Charles Krauthammer, of the Washington Post Writers Group said, on July 28, 2006:
What other country, when attacked in an unprovoked aggression across a recognized international frontier, is then put on a countdown clock by the world, given a limited time window in which to fight back, regardless of whether it has restored its own security?
What other country sustains 1,500 indiscriminate rocket attacks into its cities -- every one designed to kill, maim and terrorize civilians -- and is then vilified by the world when it tries to destroy the enemy's infrastructure and strongholds with precision-guided munitions that sometimes have the unintended but unavoidable consequence of collateral civilian death and suffering?
In perhaps the most blatant terror campaign from the air since the London blitz, Hezbollah is raining rockets on Israeli cities and villages. These rockets are packed with ball bearings that can penetrate automobiles and shred human flesh. They are meant to kill and maim. And they do.
Israel's response to Hezbollah has been to use the most precise weaponry and targeting it can. It has no interest, no desire to kill Lebanese civilians. Does anyone imagine that it could not have leveled south Lebanon, to say nothing of Beirut? Instead, in the bitter fight against Hezbollah in south Lebanon, it has repeatedly dropped leaflets, issued warnings, sent messages by radio and even phone text to Lebanese villagers to evacuate so that they would not be harmed.
Rich Noyes's blog [sorry – lost the link but it shouldn’t be too hard to track down] reports that:
On Monday’s "Anderson Cooper 360," CNN’s Anderson Cooper related his visit to a Hezbollah-controlled section of Beirut where he was supposed to photograph certain damaged buildings, part of the terrorist group’s strategy of generating news stories about Lebanese civilian casualities caused by Israeli bombs.
But instead of merely transmitting Hezbollah’s unverified and unverifiable claims to the outside world, Cooper — to his credit — exposed the efforts by Hezbollah to manipulate CNN and other Western reporters. It’s quite a contrast from the much more accommodating approach taken by his colleague, Nic Robertson, in a report that aired on a variety of CNN programs (including AC360) back on July 18, a report that Robertson himself has now conceded was put together under Hezbollah's control.
Unlike Robertson, Cooper was explicit about how Hezbollah’s operatives had set all of the rules: “Young men on motor scooters followed our every movement. They only allowed us to videotape certain streets, certain buildings,” he explained. He countered Hezbollah claims that Israel targets civilians by pointing out that the group based itself in civilian areas and that Israel's air force drops leaflets warning of attacks.
Cooper exposed for CNN viewers that the sight of speeding ambulances, sirens blaring, was just a phony play staged by Hezbollah: “One by one, they’ve been told to turn on their sirens and zoom off so that all the photographers here can get shots of ambulances rushing off to treat civilians....These ambulances aren’t responding to any new bombings. The sirens are strictly for effect.”
CNN showed cameramen from other news organizations dutifully photographing the ambulances as they went by.
Cooper had left Lebanon and was stationed in Haifa, Israel for Monday’s broadcast. His report on his trip “Inside Hezbollah” appeared at about 10:40pm EDT Monday (6:40am Tuesday, local time), the first hour of his two-hour program.
“We'd come to get a look at the damage and had hoped to talk with a Hezbollah representative. Instead, we found ourselves with other foreign reporters taken on a guided tour by Hezbollah. Young men on motor scooters followed our every movement. They only allowed us to videotape certain streets, certain buildings. Once, when they thought we'd videotaped them, they asked us to erase the tape. These men are called al-Shabab, Hezbollah volunteers who are the organization's eyes and ears.”
He continued: “Hezbollah representatives are with us now but don't want to be photographed. They'll point to something like that and they'll say, ‘Well, look, this is a store.’ The civilians lived in this building. This is a residential complex.
“And while that may be true, what the Israelis will say is that Hezbollah has their offices, their leadership has offices and bunkers even in residential neighborhoods. And if you're trying to knock out the Hezbollah leadership with air strikes, it's very difficult to do that without killing civilians.
“As bad as this damage is, it certainly could have been much worse in terms of civilian casualties. Before they started heavily bombing this area, Israeli warplanes did drop leaflets in this area, telling people to get out. The civilian death toll, though, has angered many Lebanese. Even those who do not support Hezbollah are outraged by the pictures they've seen on television of civilian casualties.”
