More MSM Propaganda Exposed

There's a story just starting to make the rounds of the MSM outlets - that Israel is targeting ambulances. You can find it mentioned in the New York Times, the Guardian and several more outlets. But it appears our friends from ... wait for it, that's right, Qana, may be up to some new tricks.

The story goes that the Israeli's struck two ambulances, injuring nine people, severing one man's leg. There's only one problem; it looks as though it isn't true.

Look at this:

Another medic fumbled for the radio and began: "We have an accident …" He didn't finish the sentence. A second missile smashed into the ambulance behind them. "When we were driving in the ambulance before, we did not feel we are safe 100 per cent," Mr Chaalan told the Los Angeles Times from hospital on Monday. "But now it's direct on us."

Unfortunately for Mr. Chaalan, it's doubtful the second ambulance exists and his ambulance wasn't struck by a missile at all.

A Lebanese Red Cross ambulance worker peers from the roof top of an ambulance that was bombed, at the Red Cross station in Tyre, south Lebanon, August 1, 2006. The ambulance was hit on July 26 during an Israeli air raid

It seems when he first told the story, there was only one ambulance and the alleged missile strike took place on the 23. And that's also what he told the Red Cross, though the second ambulance was added.

"The night of July 23 we were called to rescue a family whose home was bombed," Kassem Shaulan, a 28-year-old medic with the Lebanese Red Cross in Tyre told IPS. "Just as I finished loading the three injured people in my ambulance, it was struck by a rocket and all of us were injured."

The ambulance, now parked outside of the Red Cross headquarters in this coastal city, had a hole through the centre of the red cross painted on its roof. The inside was heavily damaged and pieces of the metal frame of the van hung limply, riddled with shrapnel holes.

The Red Cross worker had several wounds on his body, and stitches on his chin and leg. He said he could not hear very well any more.

"There was an old man on a stretcher in the ambulance who lost his leg from the bomb," Shaulan said. "And a child with us is now in coma. The third person is critically injured."

So, why add this second mysterious ambulance? Because there's photographic evidence such a strike never took place. The image at right above is one circulating showing the alleged missile strike at 300x magnification. Does that look like a missile strike to you? Or did someone simply remove the blue flashing light casing that should be there? But there's more.

Click here for a large blow up of the inside of the ambulance. It seems the missile that allegedly hit the van from above never managed to get inside. There is no hole in the floor, though someone was smart enough to pile up some rubbish where it should be. But there's also another problem. From the accounts, there was a man lying on one of the built in gurneys pictured - his leg severed by the missile. So how is it that neither gurney shows any damage at all? What was this, laser surgery? And still there's much more, please read it all.

The roof of the ambulance is caved but the floor and side board are perfectly flat. The driver said there was a huge explosion and a fire, I couldn't tell it from the image of the inside of the van, can you? And in the image at left you'll see that the windshield caved in. There's no way that would happen from an explosion where it is alleged to have taken place. And in the large image linked above, note the complete absence of any glass at all inside the van from the many side windows - not one shred of glass at all. That's likely because it was removed months ago.

Also, inside the van - no smoke damage at all. There is no discoloration, but we're supposed to believe that the ordinance exploded in there while the van was closed? No singe marks on anything, nothing. There's no way this adds up to an explosion and fire as the driver stated. Not to mention not a visible drop of blood from what is described as a severe wound taking off part of a man's leg and injuring two others.

Now click on this link to see the van from the top front right in a MSM piece. This incident is alleged to have just happened, but there are several gouges which don't appear related to any missile and they are all extremely old, as they are completely surrounded with rust. Here the picture is brightened, hiding the rust.

Thanks to of all places, aljazeera, I submit that this is the van in question, one in which someone planted a bomb back in June.

Initial reports suggested the explosion occurred when the driver of the ambulance was inspecting the vehicle.

But eyewitnesses later said that a device exploded when the driver had tried to turn on the ignition of the ambulance.

Jihad Halaweh, the ambulance driver was struck in the stomach and feet when the blast went off.

The ambulance, which bore the Hizb Allah insignia was also badly damaged.

