with.
Have you already corrected your fabulously incorrect version of the facts? RB: “Qana was a quite place, nothing happening, absolutely no rockets were fired from it in any shape or form”. Yeah right. You even go out of your way to support the claim that Hezbollah doesn’t hide behind civilians.
August 7th, 2006 at 12:51 pm
Through gritted teeth – in fairness I think Reuters said that the removing dust smudges was the explanation they got from the photographer.
August 7th, 2006 at 1:03 pm
RB, one more thing: isn’t it interesting that the photographer that faked this picture was also invovled in the Qana pictures?
And on Qana: even the NZ Herald is using the discredited death toll in their print edition and on their web site: http://nzmediabias.blogspot.com/2006/08/how-many-civilians-did-die-at-qana.html
Why do you think there is such a disdain for the MSM?
August 7th, 2006 at 1:06 pm
Mike and Russell – The point is that the NEWS Media are supposed to report news not fantasy.
A photo here a photo there – for want of a nail etc.
Whilst the EU site did get it wrong if you think that anti-Israeli sources aren’t trying to manipulate the media as much as pro-Israeli sources then you are just naive(which I don’t think you are…. so???).Thats their job.
I think Quana was a horrible thing to have happen.However if Israel, with their superior, in every way, armaments was really going after civilians the death toll would be many tens of thousands. While that doesn’t in any way mitigate the deaths of those children I would swing towards the unintentional act spin rather than the other way.
August 7th, 2006 at 1:08 pm
the two side by side from reuters are here
http://i.today.reuters.com/misc/genImage.aspx?uri=2006-08-06T215559Z_01_L06301298_RTRUKOP_2_PICTURE0.jpg&resize=full
August 7th, 2006 at 1:38 pm
Terfible news for ChickenLittle – the media are known for jazzing vanilla footage up for broadcast – be it print, video, or audio. Sound effects are added, motion effects, photoshopping. It’s dishonest, for sure, but it’s been happening for a long time, and is a widespread practice.
DenMT
August 7th, 2006 at 1:59 pm
RB, one more thing: isn’t it interesting that the photographer that faked this picture was also invovled in the Qana pictures?
Not unless you’re claiming that all the other news agencies present at Qana were in on the hoax too.
I’ve just realised that it wasn’t Reynolds but a guest poster on Instapundit who wrote the takedown, but it’s still spot-on anyway:
A NUMBER OF Y’ALL have emailed me (and I presume the other guest bloggers) about the various claims that Qana was a hoax, based either on the time stamps on the rescue photos, or the fact that the building seems to have fallen down hours after the airstrike.
As I wrote to several people, having spent a year working at Ground Zero, I have a very high level of scepticism about these sorts of conspiracy theories. The photo conspiracy seems to be based on the ignorance of how wire services work; its author has confused the dateline, which indicates when the wire service loaded the photos into their system, with a digital timestamp. And the claims that the building couldn’t have collapsed after so much time sound remarkably like the WTC Building 7 conspiracy theories, which were based on the fact that 7WTC, the farthest from the twin towers, inexplicably collapsed nine hours after the planes hit, even though it suffered no apparent structural damage.
In the “fog of war” all sorts of rumors get started–remember how tens of thousands were thought killed in the WTC, or the various reports of impending terror attacks in the days that followed? And when something bad happens, it’s normal to look for reasons it’s not your fault, especially if it was an accident. But I need a pretty high standard of evidence to accuse the victims of a tragedy of staging it to make us look bad. Meanwhile, it’s not exactly helpful that many of the people arguing against the conspiracy theories are making remarks that sound like borderline anti-semitism, trending into grand Zionist conspiracy theories.
I’ve never managed to convince anyone of anything on the Israel/Palestine conflict, and perhaps it’s impossible (though perhaps I’m just a lacklustre debater). But I think there are helpful and less helpful ways to express the deep rifts that divide us, and looking for grand plots in the chaos strikes me as among the least productive.
http://instapundit.com/archives/031721.php
While we’re at it, there were no hidden Hezbollah explosives, and not even any rocket launches in the vicinity at the time. For goodness sake, even the IDF has admitted responsibility and said it was a tragic mistake. From Ha’retz:
It now appears that the military had no information on rockets launched from the site of the building, or the presence of Hezbollah men at the time.
The Israel Defense Forces had said after the deadly air-strike that many rockets had been launched from Qana. However, it changed its version on Monday. The site was included in an IAF plan to strike at several buildings in proximity to a previous launching site. Similar strikes were carried out in the past. However, there were no rocket launches from Qana on the day of the strike.
Just stop it.
Cheers,
RB
August 7th, 2006 at 2:45 pm
AS far as I know Russel, nobody is claiming Qana is a hoax. Straw man.
