The Site that Asks: Is the "dictator" justifying intervention by killing innocents? Or is someone else doing it for him? (previously The Libyan Civil War: Critical Views)
Warning
Warning: This site contains images and graphic descriptions of extreme violence and/or its effects. It's not as bad as it could be, but is meant to be shocking. Readers should be 18+ or a mature 17 or so. There is also some foul language occasionally, and potential for general upsetting of comforting conventional wisdom. Please view with discretion.
There can be little doubt the first deadly violence of May 2 came from militants wearing red armbands, pointing and firing guns from ground level and rooftops. The red bands (plus St. George ribbons and other signs) are supposed to mean Anti-Maidan, "pro-Russian" activists; their unprovoked bullets are blamed for the shooting deaths of six people, sparking the following escalation by the other side. Pro-Kiev analyses consider these "terrorists" the only people to blame for the day's events, while anti-Maidan analysis often calls these obvious infiltrators, probably Right Sector, sent in to spark the planned massacre. The latter is probably more true, but at least some in that outfit seem legitimate, caught up in the backlash and arrested in the dozens just before the assault on the House of Trade Unions.
This likely mixing of real and fake leaves researches with a murky situation that can't be easily called one way or the other. Whoever they all were, note that including non-fatal hits, the Odessa shooters apparently aimed for both pro-Maidan and anti-Maidan activists and police - see here - just like the mystery snipers in Kiev that brought the new government to power in February. Sooper-seekrit Russian agents bent on mindless chaos are generally blamed by Andriy Parubiy, who was in charge of security in both cases ...
The obvious police inaction that allowed this deadly escalation has been widely criticized, often taken as a sign of complicity with the red-armband militants. Both sides do this; one says they were pro-Russian cops, the other says we see right-wing cops helping with the provocation. By our study so far, it seems the police were neutered by some kind of unofficial order to support no one and let actions take their corse. This furniture-like state was best taken advantage of by the provocateurs, like "Botsman" (Vitaly Chudeko) who fired a fake AK-47 replica at people from behind the police lines (see here).
Less of these people complain that the same inaction at Kulikovo Field allowed them to get manifold revenge without interference. Consider this lightened still from 2:50 in this Alex Rychkoff video, showing the police line at the building's north end around 8 PM. One of the many things there they did nothing to stop was neo-Nazis spraying their vile symbols across their pointless wall of shields.
That's passivity. Another and more concrete issue with the police that day was the apparent show of solidarity some cops at the clash scenes made with the anti-Maidan side. Several were seen wearing the same red-tape armbands as the provocateur militants, but lower on their arms (always below the elbow, while the militants have it always above). Here are three still images used around, and the source articles for background reading:
Top: Odessait.ua Middle:
bolshoyvopros.ru Bottom: TSN.ua in a report citing then-governor Nemirovsky claiming police were often bribed to take the anti-Kiev side, supported the with this image. Also used at "Planet Putin" which explained "It has been common practice since early Maidan for titushki provocateurs to wear a common armband with Berkut riot police they were working with, so presumably the police would be able to identify them and not accidentally shoot or beat them."
In context, the visual effect is clear: red-banded militants always cling to and talk to the police, especially those unusually displaying the same color. Not just pro-Russian militants but corrupt, pro-Russian cops were also to blame for angry people having to massacre people later on the day's unfortunate events. Such images, alongside the real inaction and various other clues and rumors, fed into a massive purge of the police force of those thought to be of this pro-Russian sort.
Police chief Petr Lutsyuk and his top deputy Dmitri Fuchedji (one of those shot and wounded in the clashes) were both fired and put on watch on May 4, likely along with quite a few others. Fuchedji, fearing for his life, fled to Transdnistria, where he blames Parubiy's private army for the assault (Kiev calls the fugitive their "main suspect" and want Russia to hand him over). Lutsyuk remains around, perhaps in hopes he'll side with Kiev and blame Fuchedji and the pro-Russians (so far, it seems he's maintained public silence)
In quieter batches, the new chief Katernichuk has overseen the dismissal of what the Interior Ministry estimated in mid-October as 412 members of the police force (in Odessa region, not just the city) over links to terrorist groups and the like (see here and Policing the Police?). What proportion is that, I wonder? MoI brags that over half of those fired were ranking officers, meaning they really shook up the system responsible for what happened May 2.
The guys in the photos used as proof for the problem should surely be among those fired. But just like the real snipers so necessary to the massacre, who probably escaped everything unharmed as others paid the price, the case against these particular cops eventually fell apart. For their September report, the Ukrainian Rada's temporary committee investigation (whitewash, mainly) asked about the issue. As summed up by RBC.ua, Sept. 8 auto translated with repairs:
"When asked why some police guards had wound red tape around their hands (forearms), similar to what is used to identify activists of Odessa squads "the police reported that when they stand in steps ( тоять у сцепці ), for hand protection they wear shields. These shields often slip, causing injury to hands, so for fixation, the plates were wrapped with tape, the color that was in there ( який був у наявност )" - said in the committee's report.
So it had a strictly tactical purpose, simply using the color - maybe the only color - they had on hand that day. It was an unusual bright red and had this unfortunate effect. They might have skipped it and relied on the professional gear designed with such things in mind. But that wasn't good enough, and they were really worried about slipping shields. The troublesome color did not actually wind up hidden beneath shields very much, and was seen just waving in the open on many arms. Red flag! Problem with the police!
The low placement, about where you'd put shield-holding tape, does in fact fit with this story, but it's still hard to believe. Rather, using the forearm probably means they put on this costume with that excuse in mind, that is with conscious intent to cause a problem for others and then wriggle out of it themselves. It worked and they got in no trouble, I'm guessing, because they are not the pro-Russian cops they appeared. In fact, they might swing far to the right, helping as they did to spark a purge of those anti-Fascist cops like Fuchedji, Lutsyuk, and 410 others.
An investigation of these police with red tape is in order, but will not happen by official channels. After such massive losses recently, they can't afford to fire every cop just who happens to be a Pravi Sector sympathizer and participant in the false-flag massacre and Fascist purge.
August 24, 2011 last update March 31, 2013 and 12-2-2017 (restoring images)
Update, March 31, 2013:
Thanks to Petri, I finally noticed a comment left here recently by someone in Libya, phone number included, who claims he filmed one of the three videos examined here (not sure which one - See comments below, scroll waaaay down.) How do you respond to that? I ventured a guess, right below that.
