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Banned
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Guys.....the evidence from outside the closed circle of the "conservative" universe, is that the premise in this thread's OP, and the opinions that it influenced, judging by the responses posted in defense of the OP, is that it is a "conservative" pundit driven Psy-OP....
Quote:
http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-08-08-voa74.cfm
South Lebanon in Lockdown After Israeli Warning
By Challiss McDonough
Tyre, Lebanon
08 August 2006
......In a sometimes raucous news conference in Tyre, a paramedic from the local rescue squad practically pleaded with the ICRC chief for help in convincing the Israelis to let ambulances move freely.........
........To get to Tyre, the ICRC president had to walk across the Litani River balancing on a tree trunk. The last bridge over the river was cut by an Israeli airstrike on Monday, and south Lebanon has been essentially cut off from the rest of the country since then.
But Kellenberger said his first priority is reaching the surrounding villages that are even more isolated and more besieged than Tyre..........
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Quote:
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/from...0e9a7df952.htm
Lebanon/Israel: civilians pay the price of conflict
14 Aug 2006 18:09:24 GMT
The ICRC president, Jakob Kellenberger, has said that civilians have been the main victims in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. Mr Kellenberger, speaking at a press conference in Geneva following his return from a visit to the Middle East, called for access to those most in need of humanitarian assistance in southern Lebanon.
At the press conference, held hours after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah entered into force, President Kellenberger welcomed the move.
<b>......After recent incidents where Lebanese Red Cross ambulances have been hit</b>, Mr Kellenberger said he had insisted during his visit that the medical mission be respected.
During his visit, President Kellenberger said he again reminded both parties to the conflict of their obligation to respect the rules of war as enshrined in international humanitarian law, in particular, those applicable to the civilian population.
In Israel, he met the families of the three Israeli soldiers captured by Hamas and Hezbollah.
The ICRC has asked that the soldiers be treated humanely and has requested access, so far without success.
The President said this demand would be pursued with energy.....
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Quote:
http://www.icrc.org/Web/eng/siteeng0...2571CA0058C077
14-08-2006 Press briefing
Lebanon/Israel: civilians pay the price of conflict
The ICRC president, Jakob Kellenberger, has said that civilians have been the main victims in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. Mr Kellenberger, speaking at a press conference in Geneva following his return from a visit to the Middle East, called for access to those most in need of humanitarian assistance in southern Lebanon.
<img src="http://www.icrc.org/Web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/htmlall/lebanon-press-conference-140806/$File/XP0J0733_m.jpg">
.....The ICRC, in coordination with the Lebanese Red Cross, also continues to evacuate the sick and wounded and to collect the dead from beneath the rubble. After recent incidents where Lebanese Red Cross ambulances have been hit, Mr Kellenberger said he had insisted during his visit that the medical mission be respected........
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Quote:
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/...817099370.html
Ambulance attack evidence stands the test
Sarah Smiles, Beirut
September 2, 2006
AHMED Fawaz sits in a wheelchair in a sweat-stained hospital gown, smoking a cigarette in sweltering heat.
He was discharged from a Beirut hospital this week after losing his leg when a Lebanese Red Cross ambulance he was in with his family came under an Israeli air attack in south Lebanon on July 23.
The attack on the ambulance near the village of Qana left his 12-year-old son Mohammed scarred by shrapnel wounds to the head.
The attack on two ambulances ferrying mildly injured people from the village of Tibnin to Tyre was widely reported by international media, including The Age.
But Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has condemned press coverage of the incident, suggesting it was a hoax. He appears to have drawn his conclusions from right-wing US website zombietime.com that debunks all reporting on the incident using available press photos and television footage as "evidence".
An Israeli army spokesman told The Age yesterday that the army had not yet established what happened and the incident was under investigation.
"We were in a war," the spokesman said. "It takes time to find out exactly what happened and whose fault it was and why. We are not saying it was an accident or that we take responsibility. We only say that the incident in question occurred in an area used to fire hundreds of rockets into Israel … The army warned the population in the area to stay clear of rocket launching sites because we intended to operate there against activity by Hezbollah terrorists." It is believed that the Israeli army's investigation will rely on images and video footage taken by Israeli drones.