What is being claimed with some supporting evidence that a dead baby was paraded for the media multiple times over several hours.
If you don’t think waving a dead baby around is crass then I have to wonder whats the matter with you.
After all the media has decided that showing of people jumping from the twin towers on 9/11 in desparation too sensitive a subject.
Exploiting Dead arab babies for propaganda are fair game it seems.
August 7th, 2006 at 3:03 pm
RB, good you realised InstaPundit is on holiday…
RB, 150 rockets were fired from Qana in the 20 days before the strike: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1153292030858&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Speaking to reporters, Eshel added that Hizbullah rocket launchers were hidden in civilian buildings in the village. He proceeded to show video footage of rocket launchers being driven into the village following launches.
The issue with Qana is that dead bodies were dragged around, displayed for hours on end, and the photographers made it appear it was genuine rescue scene and they were shooting actual rescuers. But actually it was another Pallywood production.
August 7th, 2006 at 3:05 pm
RB, one more thing: how many apoligies from Hezbollah about hitting innocent civilians have you blogged about on your website?
August 7th, 2006 at 3:43 pm
Reuters doctored another photo: http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/184206.php
I’m sure RB will find another doctored photo by Al-Reuters “puzzling” again.
August 7th, 2006 at 3:45 pm
More and more photos are now being found that have been photoshopped: http://powerlineblog.com/archives/014919.php
August 7th, 2006 at 3:49 pm
LOL, look at these photos: http://drinkingfromhome.blogspot.com/2006/08/extreme-makeover-beirut-edition.html
Probably another instance where people don’t understand “the timeline” of publishing these photos. Please explain RB, I know you can. My faith in the MSM is waivering, I need urgent help!
August 7th, 2006 at 4:14 pm
The big problem with the theory that this is all a grand Hezbollah-Reuters conspiracy is that the original photos are just as effective at making a political statement as the doctored ones – sometimes more so.
My guess is that this isn’t about Reuters propagandizing for Hezbollah – it’s about their photographer scamming them by selling his employers multiple copies of the same photo and photoshopping them to make ‘em look different.
August 7th, 2006 at 4:21 pm
To diferentiate we’re calling this lot the Lebbywood fakes.
August 7th, 2006 at 4:45 pm
Danyl, please explain the “we have checks and balances” excuse again.
August 7th, 2006 at 4:50 pm
One more thing Danyl: isn’t it interesting that this is the same Reuters where an employee issued a dead threat against a blogger?
August 7th, 2006 at 6:12 pm
It really does look like this photographer was doing something stupid rather than being in with some conspiracy.
And even if some of the stuff at Qana was staged to some extent and/or “milked” by Hezbollah it really doesn’t change the fact the this incident occured. There’s no point to being more hawkish on this than the IDF.
Or maybe you right-wing conspiracy theorists are looking for employment at Scoop or something. You could help them out with all the 9/11 stuff.
August 7th, 2006 at 6:43 pm
RB Later blogs have said it all. You jump to many assumptions, all wrong.
August 7th, 2006 at 7:44 pm
Berend de Boer: “The issue with Qana is that dead bodies were dragged around, displayed for hours on end, and the photographers made it appear it was genuine rescue scene and they were shooting actual rescuers.”
Oohhh, *that’s* what the issue is! There was me thinking the issue was the IDF had killed all those people in the first place.
This despite the fact no rockets had been fired from there in the recent past, and that the building had been incorrectly targetted, merely because of its proximity to previous rocket strikes.
From Haaretz, with some emphasis added…
“It now appears that the military had no information on rockets launched from the site of the building, or the presence of Hezbollah men at the time.
The Israel Defense Forces had said after the deadly air-strike that many rockets had been launched from Qana. However, it changed its version on Monday.
The site was included in an IAF plan to strike at several buildings in proximity to a previous launching site. Similar strikes were carried out in the past. However, there were no rocket launches from Qana on the day of the strike.”
August 7th, 2006 at 8:00 pm
Has anyone noticed the simple truism that the Israelis are killing a few civilians as they go after rocket launchers while Hesbollah is deliberately aiming to kill and maim civilians by firing wildly aimed anti-personell rockets into civilian areas of Israel? Where is the media outrage over these war crimes committed by Hezbollah? Where is Russell Brown? Nowhere to be seen or heard.