Note, Sept. 9:
For those who've read this post before when it was boring, please check it out again. It took me two weeks, but I finally finished my analysis and it went better even than I thought. The introduction is optional context information. The actual analysis below that is what matters, with the videos themselves best for double-checking me.
Note, Sept. 18:
For those not inclined to read, I have a video explanation up now,embedded at the post's bottom.
--- Protesters Shot in al Baida
The UN Human Right Council report of June 1 [PDF link] found the following about the Libyan government's firing on demonstrators in the eastern city of al-Baida:
[M]embers of Al-Bayda Internal Security Agency fired live ammunition at a demonstration in Al-Salhi Square and the Commission has verified that several demonstrators had been killed. On 17 February, according to information received by the Commission from forensic and prosecutorial authorities, security forces of Khamis Katiba were deployed in Al-Bayda where they shot at demonstrators without prior warning, resulting in the deaths of 11 other demonstrators. Other witnesses spoke specifically of actions of the ISA and Revolutionary Committees in shooting at persons during demonstrations.
This is similar to what they found, mostly from just accepting what "protesters" told them, in several other Libyan cities. The main difference is that with al Baida, there is also at least some video evidence to support people being killed while only protesting.
Aside from the very few flukes like this, the Libyan government's explanation seems to fit the video record much better than the charges of the protesters and, pretty much, the world. Rather than peaceful protesters mowed down for speaking up, what the evidence (and lack of it) suggests is they were generally killed trying to storm army bases to secure their starter weapons for a military takeover. Few countries in the world would tolerate that without at least trying some deadly force to prevent it. (See the detailed article on this big question here).
A while back a Youtube friend tipped me off to an interesting angle about some videos I was already aware of but hadn't posted on yet. I already aware of two of the three videos he linked me to, listed and shown below. These were both the only videos I recall seeing where apparently unarmed protester types are shot dead right on camera while not clearly attacking a government facility. I only noticed seeing them together they were from nowhere but al Baida. Looking closer yet (again, below), I see they're apparently from nowhere but the intersection of Sharia Omar al-Muktar and Souq al-Hoot in al Baida.
I knew one of the videos below (the third) was from there, and didn't even know of the first one's existence. But they're all from that town of around 200,000 between Benghazi and al Qaeda central, Dernah. Al Baida's youth and Islamists were among the first to violently revolt; along with Benghazi and Az Zintan, al Baida witnessed violent protests and the torching of police stations on the 15th and daily from there. People were dying there, in small numbers and on both sides, from the very outset, unlike even in Benghazi. On the 18th, two policemen (internal security, I presume) were hanged by protesters there, perhaps angry about something that happened on the 17th.
Al Baida also fell before Benghazi, at an uncertain time between Feb 18 the Feb 20. The rebels there or perhaps from Dernah - Libya's nearby al Qaeda central - were able to spread out and take nearby Shahet military base, early on the 19th, and Labraq airbase right after that (before the 21st). The weapons seized from Shahet apparently assisted the final taking of the "Katiba" barracks in Benghazi the following day, marking the effective conquest of their new capitol city.
And by the time of the al Baida massacre, where 22 government soldiers were executed and blamed on the regime, there were some strange people working that town. One bearded, possibly be-robed man with a walking stick and questions about Emirs passed judgment, on video, upon the condemned men some evening around Feb 19-22. They deserved their fate, he said, for daring to shoot back at the rebels as they took Labraq airbase (see here for the transcript).
On the days the videos below were filmed, who was working that town?
The videos 1) Protests in Al Bayda East Libya on the 17th Feb facing live fire http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2f2dA_zoYc
Posted by Libyanm, Jun 10, but dated on-screen Feb 17, day 3 of fighting.
2) "Qaddafi's men open fire on a funeral procession and kill mourners, Al BaiDa'" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmaI2FeYB9s
Posted by LibyanSolidarity, March 2.
On-screen text has, in "Indian numbers," 17, suggesting again Feb 17. The day or the group? Dunno.
3) "VERY GRAPHIC_ BOY KILLED BY GADDAFI MEN IN BAYDA LIBYA" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqUHTsJBVqE
Posted by apologiiiize, Feb 20. Description gives this as the date of the incident. Could be earlier.
Analysis First, Video 3
Only the date, February 20, and its view from ground level sets video 3 apart. Otherwise it seems all three videos seem to show either the same encounter or the same exact type of encounter happening repeatedly at the same spot. Video 3 is unique in showing it from ground level, as the crowd stops moving forward, holding a position near a row of dark blue blobs that seem to be internal security police. The quality is just atrocious. I've wondered if the resolution was lowered to obscure some detail. Like, for example, which way are the police's weapons pointing, up or forward?
A shot is fired, then we see a man down, a young guy, unconscious it seems, a pool of blood under the back of his head. Other quickly pick him up by the hands and feet and run him back the direction they came, blood just pouring from his head all the way. Barring an elaborate special effects job by the protesters (not impossible), it seems there's little doubt this kid was shot in the head right there, ten feet in front of this camera person, and was dead soon after.
We're to presume the shot was from the security men just fifty feet away at the intersection. But that's not what we're doing.
The Scene and the Sides
Videos 1 and 2 I'll focus on more. They are filmed from different low rooftops or mid-level balconies near each other, I've decided. For starters, I have a probable location within al Baida for the incident(s) shown in these three videos. The image below gives the best view from video one for comparison. The intersection, the buildings west of it, and the parking lot in particular perfectly match, and all else is consistent at least, for blocks down the street. Im 90% sure this is the spot.
What we're seeing is a funeral procession, in part, for what seems to be exactly one white-shrouded victim of some previous violence. The crowd moves east on Omar al Mukhtar way, perhaps after taking the body out of al Bayda hospital, abut six blocks distant. They're headed towards “Civil Defense of Al Jabal al Akhdar.”
The police line is quite near that presumed security center. The battle-scarred pavement around them seems to be from some previous violence. The white smears are I think from large rocks native to the area, breaking into chalky dust (al Baida means “the white,” by the way). The black smears are apparently from Molotov cocktails or some such, like the rocks, hurled towards the police line. In this video, both sides are hurling things at each other.