While some reporters wrote that an Israeli missile ripped a hole in the roof of one ambulance that was directly hit, the zombietime.com site argues a missile would have caused much wider damage. It argues the hole appears to be where there was an existing circular vent, with rust on some of the exposed metal showing that damage to vehicle happened before the reported time of the attack.
However, Red Cross volunteers manning the ambulances and Mr Fawaz insist the hit was caused by small weapons fired from unmanned drones that they heard circling above after the attack.
The Age visited the yard where the bombed out ambulances are now parked. This reporter saw the ambulance that Mr Fawaz was in. It appeared to have been hit by a weapon that punctured a huge hole through the back. The zombietime.com only shows the picture of the second ambulance that had a smaller puncture through the top where there was a pre-existing vent in the centre of the vehicle.
The holes in the ambulances, parked in the coastal town of Tyre on the Mediterranean, are now covered in rust.
Based on photos of the ambulance's exterior that do not reveal any blood, the site suggests that Mr Fawaz incurred his injury elsewhere and was "paraded before the cameras as a victim of an Israeli missile".
While the interior of the ambulance has been gutted, a Red Cross volunteer who was in the same ambulance as Mr Fawaz said he did bleed onto his stretcher, but not excessively as his leg had been cauterised.
At a speech on the Gold Coast this week, Mr Downer relied on the limited and selective images on zombietime.com to criticise journalists for poor reporting on the war in Lebanon.
"After closer study of the images of the damage to the ambulance, it is beyond serious dispute that this episode has all the makings of a hoax," he said.
For Mr Fawaz, 41, a mechanic from the village of Tibnin, life without his leg is no hoax.
Mohammed Hassan, 35, a Red Cross Cross volunteer in the ambulance with Mr Fawaz when it was hit, said three volunteers fled to a nearby building after the attack.
Mr Fawaz's elderly mother Jamila crawled out of the vehicle while the volunteers carried Mohammed, Ahmed's son, who was unconscious. They could not reach Mr Fawaz with rockets from drones hitting around the ambulance and the building they were in.
"If (Alexander Downer) thinks it was a hoax, he should come and see the ambulances himself," said Sami Yazbek, the head of the Lebanese Red Cross in Tyre.
"What, he thinks we lied?" said Mr Hassan in disbelief. He said he was saved by a helmet and bulletproof armour he was wearing that was strafed at the back. He said his helmet is pocked where shrapnel hit.
The Lebanese Red Cross and the International Committee of the Red Cross have confirmed that two ambulances came under Israeli air attack near the village of Qana on the night of July 23.
Lebanese Red Cross volunteers are certain the weapons were fired from a drone.
Mr Fawaz, who slipped in and out of consciousness after the blast, remembers hearing the sound of a drone whirring above him when he came to. "It sounds like a motorcycle."
Soon after, through the door of the ambulance that had been blasted open, he recalls seeing a second strike on the ground.
"It was a drone because if it was a warplane we wouldn't be alive," he said.
When he came to after the blast, he remembers reaching for his glasses that were knocked to the back of his head, adjusting them and then feeling a sense of malaise. "I put my hand on my leg and I couldn't feel it," he said. "I tried to take the cord of the IV drip to tie up my leg to stop it bleeding, but I couldn't manage it."
While the Lebanese Red Cross said that Israel had issued a "verbal" unofficial apology for the strike, ICRC spokesman in Beirut Hisham Hassan did not want to confirm it, saying its discussions with Israel were private.
The reader representative for The Los Angeles Times, Jamie Gold said she was aware of internet chatter about the story, but the paper had received no official complaint.
She also said the Israeli Government had not complained about the story, and they were not reluctant to point out errors.
The holes in the ambulances, parked in the coastal town of Tyre on the Mediterranean, are now covered in rust.
Based on photos of the ambulance's exterior that do not reveal any blood, the site suggests that Mr Fawaz incurred his injury elsewhere and was "paraded before the cameras as a victim of an Israeli missile".
While the interior of the ambulance has been gutted, a Red Cross volunteer who was in the same ambulance as Mr Fawaz said he did bleed onto his stretcher, but not excessively as his leg had been cauterised.
At a speech on the Gold Coast this week, Mr Downer relied on the limited and selective images on zombietime.com to criticise journalists for poor reporting on the war in Lebanon.
