I'd Advise The Blogosphere To Slow Down

As the originator of the Red Cross Ambulance story, I would urge the elements of the blogosphere still running with the story to at least slow down, if not back up. They are increasingly looking like the very drive by media against which we so often rant, running the risk of being exploited by propagandists on another side of an issue. And no matter how much many of us may support that side, propagandists on both sides do exist. For the record, I'm guilty, too.

The fact is ZombieTime's post does not do what it claims, proving the ambulance attack demonstrably false. And if they had operated the way bloggers should, by co-operating and communicating, instead of taking another's story and making it their own, perhaps they would have held back from making some of the unprovable claims they do. As I said, I am no innocent here. Most likely, being frustrated at how some have co-opted much of the work I did is certainly part of why I backed off and started to take a clearer view.

Sorry, but there is no excuse for lgf and Powerline to even be claiming a role in this story, or being cited by the Jerusalem Post as individuals actually in the know. And ZT's analysis really doesn't hold up. I doubt anyone related to those sites, excluding ZT, has done a fraction of the research which has been done. Much like a large media network relying on stringers, they are ultimately inflating their stature without having done the real work, or verifying the facts. And, frankly, it is time to end the show, which I intend to do right now.

As one can learn from Allah today, the rust factor, always a major factor in debunking the ambulance story, appears unreliable.

Finally, a word on rust. There’s been a lot of talk about rust, including comments on several blogs about the Reuters van. Let me assure you that it doesn’t take visible surface rust very long to form in the Lebanese climate. If you look up the weather data for Lebanon for the past few days, you’ll see it’s been hot with 70 - 80% humidity. In that environment, rust can form very fast.

ZombieTime asserts the ambulance driver, appearing in images a week later, couldn't have had the initial injuries claimed. That's false. If one had read all the stories, they'd know he was only ever claimed to have been superficially injured, kept overnight for observation, returning to work the very next day. He never had much more than a shaving cut on his face. And contrary to ZT's assertion, such a minor injury will indeed heal quickly, particularly on the face as it regenerates skin rather quickly as a result of being always exposed.

ZT asserts the image at right suggests that no one lost a leg while on that stretcher. Really? All I did was lighten it a touch and I would never make that claim. I reviewed that image a month ago and didn't include it, as it wasn't a challenge-able point. Shrapnel, small ordinance, or whatever, most likely did strike there precisely where a man's leg would have been.

As for the centerpiece of the ambulance, yes, clearly the air vent was removed. But how? The rivet holes are ripped and there's obviously a significant tear on the opposing edge of the circle where it had been, indicating something tore into the roof and most likely taking the vent with it.

How is it that someone sitting thousands of miles away can claim to know precisely what that something was or wasn't? Sorry, one can't. Once you take the rust out of the equation you have proof of nothing at all.

My posts are here and here and as I pointed out here, the license number of this vehicle is known and could be traced. My emails to Lebanon have gone unreturned. Are any of the new media all stars now running with this story even trying to get the facts? Not so far as I can tell.

There was some incredibly sloppy reporting by the MSM media around the ambulance incident. Kevin Sites claiming someone lost two legs comes most to mind. But what I was doing a month ago was asking for someone who could to follow up. Now it has become a larger news story with blogs asserting it never happened. Blogs do not know that to be true and haven't come close to proving it. Right now blogs run as much risk of damaging their credibility by acting as propagandists with this story as they do delivering a big scoop.

As I said, I'm not innocent. Today on my second anniversary, I have to cop to being as caught up as everyone else. While I moderated my posts, apparently some juvenile posting board member was impersonating S R Sidarth and, frankly, I got duped. Last night I went to jump into the Reuter's vehicle story against my better instincts and made a gaffe.

I'm celebrating my anniversary by taking a break and slowing down. I'd suggest some others consider the option as well. Frankly, many of us were stoked up over some real wins and have started looking no better than the MSM we often love to loathe.

Porkbusters and the Secret Hold - Greg Mitchell, those are stories we can and should tackle and do some good. And we absolutely need to continue to stay on the MSM and work to elevate their coverage. But let's not start insisting on the existence of potential half-truths of our own that even the best research simply doesn't support. That might get your name into print or onto TV, but is it really worth it if all you really accomplish is becoming part of another MSM charade?

