last edits January 4, 2012
This post will gather some instances of suspect fakery from the social media video postings of our Libyan pro-Democracy forces. Simple mislabeling is too widespread to count - the video itself must contain actors and fake scenarios (or be suspicious at least) and presented as real. I'll take submissions and votes by comment form below, and start it off with the few I can think of, with newer additions first:
Shooting at protesters outside the barracks.
(Thanks to contributor Felix for this one)
"Shooting at protesters outside the barracks."
Saturday, 19 February, 2011
Source: ahmadkadar
People in Shahet run and scramble to hide from the sound of gunshots at the al Jarah barracks - hundreds of feet away from these ...weaponless attackers? ... clustered on the main street, at least a day after the base was apparently taken by their allies (see here for the details). Some others lay there helpless on the pavement, not carried away, but not bleeding either. (See image - video embedding unavailable.)
Indeed, anyone else take a look and see how ridiculous this is. Note also the creepy stiff man in a black trench coat who at the end walks right over to that same jackass and stands over him. As if to say "what the hell was that? Don't you realize what we're trying to do here?" He seems unconcerned that they're failing all around.
Shelling the Mosques, Zawiyah and Misrata
(Thanks again to Felix) It was very important for Muslim world opinion that Gaddafi be seen as anti-Islam and an attacker of mosques. The rebels in az Zawiya claimed Gaddafi forces attacked the main mosque the rebels were working out of on Feb. 24, hitting the minaret with AA fire, and it does seem to have some bullet holes in it later. (see here for details). By the latter re-conquest of the square,March 11, video shows the minaret seriously damaged and the dome caved in. But it's not clear who did that since between the two, we see this fake-ass video: Translated title "Muammar Gaddafi infidel, criminal, and a mosque was bombed [az Zawiya] 6311 [March 6]," the crayon font at the beginning is perfect. You know it's real because they pan to the minaret, wondering "hey, what if something were to happen to it right now? I'd better be filming and whoa, did you see that puff of smoke?" Smoke bombs attached to its circumference go off with a light bang, then some gunshots in the air and people cheerfully shouting Allahu Akbar, with grief over the no-damage Minaret attack.
As for who caused the actual damage some time over the next week, it's not entirely clear. We've seen the rebel desire, and willingness to use fakery, to suggest just such a thing. Forget war crime, isn't using a mosque to create lies to falsely invoke religious furor a wee bit sacrilegious? Not to mention basing militant activities from one or possibly destroying it yourself in a heavy-weapons false flag operation?
And another more ambitious possible smoke-bomb project with fortuitous filming seems to be the cause of what's seen in this video of a Minaret attack by Gaddafi infidels/apostates in Misrata, March 19 apparently. This time, I'm far less sure it's a fake, but repeated smoke puffs, some much larger, are seen from a distance, happening over and over with no visible damage to the minaret. Only at the video's end does a bigger explosion happen and the tower finally falls. This must be the power of Allah withstanding the Satanic attack; the poster himself says "I honestly don't know how it stood that long." Nice tragic Islamic music, nice possible false-flag minaret destruction from those trying to simply manipulate religious fervor...
Refusing to praise Gaddafi
A man with fake blood trailing from his legs pulls himself along the ground as an apparent Gaddafi soldier films on his iPhone type thing. Transcript, as posted here:
Gaddafi Soldier: Raise your head, Raise your head, Get on your back, What is your name?! What is your Name?
Injured man: Ahmed.
Gaddafi Soldier: Say long live alfatah (Gaddafi/Gaddafi’s revolution)
Injured man: God is great
Gaddafi Soldier: Say long live Alfatah (Gaddafi/Gaddafi’s revolution)! Say long live Mu’ammar!
Injured man: There is no god except God, Muhammed is the messenger of God…
What a cliff-hanger at the end! Three shots are fired just as the camera pans away wildly. Maybe the hero lived, as he was rescued in Hollywood style by the hidden heros at the last second. So close, for a moment you think the soldier did shoot him. No head shot needed to fake, and an excellent propaganda set-up of Gaddafi against God. This is quite common and total evil genius for firing up these radicals and, in this case, gaining public support across the Youtube-viewing Arab world. (re-posted as a news story here - he's a doctor, it says, and unfortunately, he's shown dead on a truck later, but with again no visible injuries that are hard to fake - he could well just be laying there.)