The security men run around in their area, with more coming from the north, but don't advance or retreat. Some hold rifle-shaped weapons for firing something - bullets, tear gas, I'm not sure. The sound of shots combined with no one running suggests they are shooting mostly in the air and everyone here knows that.
But video one's subtitles disagree, saying they're clearly firing bullets at the crowd. To be fair, at least twice security men are shown pointing their guns - of whatever type (I'm no expert) - in the direction of the approaching crowd (see right). Neither of these lines up with the actual shooting captured. The subtitles call the man at left, kneeling and apparently aiming his weapon, a "sniper." This a little bit ironic, as we'll see below.
The Fallen
The first two videos show two separate shootings, at two different intersections. I'm pretty sure video 3 shows the same killing as video 1, from a position just a couple of people behind the victim.
Video 1 has the shot come at 1:26. The victim is visible writhing around (or being adjusted?) on the pavement. There’s no ambulance; some of the protesters carry him off, back towards the hospital, within a matter of seconds. A pool and trail of blood are left, as happened with the victim in video 3. I think it's the same.
Video 2, the poor quality one, has a shot fired at 0:09. It takes a moment to zoom in, to see a vertical blob is now horizontal, and a crowd has gathered around. A yellow ambulance comes in quickly to help, but a gray pickup truck pulled up to retrieve them just a moment before, blocking their path. The video cuts there, and we don’t see what happened next.
At left are what I think are the camera person locations and the spots where the two martyrs fell, established by comparing cross-streets, building heights, and so on. By this, the video 2 victim was sniped quite a ways from the police line. It's possible as far as I know, but a long shot. The victim shown in Videos 1 and 3, however, is in a great spot to be told "no further" with a bullet to the head. There's no denying that. However...
My Theory: A False Flag Op by Terrorist Snipers
In video 2, the ambulance comes in from the side of the police line. We’re to presume the shooting did too, but I'm not so sure. My theory, which is looking better the more I look, is that rooftop snipers along the route, provocateurs hoping to demonize the regime and enrage the masses below, are doing the shooting here.
The camera just before the shooting.
Just left of the sniper position?
Video 2 has an unusual start, giving me my first clue. The camera starts out watching the procession, then cuts. Whatever happened in the interim, it isn't long, and cuts back to a view from behind a corrugated metal wall, a great sniper nest if there were a hole in it. The camera emerges from behind this wall to again watch the crowd below. In a possible coincidence, the shot is fired just then, as soon as the targets are being recorded again. I can totally envision the camera guy cutting to ask the sniper next to him "we're ready? They're getting close." Getting the yes, he rolls again, then gets in position, and with a signal that he's recording - bang. Gaddafi crime on video, ready for prime time worldwide.
Video one briefly shows people on the roof that I think video 2 was filmed from. The red blob is definitely a person, moving a bit and with a pink arm across the ledge, filming I presume. The purple is likely another person, perhaps kneeling, and there might be a third, in blue-gray, sitting. The longish black thing leaned inert against the wall might be a rifle. (The tin wall isn't visible, but that would be off-frame, on the opposite side of the roof.)
If the first team shot both the victim and the video from their rooftop, they’re apparently not shooting now. But a person was just shot beneath them once the other camera had a view. Was it really the police this time, or another sniper yet next to this camera person? Twice in a row, a demonstrator was shot down just as they came into a cemera's line of view.
I'm not sure yet how to analyze the audio aspect of the videos, but unless it's been doctored, a shot from the police zone down the street should sound very different from a gun right there next to the camera. But just from the visuals, I think we have a compelling, if not conclusive, case that these rare protester deaths were part of a coordinated false flag operation by extremely sinister elements within the Libyan uprising.
Note Sept. 11: One more odd bit - the gray truck in video 2, that has the victim loaded in its bed instead of in the government ambulance, was parked right there waiting. It pulls up just before the shooting in fact at 0:05, before the first cut (perhaps being the signal to double check everyone's readiness?). All it does is park there. Then comes the brief edit, the gunshot, enough time for the death and reaction to filmed for a moment passes. Then the truck rolls forward just in time to keep the evidence from the authorities, we presume. A group of people loads the victim, and in a matter of seconds, the truck drives through the crowd towards the hospital or wherever. I think what happened next is the crowd blocked the ambulance until it gave up, but again, that part wasn't shown. Why there was no truck ready the second time, I do not know.
Video Version and One More Clue
And one more thing, as I included in the video but not above, there is a possible clue from camera 3. Numerous gunshots happen with little effect on his filming. But for some reason, the one that killed the protester in front of him has the camera panning around differently, focusing briefly on only one spot - up, ahead, and to the left, in the direction of the building top where I think the shot came from and where video one was recorded. At left is the only view I know of of that building (the taller one with white lights at the top).
More on the Victims, Date, and Location
Comments (see below) submitted by astute reader Felix alerts me to A report on the website of AlKarama 4 March 2011. AlKamarais a Switzerland-based organization, he says, and the report "mentions that the evidence for 59 deaths in Al Baida is based solely on death certificates issued by the hospital, all for bullet wounds (allegedly). These are assumed to be demonstrators." Indeed, that was their basis for proving a government order worthy of investigation and sanctions. As this study shows, that was a leap of faith (unrecognized?) that seems unwarranted.
The report also mentions "a 10 year old girl, Rokaya Mabrouk, shot dead in Al Baida on 18 February 2011 and a 14 year old boy, Saad Al Yamani, killed in front of the security forces' headquarters on 16 February 2011," Felix says. Sounds like deft provocateur work, just like the videos examined above. Felix also reasons that these videos might be from the 16th instead of the 17th, citing exactly two protesters killed in front of the main security HQ that day - Mr.Yamani and a 21-year-old named Khaled Naji Khanfar. Other than one in Ajdabiya, and a few in front of al Abraq airpot, the rest of the death locales are given as just "Al Baida." Quite a few are listed as going down that day, any of them perhaps at the same place, just not specified.
I could go with either day at this point, and I don't suppose it much matters. But the location is a match. One site I found gives "Al Jabal al Akhdar" as one of Libya's 25 municipal adminstrative divisions. Many cities have a district of their own name, but not al Baida. So the civil defense station of that name these protesters were shot near would seem to be the main one for that city, as cited for those two shot guys.