Has anyone noticed how the BBC, CNN, Radio Left Wing et al always report the number of ‘civilians’ killed in Lebanon with nary a mention of the fact that most of the ‘civilians’in all likelihood are actively engaged in terrorism or are actively supporting the terrorists? When Hezbollah dress in civilian clothes then of course all the victims are reported as ‘civilians.’ If you allow terrorists to store rockets in your basement, to fire rockets from your back yard, don’t be surprised if your house is subject ot an air strike just six seconds after the last rocket was fired. (The western media and their mealy mouthed apologists in New Zealand are simply broadcasting propoganda for the enemy. You don’t believe they are our enemy? Well chaps, your leftie weepy eyed liberal grand parents thought Hiltler was a pretty good chap too. It’s time you grew up before you too consign another sixty million of our children to a third world war between Western Civilisation and radical Islam.)
Sorry Russell but you can’t just laugh off or dismiss the absolutely disgraceful bias of the MSM covering this conflict.
August 7th, 2006 at 8:13 pm
“Has anyone noticed the simple truism that the Israelis are killing a few civilians as they go after rocket launchers while Hesbollah is deliberately aiming to kill and maim civilians by firing wildly aimed anti-personell rockets into civilian areas of Israel?”
Has anyone noticed the simple truism that the Israelis are killing more civillians by accident in the course of their high and lofty goals than anybody else is managing to do to them with vile and deliberate malice? I’d refer you back to The Fog Of War and what McNamara has to say about the need for a concept of proportionality in warfare.
“Has anyone noticed how the BBC, CNN, Radio Left Wing et al always report the number of ‘civilians’ killed in Lebanon with nary a mention of the fact that most of the ‘civilians’in all likelihood are actively engaged in terrorism or are actively supporting the terrorists?”
So hang on… you’re only allowed to count people as civilians if they disagree with and fervantly resist the people carrying guns around them? Does that mean we’re not allowed to count as a civilian any Israeli who has ever been part of the IDF or who supports the actions of their government? Care to define the nature of a civilian for us here? Given that Israel has a conscript army and national service you might be on rather thin ice here.
August 7th, 2006 at 8:32 pm
pss err… little secret here: we actually hope the Israelis will win and completely defeat Hezbollah.
RB, you and others just use the Lebanese civilians as pawns which you can use the flog the Israelis. Yes, it is really sad these civilians are being hit. But you guys didn’t complain when Hezbollah rockets rained in the Israelis in the last 6 years and killed their civilians. Doesn’t that say it all?
If the IDF really wanted to target civilians what would the death toll be err?
If you guys had pushed a bit harder for the actual implementation of UN resolution 1559 this could perhaps have been prevented. But you guys were silent when Hezbollah rearmed. It all happened under the UN’s watch. And what did you guys do? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
We here believe the UN is philosophically and morally corrupt. I personally have more than enough of the corruption and the rape of children performed by the UN. The UN hasn’t solved a single issue in its life time and it never will. But you guys believe in it. Why didn’t you push harder?
I think the left may share a bit of the blame of the civilian death toll in Lebanon. You were silent while Hezbollah rearmed. And now you start whining when they start loosing.
August 7th, 2006 at 8:46 pm
Adolf Fiinkensein said: “the ‘civilians’ in all likelihood are actively engaged in terrorism or are actively supporting the terrorists?”
‘in all likelihood’?
How can you possibly know?
For starters, backwards though it may seem to us kiwis dominated by the lesbian cabal now running the government, Muslim women (and children) are almost entirely removed from the decision making process in these sorts of situations. How are they supposed to change the local politics of their region so as to stop Hezbollah’s influence?
On a similar level, Hezbollah are a big, well-armed, supposedly fanatical and ruthless organisation. Let’s say you’re a well-meaning, honest shop owner, with a few kids and a big backyard, living in Qana. A dozen automatic rifle weilding terrorists drive their truck into said yard, and tell you they’re just going to launch a few missiles. You tell them to beat it. They tell you tough, and do it anyway. What can you do? Are you now ‘supporting’ Hezbollah? Do you abandon your shop and livelihood because there may be retaliation against the location the rockets were fired from? Are you now, in fact, a ‘legitimate’ target?
August 7th, 2006 at 8:53 pm
NZ Herald has published the pathetic Reuters correction.
We’re still waiting for a story where the pictures are side by side, an explanation about the cloned building, and a demand for a serious investigation on all pictures this guy published. Just like the NYT did when they had a journalist who just made stuff up.
August 7th, 2006 at 8:58 pm
Berend de Boer said: “If you guys had pushed a bit harder for the actual implementation of UN resolution 1559″
Oh, come on – now you’re just taking the piss. How many times have you pushed harder for Israel to implement any of the dozens of UN resolutions it has steadfastly ignored over the years (not to mention the many resolutions that were vetoed by the USA).
Berend de Boer said: “I personally have more than enough of the corruption and the rape of children performed by the UN.”
They’re raping children now? Sure you’re not thinking of the Catholic Church?
August 7th, 2006 at 9:03 pm
By any chance….is Simon Walker, Reuters Editor, the same, well-known, Simon Walker from NZ days?