The Sniper-shot x-ray girl
At about 3:20 in this video about evidence for snipers shooting children, is the only actual evidence of that specified. A little girl is shown in hospital after a sniper's bullet was removed, the x-ray of it in situ is shown. Why it's fake is explained here. In short, that film shows a pristine bullet fired from an odd angle, no broken or deformed bones, and the same exact image was used at the same time to prove a little boys was also shot by a sniper.
It's obviously powerful medicine, government snipers (we presume) shooting little kids. Human Rights Watch said so, and used the boy's identical fake x-ray for their report on the alleged crime against humanity. This one stands above some other contestants for popular impact, but perhaps not as much as another below.
Gaddafi forces abuse civilians 1
There's hardly a realistic thing about this staged scene of "civilans" tied up in the back of a pickup and verbally abused and fake-slapped by hillbillies in army fatigues. Note the weird googles person at the beginning, the two actors really hamming it up with the fear or intense-inner-defiance act. Note the "soldiers" have a lazy, disorganized style, and a little kid among them, pulled aside too late (at 0:54). I can't even understand Arabic, but having read the transcript for the "refusing" video, I recognize them barking "something Fatah" and "something Muammar," after which the bearded captor dutifully repeats the phrases.
The city "Sabrata" is mentioned. The one coward is in fatigues is interesting. Among more stoic civilians, he seems to be cast as the frightened isolated soldier who wants to defect, but was tied up by the real Fatah supporters. He also happens to be the most "black" looking among them. He could really use some outside support, it's implied.
Gaddafi forces abuse civilians 2
I'm not as sure, but this one I just found might be fake too. One boy is injured, with a slight black eye. That's realism. Otherwise, same drunk-seeming "soldiers," probably on purpose to make some point. Young men and boys laying and sitting, questioned abusively and stupidly. I think from Misrata's mention and the context, this is in Misrata, or supposed to be. From 1:31 unnervingly loud gun shots are happening all around for some reason, but no one is shown injured. At 2:00 I hear "Fatah" and "Muammar," with the loud word repeated in between, I presume, meaning "repeat," or "I love." The captor repeats, weakly, and oh-so-scared and helpless-like (as seen in the still below):
Afterwards in this same video, around 4:00, these rebel video fakers playing Gaddafi soldiers can be seen firing real rockets from truck-mounted launchers - on the outskirts of a town, and firing in, just like real Gaddafi soldiers. Wonder how often that happens?
The "Dying Soldier"
Warning: Actual dead people surround the suspected faker, with blown-open heads
The lone survivor of the "al-Baida massacre" (but possibly in Dernah, or elsewhere - See the link for fuller explanation) - nearly two dozen executed soldiers found in this courtyard, after rebel forces executed them for firing on a car in self-defense (see transcript here). One of these is alive in two videos, absent in two others - he's unbound and his head's intact, and moving a bit but ignored or teased by the rebel camera crew. He's apparently is the "source" for the government killing them all, besides him, for refusing to shoot "protesters." These 22 were among a total of 130 killed by Gaddafi for so refusing, said a French Human Rights Group, based on no reasonable evidence. And here, the only real massacre I've had to show yet because of the actor someone had lay down in the blood and brains.
One video from Facebook - not sure how to embed it.
Again with the intense religion - they do nothing medically except give him a little water. Thay ain't doctors but they know he's dying (from what exactly isn't obvious) and only "convert" him back to Islam and from Gaddafism with a last rites. It's the least they could do, literally, given he allegedly gave his life refusing to shoot at them for no good reason.
And the other video with the "dying soldier," where he's just passed by as if the cameraman didn't notice this one wriggling around. Quite odd. He's more interested in panning in on the gore. Amateur fakers do think maximizing everything real helps obscure the fake parts, don't they?
Others if they come to my attention ...