December 28, 2011
last update July 28, 2012 (new wiki links Nov. 18)
Note July 28: This is being bumped to allow comments on the whole Syria situation. The previous post these gathered at finally got full at 271 comments. This one's still got some room, plus new text that starts a ways down.
The parallels between what was done, is still being done, to Libya and what's been slowly brewing for Syria just keep coming up in my research. The Syrian situation is probably just about as fascinating, but as an obsessive specializer, I haven't looked into it in the slightest detail.
But things like this, from Thierry Meyssan, suggest I should: “Free Syrian Army” commanded by Military Governor of Tripoli, Dec. 19. It's got a lot of things I can't vouch for, including the following, which sounds well-illustrated and hinting that what we saw these schemers and terrorists do in Libya will be emerging in Syria.
However, in the Saturday edition dated 17 December 2011, Daniel Iriarte describes an encounter that shocked him. While his FSA friends were taking him to a new hideout, he came across some foreign insurgents: three Libyans [6].
The first one among them was al-Mahdi Hatari, a Libyan who lived in Ireland before joining Al Qaeda. At the end of the Libyan war, he was named commander of the Tripoli Brigade, then number 2 of the Tripoli Military Council headed by Abdel Hakim Belhaj. He resigned from this function, according to some because of a dispute with the Transitional National Council, according to others because he wanted to go back to Ireland to join his Irish wife [7] The truth is that he headed for Syria.
[...]
The second Libyan that the Spanish photographer in the Syrian army is none other than Kikli Adem, a lieutenant of Abdel Hakim Belhaj. As for the third Libyan, nicknamed Fouad, Daniel Iriarte was not in a position to identify him.
One of the few articles I have even looked at was this excellent, extremely-informed-sounding piecee from Palestine chronicle.
We have just seen what has been done to Libya in the name of human rights and the 'responsibility to protect'. Uncounted thousands of Libyans were killed in eight months of bombing and missile attacks by French, British and American warplanes. There is prima facie evidence that war crimes were committed but there is not even the suggestion that someone will be held accountable.
Salt lists and analyzes many of the more incendiary claims made against the Assad regime, sounding depressingly just like what was spouted in the rapid build-up to destruction of another non-cooperative government. If his characterizations of the claims are correct, not even the evidence he gives for or against them, I'd recommend people be troubled. The same sorts of illogical evil has been alleged against the governments of Yugoslavia, Iraq, and now Libya. Generally they prove at least as untrue as the skeptics suspected. But they're allowed to linger in a twilight zone of truth just long enough to "justify" intervention.
Some samples, drawing from the UN Human Rights Commission's deficient-sounding report on the Syrian situation:
The commission presents one side of the story throughout. For virtually every claim it makes there is a counter narrative which it ignores. One such claim involves the use of snipers. The commission says or implies that they were state security forces. There is countervailing evidence of armed civilians shooting at demonstrators to throw the blame on to the state. Perhaps there is truth in both versions, but both versions needed to be considered. The fact remains that the identity of these snipers is not known.
The direct evidence in Libya is there in at least one city, al Baida. The two shootings shown there on Feb. 17, both presumably fatal, are the only time I've seen unarmed people actually being shot on camera anywhere in the uprising, the only visual proof that the people killed were not armed militants engaging in an attack, at least in this one case. However, the visual cues converge to suggest quite strongly the gunmen responsible were rooftop snipers working right next to, and implicitly with, the rebel cameramen who then released this proof of Gaddafi repression to the world on Youtube.
It's just sick that people can take invisible snipers as evidence of a state crime with so little logic to it.
Select other points: The report alleges that roadblocks and security checks were set up to prevent people from joining demonstrations but makes no mention of allegations of roadblocks being set up by armed gangs and the consequent kidnapping and killing of civilians.
Not much work done on it, but there's a post here for The Tripoli Massacres: Roadblock Victims
The report mentions the raid on a mosque in Dar'a early in the protest movement but not the stockpile of weapons found there.
See Az Zawiyah for just one example of a militarized mosque
It refers to the torture and murder in custody of two teenage boys and claims that up to November 9, 'reliable sources' indicated that 256 children had been killed by state forces. This is such a serious accusation that some corroborative evidence was needed but there is nothing, not the name even of one of these children and not the circumstances in which they were allegedly killed.
The state security forces are accused of rape but there is no mention of the cases of rape reported by the Syrian authorities to have been committed by armed gangs as part of their project to terrorize and intimidate the civilian population.
But who could believe such claims from a 'regime of rape,' like Gaddafi's once was?
Etc...
The New Website, Jan. 6 http://mar15.info/ Looks quite familiar, after having looked at Feb17 this and 17Feb thatwith Libya's "new flag" all over them, all in English. A website aggregator of anti-Assad opinions and accusations, to let the protesters and their starry-eyed, armed-gang-ignoring global supporters know they're faaaaar from alone. The corporate media, Human Rights" groups, world governments, all kinds of people agree that Assad has got to go for daring to resist this violent and deceitful takeover effort masquerading as simple protest. The following bits are all from there.
A suicide bombing just killed 25 people in an area of Damascus now, Midan, where protesters are centered. The government says some of those protesters did it in their own hood to blame Assad and provoke people, while protesters just blame Assad, and keep doing it loudly.
Time outlines the old bargain in Syria, "relative peace and limited prosperity in exchange for iron-fisted, one-party rule," now to be replaced with absolute peace, and boundless prosperity, trust us, under a NATO-enforced free-market system. Five parties maybe, none representing the old values of national independence, all working for deepened slavery to the new new world order. And you get to friggin' vote on which one!
One-Sided Cease-Fire Demands
The conflict in Libya had reached war proportions, and that was a problem because the Western-backed insurgents were losing against the government of the sovereign and solid nation of Libya. Demand for the violence to stop, a demand leveled only at Tripoli. NATO stopped any attack on Benghazi, then proceded to "protect civilians"even as they surged forward with military weapons and conquered city after city - humanitarian protection seamlessly became tactical air support. It was even highly predictable.
