Hezbollywood. Was the Qana collapse staged?

Hezbollah may be doing a fair job of avoiding Israeli bombs, but they still need some work in the PR department. I chuckled last week as I saw Anderson Cooper on CNN explain how Hezbollah was staging an ambulance show for reporters. This show involved ambulances racing off to nowhere, sirens blaring, to aid victims in an attack that never happened. You should read the entire article if you get a chance, but here's some of the good stuff. (It was even more amusing to watch on television.)

Anderson is doing a few stand-ups, but the Hezbollah representative leading the tour is telling us it's time to move on. We tell him we want to talk to some people who lived here, who witnessed what happened. "Not here," he says. "Maybe at our next stop."

Our car is being led through back streets to a broken-down building with five ambulances parked in front. "These are the emergency workers who respond to casualty calls when Israel drops their bombs," the Hezbollah man says. "Take your pictures and talk to some of them if you'd like." We're growing tired of what is now obviously a dog-and-pony show, but we decide to play along, and approach one driver with a few questions. Anderson asks him what kind of casualties he's seeing, but before he can answer, the ambulance beside us turns on his siren and screeches out, followed by the next ambulance, then the next. It's a well coordinated and not-so-subtle piece of propaganda that might as well come with a soundtrack titled "Hezbollah Cares."

Now we have the tragedy in Qana. No doubt this is a real tragedy, but did the events happen as Hezbollah say they did? Some are reporting that there was up to an 8 hour gap between Israel's bombing and the time the building collapsed. Other oddities include the fact that the roof of the building was intact. This is really odd considering that a bomb was said to have fallen on the building. The facts make you feel as if you have wondered in to Alice's wonderland. The more you look the stranger things seem.

Another mystery is why the people who were in the basement of the building remainder there for seven to eight hours after it was struck.

There are other mysteries. The roof of the building was intact. Journalist Ben Wedeman of CNN noted that there was a larger crater next to the building, but observed that the building appeared not to have collapsed as a result of the Israeli strike.

There was little blood, CNN's Wedeman noted: all the victims, he concluded, appeared to have died while as they were sleeping -- sleeping, apparently, through thunderous Israeli air attacks.

The list goes on and on. There was the combat footage that showed the Israeli attack was accurate, and since the journalist were not allowed to examine the dead bodies, some are now suspecting the the bodies were those of people killed days ago. This is most likely nothing more than another PR attempt by Hezbollah to gain sympathy. It's really odd how the rescue mission didn't start until the morning when the journalist were summoned. Are we really to believe that the survivors would wait for journalist before they started digging for their loved ones?

While Hezbollah and its apologists have been claiming that civilians could not freely flee the scene due to Israeli destruction of bridges and roads, the journalists and rescue teams from nearby Tyre had no problem getting there.

Lebanese rescue teams did not start evacuating the building until the morning and only after the camera crews came.

My personal favorite item in this event is the actor we'll call "Green Helmet Man". This same man is seen in numerous pictures as he holds the bodies of dead children. Over and over again we see this same worker, no doubt just an actor on the payroll of Hezbollah. The real "got-cha" is that someone noted that this same man was seen in the same green helmet back in some 1996 photos.

Who is this man (Some graphic images)

If he had been a genuine rescue worker, he would deserve a medal. Mr "Green Helmet" is everywhere at Qana, rushing around pulling children out of the rubble, carting them to ambulances and even, on the front page of the Guardian, escorting "White Tee-shirt", who also performs his own cameo role, carting round the body of another unfortunate girl, emoting freely while he does so.

The New York Times, however, has "Green Helmet" dragging the body of yet another unfortunate child from the ruins

On 18 April 1996, the village was also visited by death and destruction. re-visiting the photographs of the time, however, who do we see at the centre of the action? Why, "Green Helmet" of course. This is a younger man, without his glasses, but recognisably the same man, in his now classic pose of handling a victim of an Israeli "atrocity".

The author of this blog believes that "Green Helmet Man" and others are taking turns posing with the dead bodies as if they were different victims. How sick is that? "Okay, my turn to pose with the corpse". One of the children was still seen being passed around hours after being photographed in an ambulance. Evidently they had to keep her corpse around for more photo-shoots.

"Green Helmet Man" is obviously very mobile. He was recently featured in footage of Israeli bombings in Tyre.

And here he is again!

This time, according to Reuter's Zohra Bensemra, "Green Helmet" is a Lebanese rescue worker, watching "while a bulldozers clears away the rubble of a building demolished by an Israeli air strike in Sreefa, 18 miles (30km) south east of the port-city of Tyre(Soure)". The dateline is 31 July, 2006, at 10:37 am.

Doesn't Hezbollah have anyone else the media can photograph?

