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BOMB STORY BOMBED
“If there were Pulitzers for Internet posts,” writes Michelle Malkin, “this one would win hands down.”
UPDATE. Robert Fisk on July 28:
The Israeli missiles had pierced the very centre of the red cross painted on the roof of each vehicle. Did the pious use the cross as their aiming point?
He’ll be correcting that, one assumes. Among others to run the ambulance-missile story were the San Francisco Chronicle, the Australian, the Guardian, the Sydney Morning Herald, Time, NBC, Your Democracy, the Associated Press, and the Age.
UPDATE II. Dan Riehl was wise to this back on August 1. (Via Allahpundit, who has a link to a Fox News report on the hoax.)
UPDATE III. Infinitives Unsplit was earlier still! (Via Ninme and Zoe Brain.)
I just can’t wait to see the retratctions in the MSM after their little scam has been exposed.
No… I REALLY can’t wait… because they will NEVER occur.
Posted by Apparatchik on 2006 08 24 at 07:40 PM • permalinkHezbollah will need to be careful or else the western media might begin to think they are not trustworthy and do not have all our best interests at heart.
Posted by Margos Maid on 2006 08 24 at 07:42 PM • permalinkWhat is really infuriating about these sorts of things is that for all the good work Zombie has done here, the absolute best anyone is going to get out of it is a retraction buried on the inside of the newspaper. TV news rarely even does that much.
You know, I saw a correction a few weeks ago that said something like “the original caption of the photo said the girl had been killed by an Israeli military strike. The girl was killed after she fell off a swingset at a local playground.”
Well, yeah, thanks for the correction, but the propaganda and the image are already out there. I’m not sure what the answer is, but it has to be more than a mumbled “I’m sorry” said in the dark while no one is in the room.
Posted by NewSisyphus on 2006 08 24 at 07:48 PM • permalinkMaybe the blogosphere should start up the equivalent to a Pulitzer, hmmmmmm?
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2006 08 24 at 07:55 PM • permalinkNewSisyphus
What is really infuriating about these sorts of things is that for all the good work Zombie has done
True and Zombie has done this for quite a while. When I posted regularly at LGF, Zombie took a pic of what now I forget, but this eerily ghost like figure appeared in the picture, I mentioned to Zombie, watch how you shoot and where you shoot those pics from. Zombie said…“that wasn’t my reflection” I said, I didn’t say it was, but thanks for confirming…:). Outside of Zombie, I doubt anyone knows, “Zombie”, maybe not even Charles Johnson.
the absolute best anyone is going to get out of it is a retraction buried on the inside of the newspaper. TV news rarely even does that much.
Yep. Unfortunately one can’t get the absolute best from those that don’t know what the absolute best, is.
Let’s just get this straight: a Hezbollah rocket is supposed to destroy a warship, but an Israeli missile only punches a hole in the roof of an ambulance, fails to explode or penetrate through to the ground and leaves the driver only slightly injured.
The press comes off as either willing collaborationists or credulous dupes in all of this. Either way, you have to wonder how much lower their reputation can go.
I would also like to point out the photographer, like any journalist has the ability to visually manipulate an image while the event is happening.
Everything is subject to interpretation, and if you sent in an Australian (fair dink’m) to document this war it would be totally different (subject compostition etc) or even have a slant that would suit the Wests needs.
If an Islamic photographer went in it (Leb land) it would be seeking to document (even unconsciously) the cultures interpretation, maybe even Koranic style of imagery. This in-turn is distorted with words that may not even go with the event or the “truth” real situation.
Thank God for the internet, I say.
It is now possible at least to disseminate quickly the kind of rebuttals needed, which the craven MSM will NOT print until months after they have deluded their readers and warped millions of minds.
The true culprits are the naive journalists who seem not to have been educated to even suspect propaganda in war, so report incautiously, or are biased hopelessly towards sensationalism.The many examples of this we are seeing prove that ‘Orwell’s media’ do not need to be imposed by any totalitarian state.
The warping of truth starts in the minds of the initial viewers and is spread exponentially by uncritical, biased, amoral or immoral media sources.The fact that so many errors are occurring is a damning indictment of the education of journalists.
I feel a Terry Macbeth Lane column coming on. With subsequent apology some distance behind.