As the video showed a group reporters and photographers interviewing a single woman on a blanket, Cooper explained, “Civilian casualties are clearly what Hezbollah wants foreign reporters to focus on. It keeps the attention off them — and questions about why Hezbollah should still be allowed to have weapons when all the other militias in Lebanon have already disarmed.
“After letting us take pictures of a few damaged buildings, they take us to another location, where there are ambulances waiting.
“This is a heavily orchestrated Hezbollah media event. When we got here, all the ambulances were lined up. We were allowed a few minutes to talk to the ambulance drivers. Then one by one, they've been told to turn on their sirens and zoom off so that all the photographers here can get shots of ambulances rushing off to treat civilians. That's the story that Hezbollah wants people to know about.
“These ambulances aren't responding to any new bombings. The sirens are strictly for effect.”
Cooper concluded: “Hezbollah may not be terribly subtle about spinning a story, but it is telling perhaps that they try. Even after all this bombing, Hezbollah is still organized enough to have a public relations strategy, still in control enough to try and get its message out.”
Someone I can relate to is a chap in Israel right now and he’s blogging here. In his latest post, he says:
Since 12 noon today (at time of writing it is 3p.m.) in Israel over 100 Katyushas have fallen in the north of Israel, one of which killed 10 people and wounded many more. Someone very close to Irit and me was in the North these last few days and came back to Tel Aviv this morning. He was exactly in the place that was hit and knows at least one of the killed. It is a miracle that he was not there and was not hurt. Very, very scary.
Some people here are getting very angry that the Israeli military has not succeeded in stopping or significantly reducing the Katyushas being fired against Israel. The commentators are saying that either Israel should have decided on a short, sharp punitive action against Hezbollah or on an extensive land-based action to drive the Hezbollah out of missile-shooting range.
It is difficult to understand how decisions are being made. On the one hand the politicians are highly sensitive (some would say over-sensitive) to public opinion and the level of casualties the public can bear. On the other hand, the military, which is supposed to get its directives from the government, seems to have decided that there are more pressing military objectives. Maybe they are right from a rational strategic perspective, but they are missing the psychological perspective which evidently Nasrallah understands much better. Unceasing daily attacks on the Israeli civilian population with dead and wounded will not go unremembered, also within Israel.
But instead of merely transmitting Hezbollah’s unverified and unverifiable claims to the outside world, Cooper — to his credit — exposed the efforts by Hezbollah to manipulate CNN and other Western reporters. It’s quite a contrast from the much more accommodating approach taken by his colleague, Nic Robertson, in a report that aired on a variety of CNN programs (including AC360) back on July 18, a report that Robertson himself has now conceded was put together under Hezbollah's control.
Unlike Robertson, Cooper was explicit about how Hezbollah’s operatives had set all of the rules: “Young men on motor scooters followed our every movement. They only allowed us to videotape certain streets, certain buildings,” he explained. He countered Hezbollah claims that Israel targets civilians by pointing out that the group based itself in civilian areas and that Israel's air force drops leaflets warning of attacks.
Cooper exposed for CNN viewers that the sight of speeding ambulances, sirens blaring, was just a phony play staged by Hezbollah: “One by one, they’ve been told to turn on their sirens and zoom off so that all the photographers here can get shots of ambulances rushing off to treat civilians....These ambulances aren’t responding to any new bombings. The sirens are strictly for effect.”
CNN showed cameramen from other news organizations dutifully photographing the ambulances as they went by.
Cooper had left Lebanon and was stationed in Haifa, Israel for Monday’s broadcast. His report on his trip “Inside Hezbollah” appeared at about 10:40pm EDT Monday (6:40am Tuesday, local time), the first hour of his two-hour program.
“We'd come to get a look at the damage and had hoped to talk with a Hezbollah representative. Instead, we found ourselves with other foreign reporters taken on a guided tour by Hezbollah. Young men on motor scooters followed our every movement. They only allowed us to videotape certain streets, certain buildings. Once, when they thought we'd videotaped them, they asked us to erase the tape. These men are called al-Shabab, Hezbollah volunteers who are the organization's eyes and ears.”
He continued: “Hezbollah representatives are with us now but don't want to be photographed. They'll point to something like that and they'll say, ‘Well, look, this is a store.’ The civilians lived in this building. This is a residential complex.