"After closer study of the images of the damage to the ambulance, it is beyond serious dispute that this episode has all the makings of a hoax," he said.
For Mr Fawaz, 41, a mechanic from the village of Tibnin, life without his leg is no hoax.
Mohammed Hassan, 35, a Red Cross Cross volunteer in the ambulance with Mr Fawaz when it was hit, said three volunteers fled to a nearby building after the attack.
Mr Fawaz's elderly mother Jamila crawled out of the vehicle while the volunteers carried Mohammed, Ahmed's son, who was unconscious. They could not reach Mr Fawaz with rockets from drones hitting around the ambulance and the building they were in.
"If (Alexander Downer) thinks it was a hoax, he should come and see the ambulances himself," said Sami Yazbek, the head of the Lebanese Red Cross in Tyre.
"What, he thinks we lied?" said Mr Hassan in disbelief. He said he was saved by a helmet and bulletproof armour he was wearing that was strafed at the back. He said his helmet is pocked where shrapnel hit.
The Lebanese Red Cross and the International Committee of the Red Cross have confirmed that two ambulances came under Israeli air attack near the village of Qana on the night of July 23.
Lebanese Red Cross volunteers are certain the weapons were fired from a drone.
Mr Fawaz, who slipped in and out of consciousness after the blast, remembers hearing the sound of a drone whirring above him when he came to. "It sounds like a motorcycle."
Soon after, through the door of the ambulance that had been blasted open, he recalls seeing a second strike on the ground.
"It was a drone because if it was a warplane we wouldn't be alive," he said.
When he came to after the blast, he remembers reaching for his glasses that were knocked to the back of his head, adjusting them and then feeling a sense of malaise. "I put my hand on my leg and I couldn't feel it," he said. "I tried to take the cord of the IV drip to tie up my leg to stop it bleeding, but I couldn't manage it."
While the Lebanese Red Cross said that Israel had issued a "verbal" unofficial apology for the strike, ICRC spokesman in Beirut Hisham Hassan did not want to confirm it, saying its discussions with Israel were private.
The reader representative for The Los Angeles Times, Jamie Gold said she was aware of internet chatter about the story, but the paper had received no official complaint.
She also said the Israeli Government had not complained about the story, and they were not reluctant to point out errors.
With JONATHAN PEARLMAN
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Quote:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/amb...817099100.html
Ambulance attack victim's anger at hoax allegations
Sarah Smiles in Beirut
September 2, 2006
.........Mohammed Hassan, 35, a Red Cross volunteer in Mr Fawaz's vehicle when it was hit, said the three volunteers fled to a nearby building after the attack.
They could not reach Mr Fawaz with rockets from drones hitting around the ambulance and the building they were in.
"If [Mr Downer] thinks it was a hoax, he should come and see the ambulances himself," said Sami Yazbek, the head of the Lebanese Red Cross in Tyre.
Both the Lebanese Red Cross and the International Red Cross have confirmed that two Lebanese Red Cross ambulances came under an Israeli air attack near the village of Qana.
"There were no other aircraft in the sky flying during the war," said Ali Saad, the head of the Lebanese Red Cross's south Lebanon information office. "The ambulances were hit from the air - it has to be an Israeli aircraft."..........
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The following will fall on the deaf ears of those who "eat up" the BS that is spewed by the folks who compiled and promoted across the internet the anti Red Cross "message" that we read in this thread's OP. It is similar to Mr. Rumsfeld's attack on Amnesty Interantional in his speech to the "Legion", just the other day. A few years ago, when it suited the purpose of the US State Dept. in it's criticism of rival nations, determinations of Amnesty Int. and Int. Red Cross were freely quoted to bolster official US propaganda.
The "rest of us", understand that it is not Amnesty Int. or Red Cross that have changed. It is the official US attitude (and that of this administration's supporters) toward respect for international treaties that protect human rights and the provisions that demand the monitoring and reporting of observance of the provisions of these treaties, that has fucking changed.....FOR THE WORSE !!!!!
Quote:
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?...&article=39720
Transcript: Rumsfeld’s speech to the American Legion
Stars and Stripes
Online edition, Wednesday, August 30, 2006
........ We hear every day of new plans, new efforts to murder Americans and other free people. Indeed, the plot that was discovered in London that would have killed hundreds — possibly thousands — of innocent men, women and children on aircraft flying from London to the United States should remind us that this enemy is serious, lethal, and relentless.