Can anyone substantiate, or not??
August 7th, 2006 at 9:04 pm
“If the IDF really wanted to target civilians what would the death toll be err?”
Probably pretty high. But that’s not really being argued here. The question is whether they could be doing more to AVOID targetting civilians, or whether if the current rate of civilian death is unavoidable if the entire campaign isn’t utterly self-defeating.
Killing civilians in a region where people have easy access to terrorist groups to join in search of revenge has never been a particularly effective strategy in stopping terrorism.
August 7th, 2006 at 9:12 pm
err.., nice to know UN resolutions are particularly effective in stopping terrorism.
But that aside: I really believe Israel makes an all out effort to avoid civilian casualties. Unfortunately due to the way Hezbollah is fighting these are not unavoidable (so were where the whiners when Hezbollah rearmed? Couldn’t they foresee this?).
And as we all know: when Israel misses, civilians get hit. But when Hezbollah hits, civilians get killed.
August 7th, 2006 at 9:28 pm
Wow Berend, you’re a mass of apallingly muddled thinking, aren’t you? Everything has to be in opposition in your world?
So for Berend because UN resolutions don’t stop terrorism… killing civilians has to be a better solution? We share a common goal here, mate: less dead humans. At least, I hope so. I just happen to think that while UN resolutions might not be very effective at stopping terrorism they at least aren’t a fantastic recruiting poster for it.
Similarly, in your world, failing to support Israel equates to support of the people fighting against them. Or failing to support Bush is support for Saddam… continue back into infinity.
Newflash for the unable to reason: Opposing an action is not the same thing as supporting its opposite.
August 7th, 2006 at 9:56 pm
Berend de Boer said: “And as we all know: when Israel misses, civilians get hit. But when Hezbollah hits, civilians get killed.”
The problem with that argument being, of course, that the IDF didn’t actually miss their target in Qana – they just had no idea what it was they were actually hitting.
August 7th, 2006 at 10:06 pm
Berend de Boer said: If you guys had pushed a bit harder for the actual implementation of UN resolution 1559 this could perhaps have been prevented. But you guys were silent when Hezbollah rearmed. It all happened under the UN’s watch. And what did you guys do? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Oh, come on, you’re just taking the mickey now, aren’t you. How hard were you pushing, Berend, when Israel was ignoring UN resolutions, 237, 285, 313, 450, 452, 509, 607, 1544…etc…?
(I assume my previous post on this topic went into moderation for the phrase ‘taking the p***’)
August 8th, 2006 at 6:41 am
Reuters has now withdrawn all photos of Adnan Hajj:
It’s important to distinguish between “faking” and “staging.” Reuters terminated its relationship with Hajj because two pictures were faked, i.e., digitally altered. It may well be that those are the only faked photos that Hajj submitted to Reuters. But, in my opinion, a great many of his pictures were staged, and, in my judgment, that is the more significant offense.
August 8th, 2006 at 6:45 am
Dear winger, I don’t care about the UN at all. It’s a useless and utterly corrupt organnisation. But you guys do. You couldn’t care less while Hezbollah rearmed. Why didn’t you urge implementation of a UN resolution? Don’t ask me, because UN resolutions don’t mean a thing. But you guys put your faith in it. So don’t start whining now.
August 8th, 2006 at 6:50 am
err: So for Berend because UN resolutions don’t stop terrorism… killing civilians has to be a better solution?
Agree with your common goal: your solution is?
You did sat idly while UN resolution 1559 wasn’t implemented and Hezbollah rearmed. So please let me know your plans, the whole world is listening.
And of course I note that again you cast this war as if the IDF is killing civilians. As if this war is all about killing civilians. It isn’t. It’s about killing Hezbollah and destroying it. So far the IDF is doing a good job it seems.
You guys always talk about civilians when Israel misses, but you never talk about civilians when Hezbollah hits. In my book that means you don’t care about civilians at all, you just use them to give your arguments some moral superiority while your solutions would lead to ceasefire number 199, giving Hezbollah again time to rearm.
August 8th, 2006 at 6:51 am
‘Adolf Fiinkensein’
Osama bin Laden
On His Fatwa Against America
March 1997
August 8th, 2006 at 6:54 am
Berend
Here’s fun. What were you doing to prevent this terrible situation Berend, while the rest of us sat idly by?
August 8th, 2006 at 7:00 am
‘After successful vaccination campaigns, the WHO in 1979[1] certified the eradication of smallpox.’
Although its true that in recent years the US has been a dismal failure – partly due to bad leadership by the current Secretary General, but mostly because of bad leadership by its most wealthy, powerful and influential member.