In late March, the Telegraph's Richard Spencer passed on the concern from the Libyan government's spokesman, Moussa Ibrahim, that "The government ... says it cannot be just a one-sided ceasefire..." But it could be and was. No terms were worked out, the West and the UN were through talking to the Libyans before they ever started. Cease-fire clearly meant one thing: die, undesirable government. If it started out too subtle to discern (it din't), the message sure became clear enough by the end of the summer.
Now, demands for the violence in Syria to end, leveled only at Damascus, not that I've ever read at the insurgent militants. Sometimes I'll see a headline, demands for a complete halt to the fighting. I get a flutter of hope, then read, Assad must accede to the other side's demands and step aside, and/or the government needs to stop fighting those trying to destroy the government.
QUESTION: You think there is still a path out?
MS. NULAND: Well –
QUESTION: For the regime.
MS. NULAND: — that’s obviously still on the table. It requires Assad to step aside.
[...]
MS. NULAND: Again, what we think needs to happen first and foremost is that the violence needs to end and a process of dialogue needs to begin inside Syria. There needs to be peace and security there so that the country can move forward.
The State Department is deciding where this "forward" arrow points. They did that with Libya.
Nuland, continued:
We’re also hearing reports, interestingly, of large-scale defections of Syrian military officers over the weekend, and it is these Syrian – including taking some of their equipment and their heavy equipment – and it’s these defections that are most rattling the government.
Increasing violence, increasing deaths, and increased military defections were all reported the same time in Libya too. The truth seems to have been increased militant activity, causing the increased death of soldiers, who were then advertsied by the militants as having "defected." 22 of them shown dead in a video tried to defect but were killed by their own officers and Africans. But another of the rebels' videos shows some of these same LOYALIST people held by rebel fighters, and being sentenced to death for daring to oppose them. Oops.
Persecution of Christians in Syria, illogically blamed on Assad. In Libya, case after case of victims of Gaddafi who look like "Gaddafi's African mercenaries," Animist/Christian/Other-Africam like some of the 17 "anti-Gaddafi activists" whose tortured bodies at Tripoli's Mitiga hospital in August were marked "non-Muslim for burial purposes." Hey, wasn't it exactly 17 prisoners of the Assad regime, for a fact, that were just found executed and dumped in Hama? One of these: a police "deserter." One of the Tripoli victims was also, I believe, a local cop, who had rebel sympathies of course (link, later). All coincidence, probably, but...
But it was illegal to do anything to stop these monsters. They were taking over, going where they wanted, killing who they wanted to kill, how they wanted to doit, blaming who they pleased, and NATO had their backs, tactically and (by roundabout channels) informationally.
What they are insisting in Syria is, again, a surrender to whatever rabble has taken up arms against them. Essentially, it's national suicide, demanding they cut off their own faces. Of course they won't agree, and another round of "peacekeeping" might be required to force them to stop fighting by being dead.
Is air support even possible this time? Not with UNSC approval, anyway. Maybe al Qaeda will finally get to use a suitcase nuke someone slips them,and blame Assad. That might finally do it.
This post was supposed to something it never did. But later on I learned more about a few incidents in Syria and two particularly fascinating parallel have by now announced themselves to me.
Yarmouk/Houla Parallels: Check Those "Witnesses" Carefully
The first has to do with murky massacres and the power of both fake witnesses in a team effort, and the power of exposing that effort with careful analysis. We made good work of the Khamis Brigade shed massacre, in the report A Question Mark Over Yarmouk (PDF available here, provocative press release here), dicovering fake witnesses with changing names and stories, massive contradictions between the alleged witnesses, and adequate signs of rebel execution of the massacre. Syria had its quite different and horrifying "Houla massacre" in the town of Taldouon May 25. A reported 108 people were killed with guns and blades and hammers, including 49 children, many women, and less men, whole families of disputed identity killed at home by disputed parties.
Along with other(s) I'm slowly doing an analysis of the rebel-supplied witnesses for what happened at Houla, as well as the non-rebel witnesses with their own overall story. The rebel witnesses have their flourished of politics over-truth (with religio-ethnic/sectarian overtones), strange details like how they survived (as at Yarmouk, a fertile field to plow), and probably some serious inconsistencies (though these are harder to find in this case of scattered massacres, whereas Yarmouk was one event in a one-room shed).
One detailed comparison of three accounts given by one star witness proved a potent starting point. Ali Al-Sayed, a little eight-year-old kid called 11, can't remember his own family members' names or number, but can detect an "Alawite accent" that probably doesn't exist, and managed to implicate his uncle in the massacre, in a fanciful twist. That the most famous and moving victim, a blessed miracle survivor, unharmed but for the brain damage (?), is so clearly coached and saw none of what he says is a bad sign for this rebel cover story. Remember, little kids, some just months old, were shot, sliced, and bludgeoned to death there by someone. I've seen the photos and videos and saved copies.
The Sniped Tykes of Misrata and of Homs
Another great parallel builds off of the above point about false-flag snipers in Libya and Syria. Back in April last year I wrote more on the alleged regime snipers, picking off little kids in rebel-held Misrata. This was a charge taken up by UNICEF and many others. Two children have been shown as victims, a boy and a girl, about 4 and 5 years old, both miraculously surviving with bullets in their chests, both proven with x-ray images.
The images, however, are exactly the same - one copy at most can be legitimate, the other or both tacked on. The image also appears fake, with no damage to the bullet or the child's skeleton - as if a kid was laid on an x-ray table with a large bullet laid on his or her sternum. It's also inconsistent with the injuries described for the boy - the bullet entered his right shoulder and exited the left side, his parents said. Here, it either entered backwards (ouch) or entered his lower left side and never exited, stopping well short of his/her right shoulder. and just shy of their hearts.
Here are the two films side-by-side, the girl's de-skewed from a video still, the boy's from a photo published by Human Rights Watch.
Perhaps unwisely, I commented then: All I can say is I'm glad the rebels are still able to fake these things in Photoshop and have it believed. If the international agencies like UNICEF and HRW were more exacting, we might see rebels actually shooting each others' children to leverage stronger support for regime change efforts.
Is it possible my research helped make our "freedom fighters" in Syria worse? They seem to be doing about that, except targeting the other side's children - government supporters and non-Sunni people. Gulp.
