Hajj Busted Again – Two Media Busts In One

By
August 6, 2006

Update: CHIT! I just clicked back and it dawned on me DOH! That’s likely the sand showing through the door. Dammit.

Fortunately, there’s enough else there to, I believe, disprove the ambulance theory. These wrecked ambulances which were said to be destroyed have been traveling quite a bit, obviously by tow or flatbed. It’s as if they are part of a media parade and now even more individuals claim to have been there. All these stories can’t be true. Also, look carefully at the antennae, you’ll see it was smashed into the top of the van long ago, as it is so caked with rust. It looks as though they actually cut it off recently.

Unbelievable. Researching Hajj has led me to evidence which I believe completely debunks two erroneous MSM stories while busting Hajj, yet again. Some may recall I first decimated the ambulance missile attack here, now I have more. Note that the International Commission for the Red Cross is helping to propagate that myth with a high resolution image available here.

I’ve since discovered that no MSM reporter had access to the ambulances in question. You can Amb_top confirm that in this despicable ITV video. ITV admits that no reporter had access to the vehicle, the video and subsequent images taken from it were from "an amateur local cameraman" from Southern Beirut. Seems it was too dangerous for the journo’s.

Kevin Sites also has video of it and is spreading a worse lie all over Scrippsnews – that a man had two legs sheared off in the alleged attack. And HE gets an award for accurate journalism. What a joke. And even now a new man emerged and is said to have been the driver and lost an arm. None of the above has been mentioned in the many MSM reports.

The image at right was not photo-shopped by me except for my insert (upper Left) of another ambulance showing the device which is commonly mounted on the top. Obviously, it was removed before they tore the canvas … having been covered, it’s pristine. It may even be sitting on a construction site in Qana similar to the one that was bombed. Yet the MSM has never retracted the story and even the ICRC is saying Israel is guilty of war crimes over the incident. Is the Red Cross working for Hezbollah overseas? Not even license plate comparisons of the ambulances I’ve done add up. The individual who took 20060803_20 the photo above, Lefteris Pitarakis, led me to the second manufactured report from Adnan Hajj when I Googled his name.

Lebanese rescuers cover a body that was uncovered in the rubble of a bombed house in the south Lebanese village of Srifa (REUTERS/Adnan Hajj)

Yes, one more unfortunate civilian casualty resulting from Israel’s outrageous aggression. But unfortunately for Adnan Hajj and a few others photographers who appear to be going along with the ruse, someone stayed around long enough to snap an image when the carpet applied to the individual was rolled just a bit back. Just enough to display what is most likely the leg of a llama. Apparently they are common to the region and the Israeli special forces has taken to using them for transportation at times.

You can tell by the outcropping behind in both images that it’s the same site. Scroll down at this page for all related images.

Now Rusty at Jawa Report says he has yet another Hajj photo-shopping incident. Scroll down for the latest update.

20060803_18 Ryan R. Jones – All Headline News Correspondent
Jerusalem, Israel (AHN) – Israel’s large and technologically-advanced military has shunned more sophisticated means of supplying its special forces operating in Lebanon for a more unassuming supporting character – the South American pack llama.

Recent photos in local newspapers have shown elite infantry units waiting to cross the Lebanon border with their supply-laden furry beasts of burden.

According to media reports, the llamas, which can carry up to 60 pounds of supplies each, are being used primarily by special forces operating behind enemy lines in southern Lebanon’s rugged hill country, allowing Israel to avoid putting supply helicopters and vehicles at risk.

A senior commander quoted by Israel’s Yediot Ahronot said the specially trained animals are also very quiet, and require feeding only once every two days.

Update: And Reuter’s excuse for the original doctored image was … removing dust??????

ROFLMAO!!

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Comments:
  1. Picture Kill: How We Got Here

    Background here. Details of the above dispatch from Reuters here, here and here. Update (2:41 PM PDT): Here’s a trip down memory lane, to try to explain how we got to this point. To start, let’s begin with this…

  2. Fred Fry says:

    The hi res red cross photo of the roof of the ambulance has other ambulances in the background in the photograph where you can clearly see the red domes on them.
    You can also clearly see that the bomb damage is already rusted over.