I've learned some hard lessons in two years of blogging, obviously I haven't learned them all. But the past week or two has been one for the books, let me tell ya. Hopefully it'll only make me a better blogger in the end. Either that, or I'll eventually just quit.

Once I start seeing and believing what I want to believe, as opposed to the truth - I'll have become the beast I set out to battle when I took up the keyboard in the first place. And that isn't how I want this story, or blogging in general to end.

It isn't my intention to offend or alienate any fellow bloggers, but frankly, when it comes to the Red Cross ambulance story, we all need to get a grip.

Comments

[Watergate]

The Reuters press vehicle story is 100% fake -- guaranteed. No need to slow down for this one; it's an untrue story at any speed.

How do we know for sure? Here's the account: "'I suddenly saw fire and the doors of the jeep flew open. I did not know what happened,' said Shana, a Palestinian freelance cameraman who has worked for Reuters for several years." http://tinyurl.com/hgeko But, there was no fire damage anywhere -- the outside of the vehicle is a pristine white, and the inside has no fire damage at all. This one glaring discrepancy is enough to prove the story false. No debate about what a missile, or shrapnel, could or couldn't have done, no debate about motives, camera angles, or anything else. The alleged first-hand, eye-witness "victim" said something that is absolutely provably false.

But, as we know, there is much, much more:
(1) Alleged victim with a bloody jacket (in August?) but with a pristine-white T-shirt underneath. Conclusive proof that he faked his injuries (unless you believe he really was hurt, but was given a dirty, bloody jacket after being pulled from the vehicle but before being loaded onto the conveniently-waiting car).

(2) Who filmed the mad rush to the hospital? No word in Shana's story about being with anyone else, but the video from Reuters shows the two "victims" being loaded into waiting cars. The cameraman's camera is then held aloft as a bloody trophy, so that wasn't the camera that was being used.

(3) How did the still photogs and video camera crews know which hospital would receive the tragically-injured "victims"? There were at least two, if not three, video crews, and one or two still photographers there to video the victims' arrivals. Were they (a) all closer to the hospital than the alleged victims and (b) all called instantaneously and (c) ready at a moments' notice to fly to the hospital? Or, as is 100 times more likely, was it all a set-up.

(4) As noted in many posts, the damage is not consistent with (a) fire or (b) explosion, which, from my limited knowledge of modern missiles, are key components of how they operate. Look at the interior pics -- especially the seats. I didn't see ONE hole in any seat, anywhere. If anything blew up inside that vehicle, there would be holes in the nice leather interior, and burn marks, and probably not much to photograph. But, look at all of the damage to the dash. It looks like someone took a crowbar to the dashboard -- were they after the radio?

This was obviously faked.

[Paul C]

Dan, thanks for your post, it's a refreshingly honest approach to a thorny problem. I'd like to add one factor that none of those putting forward the hoax theory (which is in essence a conspiracy theory - ironically these are also hugely popular in the middle east) have mentioned, as far as I have read. It's the middle of a war; a real war, with lots of shooting. Wars are really confusing, and it's hard to know what's happening at the best of times. War is not an episode of CSI, where you can work out exactly what's going on IF ONLY YOU STARE AT THE PHOTOS HARD ENOUGH. To accuse journalists of lazy collaboration in the middle of an open conflict is ludicrous.

I don't go either way on whether the Red Cross ambulance was hit by the IDF. I don't think this single incident had any real impact on the course of the war; I don't suppose that anybody in theatre gives it any thought now, except possibly the Red Cross and their staff. I'd recommend that everybody who's so preoccupied with this issue stops worrying about it so much and focuses their attention on applying pressure to the international community for a substantial and competent peace keeping force, so we don't have to have these debates any more.

[The Happy Rampager]

Paul C, the journalists of the Australian newspaper at least can certainly be accused of printing bogus stories which they then rehash, with completely different and contradictory details, rather than admit that their original story was fake. Now here's the important thing about why these kinds of hoaxes should be outed as hoaxes ASAP - because they don't happen for no reason. They happen in order to ruin Israel's image in the eyes of the world, so that Israel faces more international pressure to 'ease off' on Hezbollah et al. This incident tells us that Israel is facing international pressure on the basis of faked, hoaxed, reports of attacks. This is not right. Capiche?

Frankly I was disappointed in Dan's inarticulate, short-sighted outburst, it sounds like just the sort of thing one of those journalists who just got burnt would come out with. Or some leftist nobody blogger.

[Great boys]

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