The Syrians' Misrata is, or was, the large city of Homs, rebel-infested, government-besieged. It was eventually re-claimed, but for months in the hads of people that the government and many locals called "terrorists." They committed almost daily kidnappings for ransom that often ended with no payment and dead captives, sometimes tortured and/or shown on video as victims of regime forces. There were also random shootings on the streets by prevalent "pro-regime" snipers, killing civilians almost daily, allowing a constant stream of shocking rebel videos, as they always got the body, always demanding intervention while zooming in in on the shocking injuries they themselves just inflicted.
That's all a broad-sweep characterization I could only partially illustrate with solid evidence at the moment. But one anchor point where it's basically proven is the politicized assassination by anti-government activists, of nine-year-old Sari Saoud, in north Homs on November 26, 2011.
There's nothing fake about the bullet that passed clear through his chest that day; it entered his right side, armpit level, and exited on the left, same level.
He died about instantly, too quick for his mother to be sure, before some rebel guys appeared, probably from about the sniper's position, to 'help.' They stole his body from her care, driving off as she tried to go 'to the hospital' with him. Then he was put on a slab in a rebel safe house and had the exit wound zoomed in on, while a narrator damned Assad and demanded more foreign intervention. Later, Sari's mother was allowed to see her son and try to get him to a hospital, so they could get video of them together. Assad kills Christian boy, her Crucifix caused the vide title to say. Mother weeps and the gets cut off as she starts to scream at the activists. She lived to denounce her child's killers on video here and here.
For less regret is tne future, let me just say there is no lesson for the terrorists here except maybe two points:
1) Tone it down a bit. You offed many innocents in Homs that hardly anyone saw or could count. Whole lives ended, some with extra cruelty for the shock of it, all for some obscure one-too-many Youtube video that only ever gets 150 views and no mentions in a single news outlet. You don't want that to be you, so quit making so many of these snuff films, people. Sometimes less is more.
2) And no, I don't see any reason your God would have covered up his eyes for you. You might still be able to be un-damned if you start trying now. Otherwise, forget it. Activist Ahmed Houli, another obfuscator of the slaughter in Taldou/Houla said "I would like to call for the international community and the U.N. to save our souls." Huh. Acknowledgment it's needed, a fruitless avenue to get it.
The original article/content has been removed to a new post )top link below) to make this a masterlist for organizing numerous sub-posts, some still forthcoming. The comments, first several, reflect the old content.
A more appropriate intro later. First, the video to explain visually what this is about:
For those interested, I'm accepting ideas about what needs to go in this report, how it should be organized, phrased, etc. The content and tone are open at the moment as I just start an outline that might work. I've decided to postpone release of the shed massacre report long enough to fully absorb new info and to get this second report started. So long as the first one, and possibly both, are out in time for the one-year anniversaries, I'll consider that a victory.
Anyone want to take a crack at proposing a report outline/approach or even writing a draft section? Or helping gather more links, videos, images, etc.?
Libya's racist, irascible rebels have always despised Gaddafi's support for, unity with, and employment of Black Africans from Chad, Niger, and so on. Less known is their extreme disapproval of his fraternizing with and working with Slavic people from Russia, Ukraine, and other places including, especially, vilified Serbia.
A video I just ran across about Colonel Gaddafi's Serbian cook, now back home and recalling the decent man he knew. He could speak some Serbian, and "liked Yugoslavs." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dRhoo_IJ08
Yugoslavs? Just like Jamahiriya, Yugoslavia is a word we're supposed to have wiped off the map. Those murdering Serb thugs, allegedly, their country torn to pieces, for real. As with Libya, it was done largely by NATO, with local Islamist affiliates who like chopping off heads...
But the rebels know there's no point hiring foreigners for anything except killing rebels/protesters. Even at the beginning, in late February, such rumors against both blacks and Serbs were taken widely as probably true. As the Balkan Update blog/site passes on, Serbian snipers were reported by a tabloid to be taking part in the mass-slaughter of unarmed protesters that still hasn't been proven to be done by anyone, and Serbian pilots were helping carry out the fighter jet attacks on same that all evidence suggests never happened.
These are the perfect kind of things for a demonized minority might keep paying for throughout the war. And in time the fighting got more fierce with foreign airpower, firepower, advisers, elite units, and so on brought to bear against the Libyan government. As Tripoli lost more fighters, the likelihood of real foreign fighters, from Cameroon or Croatia, would only grow. So as with later claims of African mercenaries, I do not presume the innocence of the accused. But neither will I just accept rebel characterizations.
Road Work?
Petri Krohn started me off with a comment, apparently conflating two separate incidents, which was handy.
A group of 22 Ukrainian construction workers was held at the airport in August. I understand they were all killed.
An American (someone who was first in the press in March) interrogates these "Gaddafi sniper" and does not want to believe the story they are building a road. "Don't you follow the news? Don't you know there is a war going on?" Satellite images however show major progress on the 3rd Ring Road between August 14th and August 20th, around here.
Petri's link was to a different video, actually, that helps make the case. The Ukrainian part is accurate: Gaddafi's Ukrainian Snipers Caught in Abu-Salim Neighbourhood (Tripoli, Libya), Aug. 25, 2011
Or so says the poster, Quatchi Canada, who's not reliable. All the speaking here is in Arabic and it's notclear if these older men even say they're doing road work. The captives are silent, dejected. They seem to sense they'll just be slaughtered, and only hope it will be swift. Mercenary scum, but with a senior discount.
[By: Salam Tekbali] Several men accused of being mercenaries answer questions posed in English and identify themselves as Serbians. They claim to have traveled to Libya to work on a road construction project. The video was recorded on August 22nd in the Tripoli Airport.
Salam Tekbali is a Libyan-American lawyer with a JD from Barry University and B.A. in Political Science from the University of Arizona.
"Do you know that Libya's been at war six months?" Kill and die is all anyone's supposed to be doing?
The Frozen Sniper
Then there is the slavic sniper, in a video mentioned by Petri (here), frozen into a cube, legs twisted, folded up to his head, a gasp of horror frozen on his face. He does look like a soldier-type, from the boots to the hair, not a Libyan uniform it seems, and a bit light-skinned. I could buy this being a foreign fighter, hopefully killed before being stuffed into a tiny freezer for some reason, but as Felix noted (right below Petri), it was at least before rigor mortis set in. That's some flexibility
More Abuse of Slavic White Niggers in Liberated Libya
Below, in comments, for now.