  3. Anonymous says:

    Your freelance sleuthing is a little out of control. I’m glad someone found the Reuters smoke picture and outted it. That kind of manipulation doesn’t belong in photojournalism. But 90% of the rest of your criticisms of the other photos is more paranoia than anything. For example: who cares that the antenna was rusty. It means nothing. And what is so outrageous about a rescue worker (apparently the team leader) appearing in more than one photograph from a rescue underway – especially when there are so many photographers present? MANY photographers – not just that idiot Hajj. And what is so strange about seeing the same bodies in multiple positions from multiple perspectives (many photographers were there) moved from place to place in a chaotic rescue? Get over it. We may all have different opinions about whether this war is justified, but to stretch and stretch as far as possible to deny that this terrible event even took place undermines your credibility seriously.

  4. splashtc says:

    omg- imagine watching hajj at “work”. Staging the photos-we need more bodies!, then desperately doctoring them-the smoke is not black enough! must-have-more-smoke! Hollywood should make a movie about him-or maybe he should work in hollywood-why waste such talent on something stupid like jihad-it’s a dead end job.

  5. Dan says:

    Your freelance sleuthing is a little out of control
    What you listed were many complaints I personally haven’t been following up on. I’d suggest you take it up with the sites which have. As for the antenae, only a fool would say what you have. Of course it matters that the antenae was smashed down into the roof long enough to be caked with rust.
    As that’s the only item you criticized that pertains to me, I’ll just dismiss you as an anonymous and perhaps lazy photo journalist who fears having your ass fact checked.

  6. A smoke-clearing blogswarm

    Thanks to reader THX -42 Charles Johnson at Little Green Footballs has unleashed an Army of Photo Debunkers and Scrutinizers. Dan Riehl does a big dig here, here, and here. DFH at Drinking From Home looks at two reaction…

  7. Meanwhile, more Reuters Hezbollywood?

    WTF? Via Ace: Who is this woman? And why does she keep losing all her homes? One on July 22, and another on August 5th? Wow, what are the odds?
    Rusty Shackelford also finds some possibly (ok, maybe obviously) cloned stuff in a photo of an Israeli…

  8. Reuters Still Owes Us An Explanation

    Reuters took a necessary first step in rectifying the insult they gave their customers by publishing the crassly doctored photos supplied by Adnan Hajj. The wire service terminated his employment earlier today: Reuters, the global news and information …

  9. High Tech Taqqiyah

    See Rusty Shackleford and Dan Riehl (Scroll down from the top, here. Dan has a whole series of posts, on what appears to be clear evidence of photo tampering.
    As we have noted in Useless Ceasefires And The Tragedy Of The Unter-Menschen,
    In the Arab wor…

  10. Mustafa-no-Brain says:

    This really has to be the biggest pile of camel shit todate. Download the high rez shot from the site Dan references. Check it out
    1 – close up of the “hole” clearly clean sheet metal and rivet holes
    http://img450.imageshack.us/img450/7272/camelshit1fp4.jpg
    2 – back up of the whole note how it is “dead” center of the red cross
    http://img450.imageshack.us/img450/5083/camelshit2fx1.jpg
    3. The kicker the fool who took the shot and made these claims included a very nice shot of an intact “ambulance” notice the “air vent” dead smack in the middle of the red cross on the roof
    http://img348.imageshack.us/img348/5837/camelshit3ku8.jpg
    This “bomb” hole is nothing more than the removal of that air vent on this ambulance.

  11. Phoenix says:

    Truth matters. Getting at it is sometimes an up-and-down journey, but it shouldn’t be the cause for criticism.
    This journey has led to another truth that the MSM is not to be trusted. The more ‘little facts’, however insignificant, the better to dig through to get to the one fact that matters: Some journalists are clearly trying to manage a PR machine that is not on the side of the Israelis.
    Kudos to all on the blogs who are working on this. In this war, PR matters a lot. Fie on a dishonest journalist.

