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Tuesday, August 08, 2006

CNN Lies - accuses Israel of leaving rocket launchers in place

I've told you before that CNN lies and that the very idea that CNN might be pro-Israel is laughable. But I never thought it would be as blatant as this.

Appearing on CNN's Reliable Sources, Washington Post reporter Thomas Ricks told CNN's Howard Kurtz that Israel is purposely leaving Hezbullah rocket launchers intact in southern Lebanon so that there will be further attacks against Israel.

Hat Tip: Camera via Dad
A few days ago a CNN anchor leveled the outrageous charge that Israel had the ability to shoot down the Katyusha rockets that have been killing scores of its citizens, but had chosen not to do so. Now the Pentagon reporter for the Washington Post, Thomas Ricks, has gone one step further. Appearing on CNN’s media program, Reliable Sources, Ricks told viewers, and the astounded host Howard Kurtz, that Israel had intentionally left some Hezbollah launchers intact to ensure that there would be continued attacks against Israel. Here’s the clip; the passage from the transcript is below:

KURTZ: Tom Ricks, you've covered a number of military conflicts, including Iraq, as I just mentioned. Is civilian casualties increasingly going to be a major media issue? In conflicts where you don't have two standing armies shooting at each other?

THOMAS RICKS, REPORTER, "THE WASHINGTON POST": I think it will be. But I think civilian casualties are also part of the battlefield play for both sides here. One of the things that is going on, according to some U.S. military analysts, is that Israel purposely has left pockets of Hezbollah rockets in Lebanon, because as long as they're being rocketed, they can continue to have a sort of moral equivalency in their operations in Lebanon.

KURTZ: Hold on, you're suggesting that Israel has deliberately allowed Hezbollah to retain some of it's fire power, essentially for PR purposes, because having Israeli civilians killed helps them in the public relations war here?

RICKS: Yes, that's what military analysts have told me.

KURTZ: That's an extraordinary testament to the notion that having people on your own side killed actually works to your benefit in that nobody wants to see your own citizens killed but it works to your benefit in terms of the battle of perceptions here.

RICKS: Exactly. It helps you with the moral high ground problem, because you know your operations in Lebanon are going to be killing civilians as well. (August 6, 2006)

One wonders who these “military analysts” are and why they have apparently not gone on the record. And why has Ricks so far not written the story in the Post? Can it be that his claims are too much even for the Washington Post to publish?

Whatever the reason, a reporter who thinks that Israel would intentionally allow Hezbollah’s Katyushas to rain down on Israeli civilians would believe anything about Israel, no matter how monstrous. And a reporter who believes that reserve Israeli soldiers would follow orders to not attack rockets that are aimed at their children and wives, and that these soldiers would not immediately go to the Israeli media with the story, is an idiot.

The fact is that Israeli soldiers are fighting and dying, going house to house in Lebanese villages that Hezbollah spent six years preparing as killing zones, to stop those rockets, while at the same time minimizing Lebanese civilian casualties. Hezbollah, on the other hand, has been reportedly forcing civilians to stay in the villages to create human shields. Mr. Ricks’ charge is therefore nothing short of obscene, and he should put up or shut up. Let him name his so called “military analysts,”and let him, as the Post’s Pentagon correspondent, explain why their views are persuasive and credible. If he can’t or won’t, he should publicly retract his claim and apologize.

Watch the video.



3 Comments:

At 5:37 PM, Blogger Jack Steiner said...

Some of these people just make me want to tear my hair out.

 
At 5:45 PM, Blogger Jhn1 said...

That the IAF is leaving some launchers in place is not a lie, it is a side effedt of the IAF's ROE (Rules Of Engagement).
see http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1150885884780&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter
for the official IAF policy about "human shields".
If the target is going to cause deaths among civilians, "civilians", or even voluntary human shields is irrelevant.
Those launchers are apparently the ones sufficiently covered by the selfsame human shields and are also not appropriate for attacks by commandos (built up and populated by "civilians" who invariably turn out to be Hez dependants and armed members).
The official IAF policy is - better that Jews die than the human shields Hez is hiding behind-.

 
At 5:49 PM, Blogger Jhn1 said...

Ouch, the link did not survive.
for the jerusalem post interview with the Major General in charge iof the IAF, see
http://tinyurl.com/pvfq4

 

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