Serb Victims at Qaer Ben Ghashir?
See this fascinating post. 50-100 prisoners were held here, we heard, ordinary Libyans - doctors, engineers, yearning freedom - held in a Khamis brigade prison at Qasr Ben Ghashir, next to Tripoli airport. On August 21, 22, and/or 24, 5/6 of these prisoners was shot dead, or shot, and the rest of the prisoners let themselves out of the cells and the five guards ran away. A Brazilian company had been running construction of the third ring road from the same site until an unknown date. Serbs were caught there, at the airport saying they worked on the road, as mentioned above (fluent English was a job requirement). That was August 22. At left are 2 or 3 of the found bodies filmed at “a former Yugoslavian machine factory complex” in the Qasr Ben Ghashir area, taken on August 25 (source photo). They're apparently supposed to be some of the Libyans killed by the fleeing guards, and then ...left for 1-4 days to rot and be found by locals?
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)
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.)
One of the victims sits up and looks around, waving at people. Another victims then wanders over and, apparently having been shot, lays splayed-out among them (at left, starting to kneel). As Felix describes it "this video clearly shows a "protester" ambling onto set (and it is essentially a film set with actors) then slowly getting down, then lying dead on his back, at about 0.16 onwards. He occasionally pops his head up just to check he isn't dead." Another victim in the struggle!
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?
by Adam Larson Re-posted April 23 2011 Original posting, in longer form, as Crimes Against Reality in Libya, part 3 Note May 23:As a bit of a break, I made a video version of this finding to put on Youtube. The link. The video:
(Original introduction truncated - for background on the strategic importance of Misrata, Libya's third largest city and mostly under rebel control, see the article "Why Misrata Matters")
Mystery Snipers Killing Kids?
The last few days, April 14-16, have however seen a brutal new offensive by the government's forces besieging Misrata, by rebel reports, with a few dozen more killed in rocket attacks on Misrata, indiscriminately including women, children, and elderly. Cluster bombs have reportedly been found. The harbor was attacked again. The rebels predict a total slaughter will finally befall them without more NATO involvement soon. What they really mean is Misrata will no longer be a rebel town.
Worse than the fairly indiscriminate death of distance shelling, the most incendiary new allegation is the mad tyrant Gaddafi sending snipers to Misrata to sit on rooftops, picking out children to shoot dead. Or so we hear. On April 8, a statement was issued in Switzerland:
“What we have are reliable and consistent reports of children being among the people targeted by snipers in Misrata,” UNICEF spokeswoman Marixie Mercado told reporters in Geneva. The information was based on local sources, Mercado said. She was unable to say how many children have been wounded or killed in this way. [1]
UNICEF, the United Nations wing for caring about children's health and well-being, was naturally alarmed enough by these reports to announce they existed but weren’t verified – they’d go and have a look and then, perhaps, we’d hear about corroboration.
A cynic might see in this echoes of the incubator-baby stories of 1991 Gulf War fame. The tale of an Iraqi atrocity in Kuwait, killing dozens of premature babies for no clear reason, gave massive and emotional public support to the war effort. Later, the story was proven to be a complete lie, concocted by the Kuwaiti royal family and public relations firm Hill and Knowlton, Inc. [2] Again, the first part of that is happening with this news spreading like wildfire. And we shall see, and in short order, that the second half is already coming into focus along similar lines.
There’s no great reason to doubt the presence of snipers in the city, given the situation. Rebels allege African mercenaries as usual, military snipers from elite battalions, and most recently special female sharpshooters from Colombia’s FARC army. [3] One Libyan exile with contact in Misrata said the snipers were “Libyan mercenaries,” as well as some “from Mauritania, 2 from Colombia, 2 women, some from Chad, and others from origins of which we are not sure.” (more from this expert below). [4]
As far as people capable of making bullets fly in a war-torn city, we also cannot rule out armed loyalist citizens, possibly gone loco and trying to demoralize the traitors by killing their young. That wouldn't exactly be a government strategy requiring regime change, but close enough for most. Or it could be a black-hearted rebel supporter trying to create another humanitarian disaster to be blamed on the regime. And it would be, of course, with no questions asked. The government itself claims snipers exist in Misrata – brought in by the rebels and affiliated with Hezbollah, says spokesman Khaled Kaim. Hezbollah denies this, and the evidence has yet to be shown [5]
Yousef bin Youssef on Snipers, Kids, and/or Targeting
A video from the Al Aan channel of the United Arab Emirates was posted April 9, with English subtitles, on rebel site LibyaFeb17.info. Entitled “Batallion snipers targeting children in Misurata,” the content is an interview with Yousef bin Youssef, onetime Misrata resident, in touch with others still there and amazingly informed (he’s the one with the sniper nationalities list). [4]
Asked if “children were actually being targeted by snipers there,” Youssef makes a long presentation with heavy use of the word for “targeted,” but only gives one bit of an answer to that question at the end. He starts with the government shelling of the city:
“[T]here are very serious risks when these populated zones are targeted – many injuries could occur … Families are being targeted daily … the targeting of children and civilians in large numbers … the targeting of Misrata is happening in every residential area … Gaddafi’s forces are systematically killing the entire population of the city of Misrata.”
He does get to children, noting that “a car with four children in it was targeted,” in fact a disputable incident at a check-point, killing one child an wounding another. [6] This is quite common in places like Iraq where a government is up against an insurgency. “In another neighborhood near Tripoli street,” Youssef added, “a child of two years was also targeted” in some unspecified way. He also lists several names with ages of “just a few” of the youngest “martyrs” killed by anything at all so far in this conflict.
He also brought cell-phone video footage of three injured children evacuated, from Misrata and Benghazi, to Turkey. One is a boy with his right arm amputated and the left one locked in a full cast, and one eye swollen shut. Another older boy is shown with both hands in casts. Both look more like mishaps in handling explosives than any sniper’s work. Their injuries are not explained. [4]
The Girl in Turkey: Right for the Heart
The only time in all Youssef’s interview where any sign of a sniper appears is with the third child, which he describes as:
“a small girl, no older than 4 years, who was targeted by a sniper’s bullet near the heart. But thank God, they removed the bullet, as you can see.” [4]
The hefty bullet is shown in a vial, and a precious little girl is shown curled up asleep in the hospital bed, barely saved from the government's mad designs. And as proof the two were once together, her x-ray is also shown to the camera. A rib cage is visible, with a bullet appearing in the upper center (top image). That looks like medical proof she was shot by someone or other. And certainly the whole medical clinic setting lends credence to it.