No offer of resignation in sight.Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2006 08 24 at 08:20 PM • permalinkReuters should get its act together as well, this distortion of an event is like Japan re-writing history to suit it’s interpretation of the events.
It’s an Arab tradition.
The Egyptians are genuinely convinced they won the Yom Kippur war.
Similarly, in there eyese, there isn’t a single war that Israel has won since 1948. In other words, they actually believe their own bullshit. Ths frustration is that so do much of our media.
Sorry, O/T but another example of disproportionate response.
On hearing of the massacre, Cortes renamed the town Tecuaque - meaning “where people were eaten” in the indigenous Nahuatl language - and sent an army to wipe out its people.
Actually the Bolta hit this story hard yesterday. Margos maid mentioned it here and I even provided a link (Dixie Chicks thread).
Let’s just wait and see how many editors get the sack over this. Like The Age, Guardian, NYT et al. If they keep their jobs, obviously they work for discredited organisations who condone lies on their news pages.
#14 1.618
Hey dan
Hey 1.618 :-)
I can’t believe I actuall wrote “in there eyes” (sic).
Not ten minutes ago I was looking at your earlier post and thinking that everybody’s fingers were broken on this thread and then I go and write something like that….
Man I wish you could edit your own posts around here….
It seems like the wrong people are winning the propaganda wars… and yet, I don’t know anyone who has sympathy for Hezbollah, or even believes most of what they say. People like Zombie, and others, just have to keep hammering away at the MSM’s omissions and goofs, and it begins to filter through. Lately they (the journalistic elites) have had to acknowledge a lot of things they’d rather ignore, sometimes just out of sheer embarrassment at how foolish they look.
#23 Dan Lewis
Man I wish you could edit your own posts around here….
You can’t go back and edit something that’s already posted, but Andrea has very kindly provided a ‘preview’ facility. Instead of hitting submit as soon as you finish tying you hit the preview and you can see just how it’ll look when posted (mostly.) Then you can spot the errors, correct them, and preview again.
Repeat until acceptable for publishing.
I just did it now. Everybody should do it. It’s fun.
There are several large problems the west has to face:
1. The fact that the ME nutjobs now have huge money and dodgy friends like Russia, China, North Korea and Pakistan supplying technology and weapons.
2. The politically correct mass media which behave like accessories before and after the facts of terrorism.
3. The UN, which since the Korean War has ensured that most wars are ended unsatisfactorily and impermanently.
You have to stop playing by the rules when the deck is so demonstrably stacked.Slightly O/T, but I’ve just stumbled on a brilliant idea for security checking at airports, without offending anyone by racial profiling.
It’s the good old Voight-Kampff Test!
Sample:
Reaction time is a factor in this, so please pay attention. Now, answer as quickly as you can.It’s your birthday. Someone gives you a calfskin wallet. How do you react?
Allah Akbar! Haraam! Haraam! Get it away from me, infidel pig dog!
You’ve got a little boy. He shows you his butterfly collection plus the killing jar. What do you do?
Examine killing jar to see whether it kill infidels, and whether I can get it past airport security.
You’re watching television. Suddenly you realize there’s a wasp crawling on your arm.
I capture wasp, put it down Achmed’s boxer shorts! Hee! Hee!
You’re in a desert walking along in the sand when all of the sudden you look down, and you see a tortoise, Mohammed, it’s crawling toward you. You reach down, you flip the tortoise over on its back, Mohammed. The tortoise lays on its back, its belly baking in the hot sun, beating its legs trying to turn itself over, but it can’t, not without your help. But you’re not helping. Why is that, Mohammed?
I want to see it die! Allah Ackbar!
Describe in single words, only the good things that come into your mind. About your mother.
Martyr. Um…Very cheap and effective, one would think!
#28 As you see problems remain even after previewing, but I get your point :)
Instead of hitting submit as soon as you finish tying you hit the preview
Tim, glad to see you give credit to Dan Riehl. I read it there back in early August (it is one of my regular reads) and was surprised to see that it wasn’t more widely picked up. He mentioned many of the same points that Zombie did. Zombie did a fabulously extensive job of it, though.
Posted by Not My Problem on 2006 08 24 at 10:21 PM • permalinkWhere does the Red Cross stand in this - considering the Lebanese office issued the bomb story as official news?