August 8th, 2006 at 7:44 am
Danyl: What were you doing to prevent this terrible situation: having the opinion that Israel was stupid to leave Lebanon because that would mean Hezbollah would get the chance to rearm.
August 8th, 2006 at 7:46 am
Danyl: but mostly. Yep, a typical leftie response. No one is ever responsible for anything, just look at how aunt Helen behaves.
Kofi isn’t responsible, the UN members aren’t responsible, only the evil Bush is responsible. The messenger is always the problem isn’t it Danyl?
August 8th, 2006 at 8:00 am
having the opinion that Israel was stupid to leave Lebanon because that would mean Hezbollah would get the chance to rearm.
And this accomplished . . . what, exactly?
August 8th, 2006 at 8:34 am
Yep, a typical leftie response. No one is ever responsible for anything, just look at how aunt Helen behaves.
And that would be the typical Bernard response – spit out some inarticulate gibberish about Clark and ‘lefties’ and then scuttle off without making any relevant comments about the subject under discussion. You should trademark it.
August 8th, 2006 at 9:04 am
Danyl: And this accomplished . . . what, exactly?
If I predict that if you walk of a bridge you will fall hard, and you still do it, is that my responsibility?
Israel followed the suggestions of you and your ilk by retreating. The result was that Hezbollah rearmed and rained rockets for 6 years on Israel, before Israel started to take some action. It is quite true that it is clear what the accomplishments were from following your advice.
August 8th, 2006 at 9:06 am
Danyl: the typical Bernard response: you really believe that saying Bush is responsible for the failure of the UN past, present and future counts as a relevant comment?
August 8th, 2006 at 10:33 am
Berend , give it away my friend. Arguing with a 15 year old who has seen Bowling for Columbine 6 times is just stupid.
August 8th, 2006 at 10:49 am
The Right certainly doesn’t have a monopoly on conspiracy therories. The Greens are now pushing one of Juan Coles more paranoid moments –
http://blog.greens.org.nz/index.php/2006/08/08/peak-oil-and-the-crisis-in-lebanon/
August 8th, 2006 at 11:03 am
Israel followed the suggestions of you and your ilk by retreating . . . It is quite true that it is clear what the accomplishments were from following your advice.
I think its cute that you think Ariel Sharon and the IDF high command ‘followed my advice’ or ‘took suggestions from me and my ilk’. Israel retreated because Hezbollah killed over 2000 Israeli soldiers during their ocupation of Lebanon. This made the occupation deeply politically unpopular so the government pulled out.
The result was that Hezbollah rearmed and rained rockets for 6 years on Israel, before Israel started to take some action.
Hezbollah killed six Israeli civilians with their rocket attacks between the Israeli withdrawal in 2000 and the re-invasion in 2006. And their rocket attacks – while still crimes – were part of the ongoing conflict between Hezbollah and Israel. The Israelis haven’t been listening to Dylan,smoking hash and playing hacksack for the last six years – they’ve been sending teams of Golani over the border to attack Hezbollah positions, assasinating their leaders and calling in regular aistrikes (the IAF bombed South Lebanon heavily back in September of 2003).
Your little fantasy that the Israelis have been quietly reading the Torah for the last six years while Hezbollah bombed them without reprisal is typically uninformed and witless.
you really believe that saying Bush is responsible for the failure of the UN past, present and future counts as a relevant comment?
Don’t you think that’s kind of a strange question, since I didn’t say anything of the kind? Let’s look at my comment again:
In light of the above comparison you might want to check this link out – good luck:
http://teachers.net/mentors/remedial_reading/
And incidentally, I can’t help noticing that you’ve failed to responsd to my point about the UN eradicating smallpox, after you claimed ‘The UN hasn’t solved a single issue in its life time and it never will. Response please?
August 8th, 2006 at 11:37 am
Andrei: AS far as I know Russel, nobody is claiming Qana is a hoax. Straw man.
Er, what? Below are a few results from the first page or two of a Google search for “Qana hoax”. There are many, many more such ravings, but I actually don’t have that much time to spare demonstrating the bleeding obvious.
Cheers,
RB
—
LP: More Evidence Points to Hoax at Qana; News Agencies Respond …
Liberty Post: More Evidence Points to Hoax at Qana; News Agencies Respond Angrily to Rush (Who is pushing this BT.
libertypost.org/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=153153
CDR Salamander: Qana hoax – and the inability to call it one
Qana hoax – and the inability to call it one. Well, I’m ready to call it. I wasn’t sure they would be dumb enough to try fraud in this day and age. …
cdrsalamander.blogspot.com/2006/ 08/qana-hoax-and-inability-to-call-it-one.html
Fox News Continues to Suggest Israel Did Not Bomb Qana
In fact, Israel’s the victim of a massive Qana hoax. Naturally, Fox News’ high-profile hosts and guests are leading the delusional charge. …
sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/pol/190558518.html
News Agencies Angrily Respond to Rush, As Yet More Evidence Points …
News Agencies Angrily Respond to Rush, As Yet More Evidence Points to Qana Hoax · RushLimbaugh.com ^ | 08/02/06 | Rush Limbaugh …
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1676657/posts
RushLimbaugh.com Home
As More Evidence Points to Qana Hoax. We’ve gotten to them, but they still won’t deny it or launch an investigation into the event… …
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/today.guest.html
PartisanTimes.com: Was Qana A Hoax?