Hizb Allah, a Shi’a Muslim group backed by Syria and Iran, is largely credited with driving Israeli troops from southern Lebanon in May 2000.

The image being shopped around with the story by the MSM is of this van:

The ambulance, now parked outside of the Red Cross headquarters in this coastal city, had a hole through the centre of the red cross painted on its roof. The inside was heavily damaged and pieces of the metal frame of the van hung limply, riddled with shrapnel holes.

Unfortunately for the propagandists, an Indymedia story actually published the image of the entire van

Here are all the Red Cross bulletins from the region, they barely mention the van incident. I doubt they believe it themselves. But Time sure loved the story. The Boston Globe made four stories out of it. It's even a Yahoo favorite photo.

Update: Some might say another conspiracy theory. Really? While it's linked above, read this, you'll see he claims to have been dispatched to a home. There is nothing about meeting another ambulance, as other versions claim. And why would he make this statement:

As a Red Cross volunteer I need to be very clear that we are not political -- we rescue anyone who needs help," the 32-year-old Zatar told IPS. As a colleague unloaded bodies from bloody stretchers, Zatar said "whether they are civilian, a resistance fighter or an Israeli soldier, our policy is to help any human who needs help. But the Israelis seem to be attacking us now."

No, he's not political. Not much. So why the different versions of the story then? It doesn't add up. In one version:

A middle-aged man lost his leg, his mother was partly paralysed, and shrapnel pierced a little boy's head.

In another:

Mr Fawaz was unconscious after losing one leg, and suffering severe fractures to the other. His son had lost part of a foot

In one story the elderly woman is critical, in another she's unscathed.

An elderly woman patient was relatively unscathed,....

Google different versions, you'll find him inside the ambulance giving an IV in one version, but all of the medics standing outside in another. Maybe he should make up his non-political mind.

But just like with the story from Qana ... see lgf - the AP will probably just give themselves more rewards.

Comments

[ed]

Hmmmm.

I'm sorry I can't remember specifically where and when but I've definitely seen that image, of the side of the ambulance, before from a news story from the Palestinian areas. Not sure if it was Gaza or West Bank, but I know I've seen that one before.

[jummy]

here's another example of how "unnamed sources" work:
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1222417,00.html

"But a Pentagon source familiar with the criminal investigation says that contrary to the suggestions of some media reports Wednesday, there have been no conclusions that the Marines deliberately killed unarmed civilians. This source also says that the bodies of those killed at Haditha have not been exhumed, which makes proving murder 'very challenging.'"

[Beth]

SPQR, come on. You go with what is the common use (aka "standard" use) in English. It's not "Qu"--that's not a phonetic approximation.

[Beth]

That's Pallywood for ya, Ed.

[Sharpshooter]

xxx,

Get psychiatric help...soon!

[rwilymz]

"This, with a couple exceptions, is like taking to a five year old."

Now you know how I've felt talking to you, 'x'.

"I tried to explain to you nitwits how 'unnamed sources' works, why it works and that it is not... BLAH, bluh-BLAH, bluh-BLAH"

While "unnamed sources" is sometimes a very good way of getting legitimate information out without embarrassing people, it is also sometimes a very good way of inventing information that has little to no substance.

To rely upon "unnamed sources" and presume conclusive realities upon the statments of people who will not attach their name to what they say shows every bit as much bias and prejudice as the "neocons" who dance their jigs around the flag yadda yadda.

I gotta go with Beth here; you're a Blame America Firster. If someone says something critical of the US, well, obviously it's correct and the person saying it is "abjective"; if someone else says something supportive of the US, well, obviously it's wrong and the person saying it is a "neocon".

To illustrate that, let me take you back to your tear-stained denunciation of the Shah of Iran a few topics down the list. He had secret police. Why, yes he did. ...after suffering repeated attempts by religious fanatics to topple the government and killing officials while doing it. But that he had them at all was bad and shows why the Iranian people hate the US.

But the Iranian government has secret police NOW, to make sure that the 40-70% of the population who did not actively support the revolution keep in line. Do those secret police show why everyone now hates ... the Mullahs?