  12. anonymous says:

    The Red Cross is made up of national bodies:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICRC

  13. Phoenix says:

    Your point, anonymous?
    ” Because it limits its membership to Swiss nationals only, and because new members are selected by the Committee itself (a process called cooptation), it does not have a policy of open and unrestricted membership for individuals like other legally defined NGOs.” <—– ICRC

  14. Reuters Update

    Adnan Hajj, photographic stringer to the stars of terrorism, has been fired by Reuters for doctoring his photos.The Jawas came to bury Adnan, not to …

  15. Jim Padgett says:

    Just how fast does stuff RUST over there? I thought this was desert! Even Minnesota road salt won’t rust stuff that fast. Look at the “shrapnel cuts”; they are all rusted clean over vs. where the “vent gasket” was; shinny clean. WTF?

  16. Old War Dogs says:

    Reutergate 3

    Previous related posts here and here. Damn! Sleep a little, miss a lot. I was up nearly all night following the original Reutergate story then let a short nap turn into an all-day thing, now I’m late to the party

  17. Is Lebanon Faked?

    This lady is a fraud, as is this jet and its bombs, this ambulance and llama—yes, I said llama—and this bombed city. In each and every one of these events, the professional media’s photographers either failed to capture true events,…

  18. Bobby says:

    In the ITV video that you refer to ie
    http://www.videosift.com/story.php?id=6377
    Green Helmet appears to be a Red Cross helper in the video as documented on http://balancethemedia.blogspot.com/
    Take a look at the first few seconds around 6secs to 12 secs. Take a close look at the “red cross worker on the right”. Is he “green helmet”?

  19. Dusty says:

    Bobby, I don’t think that is Green Helmet. The man in the vid and screen shot looks too young, and a little thin in the face to be him. Not so sure about the glasses either.

  20. U.S. Newspapers Cure Reuters, or Are Complicit

    The current exposure of Reuters’ clear bias in reporting on Israel continues with more photos photoshopped (see here, and here, for examples, and here for a current wrap-up), and its dispatch on the proposed draft resolution for the UN Security…

  21. SK says:

    I´d venture to say we´re looking at a single M789 HEDP or M799 HEI hit on that ambulance, fired by the Apache´s M230 chaingun. Damage by a 70mm rocket is also possible, but I´d expect that to be more severe. It is possible that the round indeed did hit the air vent and blew it away, at least we see some fragmentation damage on the roof, and it is clearly bent inward, which is consistent with a HE hit coming from the top.

  22. Reuters Rocked: More Adnan Hajj Photoshopping & The Reuters Lebanese Mystery Woman Who’s Always Ready For Her Close-Up

    ****SCROLL FOR UPDATES**** AFP labels one photo with two opposing captions Bear with me through the longwinded opening, it gets good It appears things are only getting worse for Reuters. First, a little background… After being thoroughly busted by th…

  23. basil's blog says:

    Picnic 2006-08-07

    Todays picnic basket of items from my blogroll.

  24. Dan says:

    the Apache´s M230 chaingun
    But the entire roof is caved in. And of course there’s the rust. Not to mention that if you look at the hi-res photograph you can see the metal around the hole was bent down in a manner inconsistent with a “hit” and is also rusted – even moreso than the rest of the roof.

  25. Picture Kill

    …I would expect two of the same type of well-manufactured flare to puff and pop at about the same point and in about the same way, so the substantial similarities between the smoke trails is not evidence of photomanipulation. (And in any case, “I ca…

  26. Josh says:

    It’s only a sheetmetal roof, not very strong. In the 80′s, my family used to have an Aerostar minivan. When me and my sister would climb up on the roof, it would buckle inward as much as 6 inches – 2 60 pound kids. These vans are at least from the 80′s, and it’s not hard to imagine that a couple of men could bend the roof inward just by applying a little pressure.

