Questioning Qana

The Qana bombing doesn't quite add up. Perhaps it's as simple as Israeli forces deliberately or carelessly dropping bombs on a building filled with Lebanese women and children.

But perhaps we should be willing to be more questioning, more cynical.

We can't be willing, even eager to assign the darkest motives to our own government while giving groups like Hezbollah and Al Qaeda a free ticket. We can't insinuate that perhaps Alberto Gonzalez sanctioned Abu Graib, or the military "allowed" Gitmo prisoners to kill themselves, or the CIA gleefully sends enemy combatants oversees for some vicious, Bauer-esque rendition* ... but then, after demanding answers, retreat to a more noble conception of humanity when it comes to the other players in these conflicts. This is asymmetrical warfare, and lets be real clear about it: The people who understand the imbalance with the most alacrity are the folks without the JDAMS and satellite imaging and F16s. In fact, the only real way to re-balance the scales when you're so badly outgunned is to pursue public relations campaign with ferocity, and without mercy.

So when the IDF claims to have bombed Qana eight hours before the building collapsed - well, sure, it could be a bogus claim. And when somebody else says that the man onsite pulling children’s bodies from the rubble and waving them in front of the camera looks identical** to a man who pulled children’s bodies from the rubble and waved them in front of the camera after an incident in 1996 - that could be coincidence or misinterpretation too. Or when conservative bloggers point out the full-process color banner which appeared very soon after the Qana bombing condemning the action - that banner takes at least 5 or 6 days to create, according to print shop professionals -- well, this anomaly might be explained by the fact that the claim is made by conservative bloggers, and ipso facto, must be outlandish crazy talk.

But if we're going to question our news, and view events with a healthy skepticism, then we are obligated to consider the possibility that Hezbollah, at the very least, played some role in orchestrating the events at Qana. We should support an honest investigation, both by journalists and international groups - one which isn't predisposed to believe either the Israeli or the Hezbollah version of events.

* This one is actually true. We outsource brutal interrogations.
** I have links, if you want them, but they are incredibly graphic.