Was Qana A Hoax? Reuven Koret of Israeli Insider explores the possibility that the carnage at Qana was staged for an overly-gullible media: Hezbollywood? …
partisantimes.typepad.com/partisan_times/ 2006/07/was_qana_a_hoax.html
israelinsider: diplomacy: Hezbollywood? Evidence mounts that Qana …
From this vantage point, at this time, it looks like in the case of Qana, the world’s media was duped in a cruel and colossal hoax by a terror organization …
web.israelinsider.com/Articles/Diplomacy/8997.htm
August 8th, 2006 at 12:03 pm
The Powerline link would be funny if it wasn’t so tragic.
http://powerlineblog.com/archives/014919.php
The photos are clearly taken at different times (in the second one, there are no other people, no clouds in the sky and no smoke rising in the background; and there are also caterpillar tracks that don’t appear in the first one) and it would be perfectly reasonable to assume that the dates are correct.
What doesn’t seem to occur to Scott is that perhaps – y’know, like the news reports keep saying – the area has been bombed *more than once*.
And of course, they’re all way too deep in denial to admit the reaction of any sane person: my God, that’s a whole neighbourhood in ruins …
Or perhaps we’ve all been deceived and the whole thing has been mocked up by those evil media liberals. I’m waiting for the undoctored photo which shows Hezbollah officials having al-fresco coffee on a pristine boulevard …
Chers,
RB
August 8th, 2006 at 1:30 pm
RB, the champion of propaganda. I don’t quite understand your complaint RB, Powerline seem to me to have no arguement about the differing dates, likely enough the photos were taken some days apart. The complaint to me is the implication in the caption that the damage in the background to the second photograph was caused by an Israeli air-raid overnight, whereas it was in fact days old. The thrust being that the propaganda campaign is trying to exaggerate the damage to Beirut by showing multiple photos of the same bomb damage. Fair cop in general.
They also refer (through a link) to a second pair of photos, where one woman is identified twice as a homeowner lamenting the damage to her home, outside two different buildings at different times.
I suggest the evidence is already available to show that a number of deliberately misleading photographs are being exhibited in the western MSM, and that this is probably part of a deliberate but not particularly sophisticated campaign to exaggerate the damage in Lebanon.
It seems most likely to a campaign run locally within Lebanon with the active participation of one or more local photographers. Sure, almost all news photos are staged to some degree, but there is a difference between staging for visual effect and staging intended as propaganda.
August 8th, 2006 at 2:00 pm
“…exaggerate the damage to Beirut…?”
Here’s a tip, bozo – have a look at the damn photo. What exaggeration exactly is required, do you think?
August 8th, 2006 at 2:16 pm
Nice summary from Michelle Malkin….
“Brvan Preston jibes: ‘Now if they’d just withdraw all the pro-jihadi crap they’ve dressed up as news reporting over the last 5 years….’ “
August 8th, 2006 at 2:29 pm
Danyl: you’ve failed to responsd to my point about the UN eradicating smallpox
It is rather a waste of my time to argue with you that it is the WHO (yes, I know, it’s called a UN special agency) that started this campaign and that the WHO is not the UN. Not all members of the UN are part of the WHO, nor are all members of the WHO part of the UN, etc. etc. AFAIK the UN has ZERO control over the WHO so I’m not sure what point you try to make here.
Secondly note that we were discussing political issues. That you didn’t come up with a political issue where the UN actually solved something is telling, isn’t it?
August 8th, 2006 at 2:56 pm
“Secondly note that we were discussing political issues. That you didn’t come up with a political issue where the UN actually solved something is telling, isn’t it?”
The Korean War? South Korea seem to have done all right having the UN help them out there.
August 8th, 2006 at 5:32 pm
Here’s a tip, bozo – have a look at the damn photo. What exaggeration exactly is required, do you think?
Exactly. Let’s say this isn’t one of the parts of southern Beirut that has been repeatedly bombed in the course of 3400 missions and was hit just the once, on the night of July 23, and not on the night of August 4. So the caption’s wrong. The neighbourhood’s still buggered.