  27. DrD says:

    Having personally fired everything from 7.62mm copper jacket bullets to shoulder-fired 84mm HEAT rounds and inspected the results, I’m at a complete loss to imagine what kind of Isaraeli air to ground ordnance could have caused the observed damage pattern. This combined with the fact that the “hit” was scored directly on the air vent (vis ambulances in background in ICRC photos), the fact that the antenna was sucked inward vs blown outward plus the fact that parts of the metal are very rusted while other parts are clean would lead me to believe that this ambulance most likely took a direct hit from a crowbar +/- a few shotgun pellets.

  28. ReutersGate/2

    Little Green Footballs, EU Referendum, Power Line, Protein Wisdom, Ace of Spades HQ, The Huffington Post, California Conservative, Daled Amos, Flopping Aces, Blogs for Bush, An Unsealed Room, Euphoric Reality, Captain’s Quarters…

  29. neil says:

    Look into hole on roof. Inside seems suspiciously clean after
    receiving round in the roof. Other holes appear to be axe
    marks. If round exploded, would have decimated the van.
    Really sad attempt

  30. Reuters Rocked: More Adnan Hajj Photoshopping & The Reuters Lebanese Mystery Woman Who’s Always Ready For Her Close-Up

    *****UPDATE***** Reuters pulls all Hajj photos. Congratulations conservative blogosphere, you’ve done it again. SCROLL to the bottom of this post for full details and more updates… ****SCROLL FOR UPDATES**** AFP labels one photo with two opposing cap…

  31. LOL says:

    http://thumbsnap.com/v/N2MJZloW.jpg
    This is the REAL DEAL…PICTURE OF THE LEBANON BOMBING !

  32. Aaron says:

    I am looking at all the video footage of Kafr`Qana, and drawing up a timeline, with details of the time/event/stars on screen. It appears so far, that Green Helmet & WHite shirt arrived, and conducted a sound bite, after looking in the building, but prior to doing anything. The the first body comes out, then stacks of bodies, with no apparent injuries are removed, they are clearly visible, despite messrs green & white not noticing them, etc. Finally, the last few bodies are buried and dug out, however most of them are clearly stiff.
    I need help, please go through any footage, index it, and send me the links.
    Also, on my blog at present there is an analysis of the legalities of the current situation, which I will adapt to show what is necessary for a succesful prosecution for war crimes.
    shalom

  33. anonymous says:

    Phoenix the point is they are national, ie local organisations.
    If the accusation is that the local staff have been up to no good then it wouldn’t be the first time that such accusations have been made against a local organisation, back during the Bosnian war the local Red Cross was accused of forcing refugees in Brcko to hand sign over their property before they would process them and ship them out of the town. Of course the usual caveats apply, accusations are not proof.

  34. qPAcq says:

    I wanna see this Adnan Hajj mofa’s face.

  35. SK says:

    Have a look at http://www.eureferendum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2375&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15 . There I explained why the damage is pretty much in line with what a M789 HEDP round from the Apache´s M230 chaingun can do.
    Of course there are still other possibilities, but to me chaingun hits make the most sense atm.

  36. Body Shop Bombed?

    This is just surreal: The caption reads: Lebanese civil defense rescuers, try to remove two blanket-wrapped bodies, found trapped under debris and concrete of the destroyed buildings, attacked late Monday by Israeli airstrike, in the southern Beirut su…

  37. The MSM-Hezbollah Ambulance Hoax:All your fakes are belong to us

    Take a good look at these three images of Red Cross ambulances in Lebanon, supposedly deliberately targeted by Israel, and broadcast worldwide by the MSM last month: On August 6, I linked to Dan Riehl’s excellent post raising questions and…

  38. Brilliant: All Your Fakes Are Now Belong To Us

    Thanks to CraigC, via the Corner. The Real Stuff: Zombietime destroys the “Israelis Bombed Red Cross Ambulances” fake story, referenced in the video. Zombie builds on Dan Riehl’s previous demolition of the fake story….

  39. Fox News on the ambulance hoax

    Video from Brit Humes report on the infamous ambulance fraud is at Hot Air. Like Allah says, kudos to Zombie and Dan Riehlwell done!
    Tags: Hezbollywood, Hezbollah, Hizballah

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