Luckily I happen to have a clearer blow-up of this same image (see below, explained further below) to get some better detail. It looks like possibly a sniper bullet, but with an odd orientation. Unless the kid was doing cartwheels at the moment of impact, it was apparently fired up from a low angle, an inherently illogical scenario.
Further, the bullet is perfectly shaped, with no apparent deformation from entry and plowing through tissues firm enough to stop it entirely only halfway through.
This in turn might have something to with absolutelyno sign of entry revealed by the x-rays. Following back the apparent bullet track suggests it must have entered her body on the left side (lower right in the image). Any possible “hole” in her side would be invisible from a frontal view. We should, however, see any broken chunks or deformation to the curve of her ribs where at least one should have been shattered. But not a single arc of this delicate 4-year-old rib-cage is disturbed that we can see.
While I don’t have the expertise to credibly rule out a real gunshot here, It seems to me that this image shows two things:
1) The girl was never shot.
2) A bullet was made to appear in her chest.
The fakery could be done in any photo-editing program, then sent to a device for developing the image on transluscent film to look real. Or it could be a simple x-ray image of the child with a bullet laid on her chest. But that’s sure as hell not how it was preseted to the world at almost exactly the same time as that April 8 UNICEF report.
The Boy in Misrata with the Same X-Ray Proof
Furthermore, at the same time, there was another child with a family claiming proof of a very similar sniper shot. The April 10 Human Rights Watch dispatch related the story of a five-year-old boy. He's not in the main article for some reason, but is shown in the bottom picture with his mother and an x-ray image, with this extended caption:
Five-and-a-half year old Rakan Ahmed was playing in the street opposite the Italian Consulate on March 19 when a bullet entered his shoulder and passed by his heart, according to his parents, Hanan Faraj and Ahmed Muftah Burjid. There was fighting at the time about 500 meters away, they said, but no sound of gunfire close by. “Rakan’s uncle carried him inside,” Ahmed Muftah Burjid said. “We thought he fainted. There was no sound of a gunshot, no blood.” When the family arrived at the hospital, they saw the bullet from the x-rays, which the family shared with Human Rights Watch. “We were shocked,” Ahmed recalled. “We just thought he was tired.” [6]
This might sound strange, but is remarkably akin to what happened to WPC Yvonne Fletcher in London, 1984. Standing across from the Libyan embassy, she was shot by a high-powered bullet that entered the right shoulder at a steep angle, hit the heart, lung, and other vital organs, and passed out her lower left rib cage. [6] She died from all this within short order, but from the outside, she just collapsed, with no visible blood and officers at first acting as if she'd just fainted. [8] Gaddafi thug snipers pulled the trigger, it was decided, in both of these cases. Women and children were slaughtered, publics enraged. We have a precedent.
By the photo HRW ran (right), little Rakan does seem to be injured. He has bandages on his left side over the owie (the exit wound after the entry on his right shoulder?). His mom helps show us by pulling up his arm and his shirt. He looks unhappy, but quite healthy and limber for only three weeks healing time after such a massive injury to the upper body.
The x-ray image shown to the right, shared by the family, reveals a bullet is or was once in there, stopped just where it was in the girl’s x-ray. It did not exit through his side or at all. Hmmm...
The bullet shown here has the same pristine profile, same orientation and implied, illogical, low-level entry. It clearly did not enter via his shoulder, as reported, in fact just stopping in the middle of him, halfway to his right shoulder. Beside the bullet match, this x-ray shows the same strange line running across, same light and dark patches, same … undisturbed rib cage.
It’s the same image, I can safely say, (aside from the circled left shoulder in Rakan's print). See the comparison at left, complicated by low-resolution video, the different angles of view, and different backgrounds behind the translucent images (these are all corrected somewhat for the left image). Clearly they are too consistent to be anything other than the same, so this is of course my source for the above blow-up of the little girl’s chest shot.
The image could still be of a genuine child shooting, as my pathologist friend Rolfe at the JREF forum points out, but as she also notes with basic logic, it can’t be evidence for both of those kids being shot. [9] Nonetheless, it was presented within the same few-days span as just that. It should of course be noted that this doubling up is enough to change “child” to “children,” and leave the public imagining just how many. Imaginations over here tend to ignore the "reported" part and presume hundreds of things like this. But we have this kind of evidence for only two, one recovering in Turkey, the other all healed up in Misrata, neither with a single broken rib, judging by the single x-ray image between them.
All I can say is I'm glad the rebels are still able to fake these things in Photoshop and have it believed. If the international agencies like UNICEF and HRW were more exacting, we might see rebels actually shooting each others' children to leverage stronger support for regime change efforts. At the moment, I wish Gaddafi would just step down and hand his country over to Wall Street and these manipulative little domestic proxies so this absurdity can finally stop.
Sources:
[1] Washington Post. UNICEF: Snipers targeting children in besieged Libyan city of Misrata. April 8. http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/unicef-snipers-targeting-children-in-besieged-libyan-city-of-misrata/2011/04/08/AF5jO4zC_story.html
[2] http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0906/p25s02-cogn.html
[3] Daily Mail. April 15. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1377349/Libya-16-women-children-rocket-blitz-Gaddafis-troops.html
[4] “Batallion snipers targeting children in Misurata.” April 9 posting of video interview with Yousef bin Youssef, on al Aan news. (Undated). http://feb17.info/media/video-interview-battalion-snipers-targeting-children-in-misurata-translated/
[5] Hezbollah denies any role in Libya’s uprising. Ya Libnan. April 14 2011. http://www.yalibnan.com/2011/04/14/hezbollah-denies-any-role-in-libyas-uprising/
[6] Human Rights Watch. "Libya: Government Attacks in Misrata Kill Civilians." April 10 2011. http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2011/04/10/libya-government-attacks-misrata-kill-civilians
[7]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Yvonne_Fletcher
[8] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdg0BGzKCmc
[9] "Baby Snipers...Propaganda? Or are they just that evil?" JREF discussion forum. Thread started April 8. http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=205780