Ed, have you see the other pictured Hajj was found to have doctored? He added two flares to an aerial shot of missiles being fired, presumably to make a more marketable picture. What exactly did that change about anyone’s understanding of the situation? In what sense was it propganda, rather than juicing up a picture?
And he took one of the most-used pictures of Qana, one of a dead child in the arms of a rescue worker. Well, sure: he speaks the language, has contacts – all the things that help freelance photographers get pictures placed in the market. It’s a comercial world.
To perceive this as being in league with the terrorists, you must assume that the photographer is in fact a Hezbollah sympathiser, and that the rescue operation was being directed by Hezbollah, rather than the aid organisations present. One is mere speculation, the other is contrary to every reported fact about the scene. Either way, the kid’s dead (or perhaps you have a conspiracy about that too – I’m all ears, honest).
And please don’t quite that looney EUReferendum with his (ahem) “gut instrinct” about one of the rescue workers being Hezbollah. That’s just fucking stupid.
Cheers,
RB
August 8th, 2006 at 5:43 pm
Secondly note that we were discussing political issues. That you didn’t come up with a political issue where the UN actually solved something is telling, isn’t it?
One thing springs to mind: the UN organised the Iraqi elections, arguably the most effective and transparent part of the whole blighted project.
UN operations were also pretty handy in El Salvador, Mozambique and Nambia. And then there’s the World Bank …
Cheers,
RB
August 8th, 2006 at 5:55 pm
Lets imagine the shoe was on the other Jew.
Lets say some photos of damage to Israeli buildings were doctored to make things look worse than they were. Lets say some photos of Hezbollah rockets were photoshopped to make it look as if 4 were being fired rather than one (or none). Lets say in connection to a story about a recent attack and Israeli news service used footage from an attack that happened several weeks ago.
Would RB be as quick to defend the photographer? Fuck no.
August 8th, 2006 at 5:58 pm
“One thing springs to mind: the UN organised the Iraqi elections,”
BAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Yeah, thanks to the UN for the Iraqi elections! Without the UN, they would never have happened!
August 8th, 2006 at 6:01 pm
Berend:
From the WHO web site:
The World Health Organization is the United Nations specialized agency for health. It was established on 7 April 1948.
Honestly Berend – don’t you find this whole thing rather humiliating? Aren’t you ashamed to come here and publically pontificate about matters you are demonstrably totally ignorant of?
Such as . . .
Global eradication programs are nothing, if not political issues.
August 8th, 2006 at 6:49 pm
Yeah, good one dim. Nice sneer.
You point out to berend that the WHO is a special agency of the UN, AFTER berend says,
“yes, I know, it’s called a UN special agency”
Well done, ass.
August 8th, 2006 at 8:27 pm
The Korean War? South Korea seem to have done all right having the UN help them out there.
And how about Kuwait? Gulf War I was fought by a UN mandated coalition.
August 8th, 2006 at 9:07 pm
Danyl: Gulf War I was fought by a UN mandated coalition.
Nope, it was a US-led coalation. UN resolution 678 only asked Saddam if he could please withdraw.
There’s no such thing as a UN mandate and there never should be such a thing.
August 8th, 2006 at 9:13 pm
Lets say some photos of damage to Israeli buildings were doctored to make things look worse than they were.
The Powerline pictures, which is what I think you’re referring to, weren’t doctored. The damage was 100% real, and to any sensible person was the actual story in the pictures.
Lets say some photos of Hezbollah rockets were photoshopped to make it look as if 4 were being fired rather than one (or none).
Yawn. Again, have you actually sen the flares picture? There is no possible propaganda value in what the photographer did with that image. He just made a sexier-looking picture with more pretty lights.
Would RB be as quick to defend the photographer? Fuck no.
I’m not defending his alteration of pictures – that’s a firing offence, and he’s been fired. It’s not the first time and it won’t be the last.
What I object to is silly theories that insist on grand conspiracies involving the entire “western media” as a means of denial of what actually happened.
Cheers,
RB
August 8th, 2006 at 9:59 pm
The looney left conspiracy theorists continue their descent over at Frogblog.
Now they’re now singing the praises of extremist sites such as Commondreams, Informationclearinghouse and Truthout.
http://blog.greens.org.nz/index.php/2006/08/08/peak-oil-and-the-crisis-in-lebanon/#comments
August 8th, 2006 at 10:58 pm
Russell Brown is such a nauseating example of a leftist propaganda merchant- playing down the deceit of Reuters so casually.. the Editor of the Calgary Sun doesn’t think its small potatoes Mr. Brown.. (read editorial here)
August 8th, 2006 at 11:00 pm
So other than disease eradication, free and fair elections, South Korea, the World Bank, roads and the aquaduct… what have the UN ever done for us?
