Exposed: “There were no Hezbollah in Qana”

Due to my own interest in the Qana massacre, I have been spending time looking at a lot of fauxtographs, and other footage that has been released. One very alert blogger, Robin Boyd at Chickenhawk express has been most astute in checking out the photographs taken at the mass funeral of those who died in the air strike. Of the 28 coffins for the dead, 4 of these are for members of Hezbollah. You can link to Robin’s commentary here: http://haloscan.com/tb/robinboyd/115621000288654182

Robin has also noticed a number of other discrepancies relating to the eye witnesses who were interviewed. One in particular is a young woman who was photographed near the scene of the building collapse, and who was also interviewed at the hospital. She is also featured in the photographs of the funeral with a Hezbollah flag draped around her shoulders. I guess I can surmise that her little brother was in fact a member of Hezbollah. I have not doubt in my mind that this woman is also a member of Hezbollah.

The funeral scenes are interesting because one of the men who died was a member of the Hashem family (the owner of the building?) and the photograph that was on his coffin was of this man shaking hands with none other than Nasrellah the Shiite cleric who leads Hezbollah in Lebanon, and who was holed up in the Iranian embassy whilst his followers were taking a battering. So now it would seem that in all probability the building was indeed a stronghold for Hezbollah. The denials that have gushed from the mouths of the adult villagers would suggest that they have either been told that this is what they must say if questioned or these adults are all members of Hezbollah.

Now that brings out more questions in my own mind with regard to what happened during and after such a fateful air strike. Why on earth were the children not sent away to relatives in Tyre where they would have been so much safer? The alleged bombing of the road is a total ruse. There was barely any damage to the road , and the claims about the number of bombs dropped by the Israelis (upwards to 73 in one account) cannot be substantiated because the damage to the locale that is visible on satellite maps is not consistent with those claims.

There are some very logical questions to be asked, especially how it was that the photographers from AP and Reuters had no problem getting to the location whilst it would seem that the rescue services could not arrive until after 8.00 a.m.? More and more inconsistencies are appearing all over the place regarding the manner in which the whole thing has been reported. The MSM seems to have taken leave of its senses when it came to the strike on this one village.

Inconsistencies that I have discovered include the number of days that the “families” were in the building. According to one media source they were there for 16 days, but another “eyewitness” claims that they entered the building on the night of the 29th July. This is also inconsistent with the story given by the woman draped in the Hezbollah flag, because she said that she was sitting with her cousin inside the building and that they were on the first floor. My own guess would have to be that the others were also on the first floor, and not sheltering in the basement as claimed.

If the woman and her cousin were keeping watch, why would she have been in the basement? Why would the children have been placed in the basement?

It is interesting to note that the stories from the eye witnesses are very inconsistent. The adults cannot seem to make up their minds about what happened. This is in line with the inconsistency about the number of people allegedly in the basement. The figure given out by Hezbollah and repeated around the world happened to be that 60 people were killed by the strike on the house. That was double the number of the actual dead. They said that 34 children died. The figure was around 16 children. They said that there were no members of Hezbollah killed, yet 4 members of Hezbollah were buried. One person said that they slipped into the building on the night of the 29th July and another said that they had been there for 16 days.

What then are the chances that the Israelis were correct in stating that the building that was targeted contained Hezbollah weaponry? I would say very high and very likely. Snakes can never be trusted.

 

The evidence that Hezbollah has manipulated the media is mounting

The man in the above scene has been given the name Green Helmet. He claims to be a member of the civil defense in Lebanon, but there is mounting evidence that he is a member of Hezbollah, and that he has participated in the cynical manipulation of the western media. The above scene depicts the body of a child who is in fact dead. There are several pictures of this man, and another who has been dubbed white t-shirt holding up this child as they posed for the cameras. It is a sickening display of how Hezbollah has cynically used a willing media who seem to be too stupied to understand the threat that is posed by Hezbollah, not only to Israel, but also to the general population of Lebanon, especially the Christians.

 In this scene we see how a “soldier” is mishandling the dead child as she is grabbed and held in a rather grotesque manner. To this man she is nothing more than a prop for a very macabre scene, and yes she is being savagely abused by Hezbollah as her privacy is breeched for the sake of propaganda. In some respects this cynicism has paid off and the U.N. has indeed attempted to condemn Israel, and has gone as far as saying that Israel will be investigated for war crimes. Will the U.N. also take note of the fact that Hezbollah was using the civilian population in a very deadly game of human shield?

The German press has noticed that this man was on the scene in Qana 10 years ago when babies and children lost their lives when an Israeli bomb missed its target. Or did it on either occasion? Qana is located near the border of Israel. It is an ideal location for Hezbollah members to blend with a trusting population, build schools and hospitals, whilst cynically using these same facilities to hid their own deadly cache of weapons. On this second occasion, the first bomb that was dropped in the area of the collapsed building happened at about 1.00 a.m. It is claimed that some people inside the building went outside, had a look and then went inside again. There is no mention of warning the “other” occupants to leave because the building could collapse. Instead it is claimed that the people who allegedly died were taking shelter from the bombs being dropped in the countryside. The “eyewitnesses” claimed that they sought shelter on July 29 because of the bombing. This begs the question about the specific purpose of the building that collapsed. Did it in fact house Hezbollah weapons? Were they using rocket launchers from on top of the building? Why were these civilans allowed to stay in the building in the first place? I believe that the answer to the last question happens to be that Hezbollah intended to make them into victims of the bombing raid. The story about how the people ended up in the building seems to be contradictory. If they were there on the 29th July why is it that Hezbollah did not tell them to leave? So far I have not seen a satisfactory answer about who was in the building, where exactly they were located, and how come the children were not with their mothers.