Hat-tip to Secular Blasphemy for the great links and commentary.

[edit on 31-7-2006 by dbates]

I think it's this story is simply an Israeli intel disinfo plant that's being spread around, to add a bit of plausible deniability to the uproar. Just the suggestion will be enough to satisfy the true believers, regardless what evidence turns up.

Considering the immediate media atention in Qana, I think it would be kind of difficult to stage this.

The more likely story, considering the unusually high proportion of women and children, is that these were the families of Hezbollah guerillas who were mostly away fighting. Israeli intel saw a lot of suspected Hezbollah fighters going in and out of the area, visiting their families, and assumed it was some sort of base or barracks, and bombed it flat.

Either that, or they knew these were the familes of Hezbollah guerillas, and wanted to make a point.



[edit on 7/31/06 by xmotex]

I've heard rumblings of this on the TV too, it seems the building collapsed from secondary explosions long after (like 6 hrs) after the initial attack.

But don't expect much support from around here, I think most people would rather blindly blame Israel or the U.S.

US has become the best in controlling media and showing what they can use to influence the American population and geared their views and opinions to a desire result.

Now they are working and working hard to reversed the damage of the devastation of Israel bombings.

Sorry but bombs kill and not matter how good the propaganda is to make it look bad for one side more than the other We all should understand that people are dying and they are dying more in the Lebanese side than in the Israel

I will not listen to the channels that are nothing more than regulated by the same groups that are supporting the war and sided with Israel.

Hezbollah is at fault for death tolls in Lebanon with their war and Israel bombs are killing Lebanese people

Plain and simple

They can speculate until their butts goes flat but the pictures of death children in Lebanon can never be erased at least in the minds of the Arabs nations and supporters.

US now is becoming number one to blame for all the destruction with its arrogance of refusing the UN resolutions.

Is a shame and I am ashame of the dirty propaganda also use by both sides.

I bet it was Palestinian mines hidden on the beach that they dug up and hid in Lebanon instead.


They tried it in Qana 1 and got caught lying, they also tried to lie in Gaza in the murder of that family on the beach, they tried with the UN outpost and they will keep trying everytime they do something wrong. They must be dumb to think that everyone reveres them like most do in the USA. They are nothing more then a thinly veiled terrorist outfit posing as a democracy.
The UN is calling for an Independent investigation by outside experts. It should have been done before the Israeli investigation contaminated the crime scene and tampered with evidence.

For me CNN isn't credible anymore, almost never was. The copy they read is soooooooooo shaded. This faux-Bollywood crap is just that. I don't believe word one. The only Bollywood production happening is in the MSM media portrayal and they need better script writers. They are playing their role. Cooper's soliloquoy's don't move me inch one. Tears of the crocodile. Not a good actor or journalist. Who owns CNN? Take a look some time the BoD is interesting. COI.

Victor K.
Qana v1.0, Qana v2.0... What's next?
Never forget.

Lets see if I've got this.

Hezbolla fires 40 rockets from the immediate area around the building and 120 from within the town.
Israel drops warnings that the area will be targeted.
Israel provides video that it hit the building.
It collapsed 6-8 hours afterward.
The roof of the building was intact.
A 30 foot poster was ready when the media showed up.
The same "green hat" man appears in most of the news photos with the bodies.

hmmm

Only if you believe every single Israeli and pro-Israeli claim as gospel truth, and see everyone else as liars.
Which, if you're a true believer, you probably do.

The rest of us are a little more skeptical...

[edit on 7/31/06 by xmotex]

Originally posted by makeitso
Israel drops warnings that the area will be targeted.
Israel provides video that it hit the building.

Israel provided Video of them hitting another building, but it was not the same building as the Qana atrocity. Expert video analysis provided by SKY News 24 confirmed this earlier today. The Civilians could not go anywhere, it was mostly women and Children hiding from all the bombing in a shelter. They had already left someplace to congregate there, they probably didn\'t think it safe to leave, as Israel have been bombing convoys. Where would they go, anyway?


[edit on 31-7-2006 by lieutenant commander data]

Mod Note: You Have An Urgent U2U- Click Here.

[edit on 31/7/2006 by Mirthful Me]

The only problem with the 'intentional collpase' idea here is, who was keeping the civilians that survived the initial strike in the building? I mean, if they died because hezbollah collapsed the building, shouldnt' there be people who saw hezbollah blocking the exits and ordering people to stay?

Nygdan has it dialed-in. Good call, better than I. Many folks won't look past the pics and vids. But, not here at ATS - folks back-check stuff and cross-reference and compare accounts and apply critical thinking skills within the data maelstrom-vortex that tends to be so multi-sided that many folks give up and just believe what they hear and see in the MSM.