Or are you grasping? rationalizing your hair-shirted hatred of the US with the first excuse you can come up with?

[ERNurse]

So, what did this missile pack for a warhead? An M-80? Where are the shrapnel holes? Where is the burned paint? Where is the scorched interior? If it was a dud, then why is the front end of the ambulance torn up? If the missile did in fact explode, why is the front windscreen caved inward? The hole in the roof looked almost comically doctored. The metal is curved wrong. the cute little "scorch" marks on the margins are wrong.

And then there's the interior. If some guy's leg was taken off bu this missile, where is all the blood? Believe me, in my line of work, I have seen traumatic leg amputations before, and they produce a lot of blood. The floor of this ambulance is spotless. What, did the old guy say, "Hey, guys, stop the ambulance so I can get out and bleed because I don't want to mess up your ride, Allah be praised"?

As noted, the gurneys are pristine. And not a scorch mark anywhere.

Nope. This is BS.

[SK]

I´d venture to say we´re looking at a single M789 HEDP or M799 HEI hit, fired by the Apache´s M230 chaingun. Damage by a 70mm rocket is also possible, but I´d expect that to be more severe.
While I agree that you have to keep an eye open for the MSM and always be sceptical, I think one can also easily fall for the "it´s all doctored" trap, where suddenly everything "certainly is photoshopped or rigged".

[harrie verstappen]

Re that picture of the ambulance with a man sticking his head through a "missile hole", it's obvious that the hole is indeed a remnant of something that used to be mounted on the rooftop. Look at the unpainted rim with screw holes. The American Kestrel informs us that you need a much smaller hole to put a wire through. True, but when you look at other similar ambulances this obviously was a ventilator; the blue light is mounted up front. So much for Kestrel's hawk-like eyes.

[skeptik]

Oh, this proves it. Israel killed absolutely no civilians in Lebanon. No women, no children. Anyone who died was Hezbollah and all the other pics taken by the legion of jihadi media were ALL FAKED. So, just to repeat that. NO CIVILIANS WERE KILLED IN LEBANON. NOT ONE. OK? Israel is a beautiful place filled with a peace loving freedom loving humanitarians who should be an inspiration to us all. AND NO CHILDREN DIED IN LEBANON. This story which leaves out critical details in common knowledge proves this beyond a reasonable doubt.

Jeeeebuss. What a sick world you people inhabit.

[Spiny Norman]

How does exposing clumsy Hezbollah propaganda "prove" no civilians were killed in Lebanon, skeptik? Dan Riehl has made no claims that civilians were not killed, nor has anyone else that I can see, just that claims of "Israelis targeted Red Cross ambulances" are utterly phony. Or are you just making a crude strawman argument? The fact that Hezbollah terrorists were/are hiding among civilians and launching their rockets from behind apartment buildings GUARANTEED civilian casualties, which they would then shamelessly exploit for everything it's worth. THAT is the story here.

[Doug]

There actually might be a way that an explosion in the van would do that to the windshield. It's not hard to imagine that the outward concussion could certainly break the safety glass and tear it partially free, as the photo seems to attest, but pushing it outward. Recall though that there's a second event right after the explosion - the explosion rapidly created a low pressure area, so now there's an implosion. Could the implosion have pulled the now-flexible safety glass back into the vehicle? I don't know just how powerful the implosion is compared to the explosion, but it seems at least possible to me that this could happen. I'll grant you that the rest of it still doesn't pass the smell test, but there's a (dubious?) plausable explanation for the windshield.

[Eindhoven Stratumseind]

So, to recap: Fox wouldn’ t support a film about Brawndo, the energy drink that destroys plants, debases the human race, and makes those who drink“ win at yelling,” but they are now putting wholehearted support behind the actual drink , which they’ re attempting to sell to social network junkies without a trace of a reference back to the film. To be fair, I’ ve seen the movie, and as far as I can tell, it didn’ t exactly feel“ like having sex with a tractor trailer in a parking lot.” So I’ m going to give...