And the usual MSM excuse of not having time to have their four levels of editors review a story won’t hod, either - the NYTimes held off for more than four days but still ran it the Hexbollah way.Posted by John Anderson on 2006 08 24 at 10:31 PM • permalinkOne bit of poetic justice is Hezbollah has made Zombie a Blog Superstar!
One wonders what might be found if the same scrutiny was now applied to previous wars although I would presume the worst offences have only arisen since digital photography.
Posted by the nailgun on 2006 08 24 at 10:53 PM • permalinkKaboom,
Loved your comment, clever stuff.
Cheers,Posted by eagle bomber on 2006 08 24 at 11:23 PM • permalinkOK naive guy here. I know there are many Christians in Leb. But the Hezbos are all Muslies. So why would they be using Red Cross vehicles? Isn’t a cross the symbol of the infidel crusader? You’d think they would stage their little press manipulations with Red Crescent vehicles to further inflame the “Arab street” and help win the propaganda war. No?
Posted by Vanguard of the Commentariat on 2006 08 24 at 11:27 PM • permalinkVotC
Perhaps the Christians are providing ambulance services because HB’s social and humanitarian budget is over-extended, or preempted by more important expenses.Cheers
Posted by J.M. Heinrichs on 2006 08 24 at 11:39 PM • permalinkRe #44, VotC, I’d guess that the crosses are used as an international recognition symbol. All the crosses that I’ve seen in the photos are painted on the roof, which tells me that the intended audience is the aircraft pilot looking for a target to kill. Not many people can see the roof of a vehicle from the street.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2006 08 24 at 11:43 PM • permalinkSpeaking of Fisky, he’s been doing a little fashion work in the Mid East.
re #48, perhaps a combination of both, Dan.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2006 08 25 at 12:04 AM • permalink45, 46, Thanks folks, reasonable theories all. The Hezbos are famous for their magnanimous social services, so its easy to see how they could get over-extended and be forced to outsource some functions.
Zombie’s pics showed signifcant rust around the “missile” holes. Now I’m a long time desert dweller as well, and bare metal does not pick up rust overnight in hot dry air the way it does in say, Florida. But I’m sure they figure us red state country jakes will never figure that one out…
Posted by Vanguard of the Commentariat on 2006 08 25 at 12:15 AM • permalink44, VotC
OK naive guy here. I know there are many Christians in Leb. But the Hezbos are all Muslies. So why would they be using Red Cross vehicles? Isn’t a cross the symbol of the infidel crusader? You’d think they would stage their little press manipulations with Red Crescent vehicles to further inflame the “Arab street” and help win the propaganda war. No?
You are assuming that the propaganda is directed toward the Lebanese. All of this is directed towards the west, and/or Christians in general, thus the cross instead of cresent. Look at what the Jews did to your Cross! On purpose! The fiends are after you, too! No one is safe! We are all Hezbollah now!
These are not subtle people.
According to the prolific Ninme, the Infinitives Unsplit blog showed a few inconsistencies between the MSM Ambulance story and the Laws of Physics on July 27, even before Dan Riehl.
But as Ninme said
Pity I’m not the type to email Tim Blair.
Well I am. Or at least the type to post a comment.
Jeez Saltydog you could get a job writing copyright for them. Dunno what the pay is like? They’ve certainly put that Iraqi General in charge of “Information” in GW2 to shame. He must be slapping his forehead right now saying “why didn’t I think of that, pictures of missiles gone clean through ambo’s”
Bet bin Laden and Zawahiri are dressing down their propaganda boys too saying “where’s our really cool hoax photo’s, Hezbo is running rings around us” Although they might have infiltrated Reuters and be getting some pretty fancy pay rises as we speak. Its anyone’s guess.Posted by the nailgun on 2006 08 25 at 01:27 AM • permalinkLefties 2c. Haha appears any old boob can blog as well :)
Like I said, I’m not a forensic ballistics expert. But presumably Israel has at least a few in the IDF.
- Link in #57
Yes, and they would have been busy, what with the War Going On At The Time...
But surely they wouldn’t pretend that they have no talking heads who could have spread the story for them earlier. No-one on Fox News? Blair and Bolt and Malkin were on holiday?