This notion of Bollywood smells like a media dis-info Op with a cutesy name. Perhaps one day we will have a truth that is independently verifiable and confirmed as true by all sides... maybe after peace comes to the M-E and the innocent stop being terrorized, mamed, intimidated and killed by all sides.

Victor K.
Qana v1.0, Qana v2.0... What's next?
Never forget.

[edit on 31-7-2006 by V Kaminski]

Originally posted by Nygdan
there be people who saw hezbollah blocking the exits and ordering people to stay?

Perhaps . . .unless the next round on the propaganda is that they stay there to become martyrs to the Hezbollah cause . . .

Originally posted by Nygdan
The only problem with the 'intentional collpase' idea here is, who was keeping the civilians that survived the initial strike in the building?

I may have found your answer. A Lebanese website is claiming that their sources indicate that Hezbollah placed crippled children in this building and then placed rocket launchers around the building to ensure an Israeli air-strike. The supposed reasoning is that Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora had suggested moving the Lebanese army into south Lebanon to dismantle Hezbollah. This little "massacre" provided the diversion that Hezbollah needed to stay in operation.

Massacre in Cana, the Lebanon negotiations - Israel deferred
Lebanon awoke on a new massacre of innocent, the victims are handicapped children who were taken refuge in a building which was attacked by Israeli aviation

A source generally quite informed tells us his version:
“Hezbollah, wedged by the 7 points suggested by the Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, who put a plan of deployment of the Lebanese army on all the territory and primarily at the South Lebanon, and thus the disarmament of the militia of the party of God, wanted to ruin these negotiations.

Hezbollah installed a base of launching of rockets on the roof from a building in Cana and piled up crippled children in the firm intention to see a counterpart on behalf of Israeli aviation and to create a new situation, using the massacre of these innocent to take again the initiative of the negotiations. ”

If this is true it explains why no one left the building after the bombing. The poor children were cripples, and their mothers needed help getting the children out. I know, it sounds slightly twisted but something about this incident just isn't right. Did anyone else notice that there were no men seeking shelter in this building when it collapsed? The odds just don't stack up in Hezbollah's favor.

Hezbollywood, a place where even crippled children can get a starring role.

dbates, if there was a Way-Above link for me to click, I would. I guess that makes me a true believer. I don't know what I'm supposed to be a "true believer" about, but if it means that I think Hez is capable of killing civilians to futher its own agenda, then I guess I'm in.

For the first time in a long while, I think I see people actually claiming that a building wasn't brought down by explosives, after the "obvious" attack. That kind of stuff only works for the WTC. Nobody else could be as nefarious to copy the play from that playbook.

Is that kind of like, when Gitmo detainees were doing suicides, people started to call that an excellent PR-move by Al-Qaeda?

Oh I see now....

Oops. Turns out all the "intentional collapse" stuff is BS, the IDF is now admitting they hit the building.

Just goes to show you can't believe everything you read on the internet.
I suspect they gave up on the coverup story, but one of their disinfo agents in Lebanon didn't get the word in time. At least there's one source we can safely discount from now on.

"We did not know of the whereabouts of civilians in the village," Lieutenant-General Dan Halutz was quoted as saying by the NRG Maariv Web site after meeting President Moshe Katsav.

A senior air force commander said a precision-guided bomb was dropped on a home in Qana on the assumption that it was sheltering Hizbollah crews that had fired several volleys of missiles into northern Israel.

I have no doubt the "crippled children" story is similar BS to the "intentional collapse" story.

[edit on 8/1/06 by xmotex]

right so the arguements are:
1. the roof was intact
2. crater beside building but not on building
3. bulding did not fully collapse until eight hours after attack

well thats the even vaguely sensible and relevent ones...

1. roof did not collapse
the building was hit by a "bunker buster" that hits at ground level and will not affect, neccessarily, the roof, hence
2. crater beside building
indicative of a bunker buster bomb
3. bulding did not fully collapse until eight hours after attack
the building would have been structurally weakened by having its basement destroyed but would not had to have collapsed immediately, eight hours later is in no way unreasonable

Your story still doesn't explain away the theory that Hezbollah staged this whole thing (Planting kids and putting missiles around building). No one has explained why recovery didn't start until the press arrived. No one can explain why they kept the bodies around for hours and passed them around like trophies from person to person. The whole thing is a dog and pony show with the "Green Helmet Guy" as the ring-leader.

suggesting that this tragic event was staged is a very cynical view. However interesting it may be I feel that discussing this sort of stuff is somewhat crass.

Each to their own though.

I bet this will warrant an actual investigation, with the examination of building materials, blast sights, witnesses, etc, you know everything they should have done after the world trade centers demise. Anything to make the Arabs look bad.