“And while that may be true, what the Israelis will say is that Hezbollah has their offices, their leadership has offices and bunkers even in residential neighborhoods. And if you're trying to knock out the Hezbollah leadership with air strikes, it's very difficult to do that without killing civilians.
“As bad as this damage is, it certainly could have been much worse in terms of civilian casualties. Before they started heavily bombing this area, Israeli warplanes did drop leaflets in this area, telling people to get out. The civilian death toll, though, has angered many Lebanese. Even those who do not support Hezbollah are outraged by the pictures they've seen on television of civilian casualties.”
As the video showed a group reporters and photographers interviewing a single woman on a blanket, Cooper explained, “Civilian casualties are clearly what Hezbollah wants foreign reporters to focus on. It keeps the attention off them — and questions about why Hezbollah should still be allowed to have weapons when all the other militias in Lebanon have already disarmed.
“After letting us take pictures of a few damaged buildings, they take us to another location, where there are ambulances waiting.
“This is a heavily orchestrated Hezbollah media event. When we got here, all the ambulances were lined up. We were allowed a few minutes to talk to the ambulance drivers. Then one by one, they've been told to turn on their sirens and zoom off so that all the photographers here can get shots of ambulances rushing off to treat civilians. That's the story that Hezbollah wants people to know about.
“These ambulances aren't responding to any new bombings. The sirens are strictly for effect.”
Cooper concluded: “Hezbollah may not be terribly subtle about spinning a story, but it is telling perhaps that they try. Even after all this bombing, Hezbollah is still organized enough to have a public relations strategy, still in control enough to try and get its message out.”
Someone I can relate to is a chap in Israel right now and he’s blogging here. In his latest post, he says:
Since 12 noon today (at time of writing it is 3p.m.) in Israel over 100 Katyushas have fallen in the north of Israel, one of which killed 10 people and wounded many more. Someone very close to Irit and me was in the North these last few days and came back to Tel Aviv this morning. He was exactly in the place that was hit and knows at least one of the killed. It is a miracle that he was not there and was not hurt. Very, very scary.
Some people here are getting very angry that the Israeli military has not succeeded in stopping or significantly reducing the Katyushas being fired against Israel. The commentators are saying that either Israel should have decided on a short, sharp punitive action against Hezbollah or on an extensive land-based action to drive the Hezbollah out of missile-shooting range.
It is difficult to understand how decisions are being made. On the one hand the politicians are highly sensitive (some would say over-sensitive) to public opinion and the level of casualties the public can bear. On the other hand, the military, which is supposed to get its directives from the government, seems to have decided that there are more pressing military objectives. Maybe they are right from a rational strategic perspective, but they are missing the psychological perspective which evidently Nasrallah understands much better. Unceasing daily attacks on the Israeli civilian population with dead and wounded will not go unremembered, also within Israel.
Let's pray for better days.
Check David2’s other reports from the war zone as well. I replied to him that sadly, as many know, Hezbollah can’t be defeated byt the traditional means, not least for the reasons given by Anderson Cooper above. Hezbollah strike, then fade away and slip back into Syria and Northern Lebanon, only to reappear somewhere else, plus the collusion muddies their trail.
To do away with Hezbolah militarily, it would be necessary to take out Syria and Iran militarily as well. Or else nuke them, which no one has on the table. So what’s the alternative?
It’s vexed. It’s outrageous for Israel to accept a ceasefire which lets Hezbollah creep back in to reinforce Southern Lebanon and everyone knows it, deep down. Unfortunately, only one other Machiavellian solution suggests itself to me but that’s too frightening to even think about.
Check David2’s other reports from the war zone as well. I replied to him that sadly, as many know, Hezbollah can’t be defeated byt the traditional means, not least for the reasons given by Anderson Cooper above. Hezbollah strike, then fade away and slip back into Syria and Northern Lebanon, only to reappear somewhere else, plus the collusion muddies their trail.
To do away with Hezbolah militarily, it would be necessary to take out Syria and Iran militarily as well. Or else nuke them, which no one has on the table. So what’s the alternative?
It’s vexed. It’s outrageous for Israel to accept a ceasefire which lets Hezbollah creep back in to reinforce Southern Lebanon and everyone knows it, deep down. Unfortunately, only one other Machiavellian solution suggests itself to me but that’s too frightening to even think about.
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