Could have sworn we discussed this and came to the same conclusion a week or two ago…
Has what I would have thought was an obvious explanation - that a bomb went off right above the ambulance on the night in question (hence the damage going inwards and the descriptions of fire and smoke), and the vehicle had been shot at several times on previous occasions (hence older and rusty bullet holes) - been ruled out?
According to that, it would be a small proximity fused shrapnel charge, delivered with pinpoint accuracy. Only thing I can think of that comes even close is a 105mm arty shell, but they are not that accurate.
Pity the Israelis have been using 155mm shells (if one of those hit an ambo, the ambo would be spread over a rather large area…)
Someone should take these twits out to a range and show them the capabilities of modern high explosives…
Claymore anyone?
Posted by The_Wizard_of_WOZ on 2006 08 25 at 02:21 AM • permalinkNews just in: the Israelis are believed to have sent a helicopter missile through the top of the dome of the Pantheon in Rome!
No news yet of casualties but numerous pictures are available which clearly show the damage. Reuters are heading to the scene.
Posted by Margos Maid on 2006 08 25 at 02:23 AM • permalinkPeople keep saying the journos are stupid. Not so!. They know exactly where this stuff comes from, and how (in)credible it is. But, it hurts Israel, and it hurts Bush, so - PUBLISH AND BE DAMNED!
Posted by rampisadmukerjee on 2006 08 25 at 03:32 AM • permalinkThe MSM are almost beyond hope. The problems are many, but one of them is simple incompetence. You have war correspondents that are unable to notice the difference between a bomb, missile or shell. This has become almost comical. I have a various times heard or read them refer to all three in the same report about the same incident. It is this incompetence that is nearly more breathtaking then their bias.
Posted by dover_beach on 2006 08 25 at 03:45 AM • permalinkVanguard of the Commentariat
I have a minor quibble about the rust on the holes. If a bit of metal has had exposure to a fair bit of heat and suddenly cooled it can rust v-quickly. The rest ot the story looks solid though.
To do a lot of breastbeating about ambulances in the middle east is a bit pointless anyway. Thugs will use marked vehicles to move men and material and take advantage of the markings.Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2006 08 25 at 04:21 AM • permalinkWould any of the military types who comment here care to speculate on what may have caused the shrapnel damage to the ambulance?
It is fairly obvious that it wasn’t an aircraft missile or a large calibre artillery shell (105mm+) There would be nothing left but unrecogniseable lumps of metal.
The damage looks more consistent with maybe a hand grenade or rifle launched 40mm grenade.
Then the question has to be asked, just who inflicted the damage?
Posted by Pedro the Ignorant on 2006 08 25 at 05:05 AM • permalinkTim, are you saying you have serious doubts about Robert Fisk’s objectivity as a reporter?
Posted by wronwright on 2006 08 25 at 06:08 AM • permalink#25 Rebecca: “and yet, I don’t know anyone who has sympathy for Hezbollah, or even believes most of what they say..”
Oh dear, and I was taking a shine to you, Rebecca. Try the three Canadian parliamentarians, no less, who want to take Hezbollah out of the list of terrorists - after this war!
http://www.israpundit.com/2006/?p=2429#more-2429#73
Well, Uluru didn’t have all those holes in it until the Israelis bombed it. I have photographic evidence!
Excellent.
Apparently Israel also bombed this chick.
Speaking of Hez and the propaganda war, there’s this little gem from WSJ’s OpinionJournal. The last line gets the coveted Irony Award.
#68, Pedro, those look like shrapnel made those holes, although a few might be from small arms—it’s hard to tell from the photos. But I would bet on a hand grenade detonated a few feet above the roof.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2006 08 25 at 03:20 PM • permalink“But the Arabs have become wise enough to know TV victory from real victory.”
If true, and the article presents some good evidence, that makes the Arabs wiser than western media and the western left.
Posted by Kyda Sylvester on 2006 08 25 at 06:21 PM • permalinkI have photographic evidence of the Israelis using fragmentation pizzas on people-movers.
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This is a good piece of work. Without getting into the new/old internet/MSM journalism debate, this is definately a coup for the new journalism, as have been most of the debuunkings.
I look forward to the next round in this war, to see how al reuters et al change their reporting.
I look forward to the next ropund for the journalism, OK.