August 9th, 2006 at 6:57 am
Neil: The looney left conspiracy theorists continue their descent over at Frogblog. Now they’re now singing the praises of extremist sites such as Commondreams, Informationclearinghouse and Truthout.
Are you serious, Neil? I think you’re devaluing the word extremist by applying it here. I don’t particularly agree with much of what’s on Informationclearinghouse, but “extremist”? Uh, no.
Redbaiter: the Editor of the Calgary Sun doesn’t think its small potatoes Mr. Brown ..
Ah yes. The crusading conservative Christian editor who got caught plagiarising by bloggers, refused to acknowledge it and set lawyers on them. Not the best person to be lecturing on media ethics.
Cheers,
RB
August 9th, 2006 at 7:31 am
RB, Ok, not “extremist” but stuff on those sites is pretty alarming and they escape the critical attention that the loopier right wing sites deservedly get.
August 9th, 2006 at 8:29 am
‘The liberation of Kuwait has begun. In conjunction with the forces of our coalition partners, the United States has moved under the code name Operation Desert Storm to enforce the mandates of the United Nations Security Council. As of 7 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, Operation Desert Storm forces were engaging targets in Kuwait and Iraq.’
George H.W. Bush
Statement on Allied Military Action in the Persian Gulf
January 16, 1991
I’m starting to think Berend is just a sad little guy who craves public humiliation . . .
August 9th, 2006 at 8:46 am
And now back the the matter at hand. For most of the current conflict I’ve mostly been reading The FT, Haaretz and Gregory Djerejian – but the most engaging (if not the most accurate) has been from Billmon.
Here he is on the faked pictures:
August 9th, 2006 at 8:56 am
You can add the UN’s overseaing of peace and reconstruction in Serbia and Kosovo.
And, maybe – just maybe, and end to the present Israeli-Hezbollah conflict as well. It seems that in response to the latest US-France sponsered security council resolution Hezbollah has suddenly decided that agree to the deployment of the Lebanese army in the south –
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/747468.html
Without the UN action this wouldn’t be happening. It aslo wouldn’t be happening without the Israeli action which is the great tragedy og it all.
So fun=ingers crossed.
August 9th, 2006 at 10:38 am
RB’s denials concerning the innate leftist bent of the mainstream media are absurd. Since the internet and blogging has become more ascendant, the MM have been caught out countless times advocating for left wing political ideology. Reuters, AP, The New York Times, CBC are a few of the global leaders in dispensing information and opinion, and like the socialist lapdog NZ media, their efforts are always (perhaps by by accident but more likely by design) predicated on the same old leftist templates. For example:
The democratically elected George Bush is a dumb Texan who shouldn’t be POTUS.
The totalitarian dictator Fidel Castro is a great leader who has done wonderful things for Cuba
Conservative political ideology will make the rich richer and the poor poorer
Left wing and Muslim terrorists are really well intentioned freedom fighters with understandable reasons for their savagery and barbarism..
Brain dead Hollywood actors and dimwitted pop singers who denigrate the US president deserve admiration
Leftist politicians are motivated by goodwill towards humanity and not greed for power and control
There is a global conspiracy involving “big oil”, arms manufacturers and capitalism
Multiculturalism is a good idea
Socialism is a good idea
Political correctness is a good idea
Anyone who disagrees with any of the above is certifiably insane, an extremist or motivated by greed and/ or personal aggrandisement..
etc etc etc…….
August 9th, 2006 at 10:53 am
“Left wing and Muslim terrorists are really well intentioned freedom fighters with understandable reasons for their savagery and barbarism..”
Wasn’t that one called Rambo III? Not exactly the leftyiest of movies…
August 9th, 2006 at 11:49 am
My theory is that the rabid NZ left must be very bad at creating wealth.
Making money requires an individual deal strictly with reality….illusions send you broke.
So extrapolating from examples of the left’s ability to interpret reality on this wee thread,
it looks like the pension for the comrades.
August 9th, 2006 at 12:21 pm
check out Timblair.net. Some very nice links about the photoes. I also love the link on there to Sulla showing how Hezbollah’s flag is a nice ripoff of the Exodus movie poster designed, wait for it, by Saul Bass …..Beautiful
August 9th, 2006 at 3:02 pm
Danyl, do you believe that if Bush says he has a UN mandate, there is such a thing? G.W. Bush has stated that the UN resolution that stated that Iraq had to disarm or face serious consequences, was mandate enough. Was he right?
August 9th, 2006 at 9:49 pm
Time for an up to date summary of Reutergate.
http://www.zombietime.com/reuters_photo_fraud/
‘Fake but true’, eh comrades?
August 11th, 2006 at 8:07 am
Definitive proof Qana was staged.