But this is still not well recognized or fully understood. It seems that in some quarters there’s more of a focus on dividing our country than acting with unity against the gathering threats. ...........
....And it’s a time when <b>Amnesty International</b> refers to the military facility at Guantanamo Bay — which holds terrorists who have vowed to kill Americans and which is arguably the best run and most scrutinized detention facility in the history of warfare — “he gulag of our times.” It’s inexcusable. (Applause.)
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Quote:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/0...eld/#more-9932
Watch the video:
http://movies.crooksandliars.com/Olb...ldOnFacism.wmv
<b>......The transcript of Keith’s comments tonight is available below the fold.</b>
The man who sees absolutes, where all other men see nuances and
shades of meaning, is either a prophet, or a quack.
Donald H. Rumsfeld is not a prophet.
We end the countdown where we began, our #1 story.
with a special comment on
Mr. Rumsfeld’s remarkable speech to the American Legion
yesterday. It demands the deep analysis - and the sober contemplation - of every
American.
For it did not merely serve to impugn the morality or
intelligence - indeed, the loyalty - of the majority of Americans who
oppose the transient occupants of the highest offices in the land;
Worse, still, it credits those same transient occupants - our
employees - with a total omniscience; a total omniscience which neither
common sense, nor this administration’s track record at home or abroad,
suggests they deserve.
Dissent and disagreement with government is the life’s blood of
human freedom; And not merely because it is the first roadblock against the
kind of tyranny the men Mr. Rumsfeld likes to think of as "his" troops still
fight, this very evening, in Iraq..........
....Mr. Rumsfeld is also personally confused, morally or
intellectually, about his own standing in this matter. From Iraq to
Katrina, to flu vaccine shortages, to the entire "Fog of Fear" which continues to envelope this
nation - he, Mr. Bush, Mr. Cheney, and their cronies, have - inadvertently
or intentionally - profited and benefited, both personally, and politically.
And yet he can stand up in public, and question the morality and
the intellect of those of us who dare ask just for the receipt for the
Emporer’s New Clothes.
In what country was Mr. Rumsfeld raised?
As a child, of whose heroism did he read?
On what side of the battle for freedom did he dream one day
to fight?
With what country has he confused… the United States of
America?
–
The confusion we - as its citizens - must now address, is
stark and forbidding. But variations of it have faced our forefathers, when
men like Nixon and McCarthy and Curtis LeMay have darkened our skies and
obscured our flag. Note - with hope in your heart - that those earlier
Americans always found their way to the light and we can too.
The confusion is about whether this Secretary of Defense, and
this Administration, are in fact now accomplishing what they claim the
terrorists seek: The destruction of our freedoms, the very ones for
which the same veterans Mr. Rumsfeld addressed yesterday in Salt Lake City,
so valiantly fought.
–
And about Mr. Rumsfeld’s other main assertion, that this country
faces a "new type of fascism."
As he was correct to remind us how a government that knew
everything could get everything wrong, so too was he right when he
said that - though probably not in the way he thought he meant it.
This country faces a new type of fascism - indeed.
–
Although I presumptuously use his sign-off each night, in feeble
tribute… I have utterly no claim to the words of the exemplary journalist
Edward R. Murrow.
But never in the trial of a thousand years of writing could
come close to matching how he phrased a warning to an earlier generation of
us, at a time when other politicians thought they (and they alone) knew
everything, and branded those who disagreed, "confused" or "immoral."
Thus forgive me for reading Murrow in full:
"We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty," he said, in 1954.
"We must remember always that accusation is not proof, and that conviction
depends upon evidence and due process of law.
We will not walk in fear - one, of another. We will not be
driven by fear into an age of un-reason, if we dig deep in our history
and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men;
Not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate, and to
defend causes that were - for the moment - unpopular."
And so, good night, and good luck.
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When you "buy in" to the "message" that the MSM and international human rights agencies, such as Amnesty Int. and the Int. Red Cross, are the "problem", that is getting in the way of the "security interests" of the US, or of Israel, where does that leave you?
It took a while....too long in this decade....but now, the majority of Americans do know the answer to the above question. Those who applaud Rumsfeld and Mr. Bush, have been relegated to the "fringe". |