The German press have also been vigilant with regard to cynicism of Green Helmet. He pretends to be caring about the dead children but in reality he is enjoying every moment of parading over their bodies and using them as propaganda material on behalf of Hezbollah. The abuse of the children was brought to the attention of the German public via a TV station that was prepared to take Hezbollah to task over the way in which these children were being abused. Their evidence points out the Green Helmet was no ordinary civil defense worker. He was stage managing and directing the scenes out of Qana.

 

Shameless photojournalism – exploiting dead children in Lebanon

Reuters were caught with their pants well and truly down when photographs taken by Adnan Hajj were beamed around the world. After discovering that two photographs were doctored, Reuters have pulled all of the Hajj photographs from their archives. In some respects this is commendable because they have admitted that a mistake was made. However, what is not commendable is the way in which Reuters, AP and others have denied that photographs taken in Qana could have been staged.

As a Johnny-come-Lately to this controversy, I see no reason to rehash information that can be found at Little Green Footballs, European Referendum, Jawa Report, the Bullpen and other blogs in the blogosphere. The perspective that I want to bring to this discussion is my own outrage over the way in which dead babies and children have been exploited by the Hezbollah propaganda machine.

The Israelis did three raids over Qana on the morning in question. The first raids occurred somewhere between 12.00 – 1.00 a.m. The Hezbolloah propaganda machine claims that more than 50 people died in the raid, mostly women and children. I do not recall seeing any published photographs of the mass funeral that should have followed such a large number of deaths (that is another new line of enquiry). I have seen some photographs of what appears to be adults (approximately 4 adult males) that have been covered by sheets as they were left lying near the rubble of the building in question. There are no photographs depicting the alleged 34 women, but there are photographs of a baby and two very dead little girls. It is the photographs of the children that has made me feel so totally disgusted about the new lows that are being reached by photojournalists.

The whole incident raises many questions in my mind, but not one of those questions cast Israel in the role of war criminals, even though that is what Hezbollah wants to have seared in our minds. No, the real war criminals are Hezbollah for they are the ones who have taken their rocket launchers into civilian areas and have placed the civilian population at risk. To their credit the Israelis have warned the civilian population to leave prior to any bombing raid. If they did not leave the area then whose fault is that? This is not about apportioning blame on either side, because this is about the way in which these three children were used as a photo opportunity.

There are two men (perhaps three) who form a part of the method Hezbollah actors at Qana. The one known as Green Helmet is the one who had his mug plastered all over newspapers around the world. He is depicted carrying a little girl and crying. Yet, in another scene he can be seen manhandling this child and her dead companions. The baby’s body is lifted up as though it is a trophy. Perhaps it is a trophy because the leftist ratbag journalists from around the world seized upon the photo opportunity to pour out their invective against Israel. Not one of them questioned whether the men looked too clean to be rescue workers as was claimed. The other man of interest is the one wearing a white t-shirt. He uses the same children as a phot opportunity. Then there is the third man in army fatigues who has entered the ambulance and he crudely manhandles the poor little dead girl.

The way in which these children have been manhandled is really quite sickening. They are pushed and prodded as the men pause to have their photographs taken in what can only be described as a piece of propaganda that has been designed to sir up world opinion against Israel, and at least amongst the Arabs the strategy appears to be working. The fearless and intrepid leader of the UN, Mr Koffi Annan has once again proven how little he know about the Geneva protocols regarding the placement of weapons amongst a civilian population, as he rages and rails against Israel, claiming that the Israelis are war criminals, whilst he turns a blind eye to the actions of Hezbollah.

The photo opportunities have not ended at Qana, for two year boy was also pulled from the rubble in raids that took place in Chiari. The same gruesome procedure was repeated. The baby was lifted up as though he was a trophy by a man who looked very much like he could be an Hezbollah operative.

We should be condemning the abuse of the dead by these war criminals in Lebanon. The real criminals are those who seem to have total access to the Hezbollah strongholds, and who condone the manhandling of dead children for the sake of a photo opportunity.

What bothers me the most about the photographs is the way that they appeared to have been staged by Hezbollah. The AP and Reuters have denied the staging of the photographs, but there are things about them that seem to be too well orchestrated, not to call into question the motive behind the shots. The first shots that I saw were those of a baby, taken from the rubble a Qana. He looks like he was in rubble, yet he has a clean dummy. Is that possible? To my untrained eye I cannot tell if what is covering him is dust or whether it is the decomposition of his body. I suspect that it is not dust. There are no marks indicating that he was injured during a building collapse. The latest picture that I viewed was of a slightly older child in Chiara. This child showed the obvious signs of injury upon his body.

If the men of Qana were so concerned about their families, why is it that they did not send them away and into a safe area? They had ample opportunity to remove them from harm’s way. On the other hand, it is possible that the dead were not from Qana, but they were from the surrounding district (that is if they were alive prior to the bombing raids).

This form of photojournalism , a form that shows no respect for the dead, must not be allowed to continue. Whilst it is regrettable if civilians died at Qana, it is abhorrent to see the way in which the children have been used as political footballs.