Operation Squid Ink

While some in history have looked to creatures as lowly as the ant for inspiration, the apologists for Israel’s Mid East rampage have gone to a different branch of the invertebrate kingdom–”the squids–”for their inspiration. When threatened, the squid lets out clouds of dark, black ink…much like newsprint. Therefore, I think a fitting name for the pro-Israeli propaganda effort should be “Operation Squid Ink”.

The usual propaganda techniques are, of course, part of this effort. I described them in my article on the destruction of Jenin.[1] In weeks of monitoring numerous talk shows and news programs and National Public Radio, I have seen them all. One old friend jumps out at us: the victims who have had their homes and buildings blown up actually did it themselves to get sympathy for their cause. Or else, Hezbollah did it.

Likewise, the very nature of the conflict is disguised in typical “Zio-squid” fashion. Rather than an illegal and aggressive war launched by Israel against the sovereign state of Lebanon and its civilian population and infrastructure (and that the U.N. betrayed its very charter by failing to protect a member state–”Lebanon–from such action and continues groveling and appeasing the aggressor–”Israel–at every turn) we are constantly told the war is “with Hezbollah”. (To be honest, no military in the region could stand up to an Israeli onslaught in a conventional war–”only a guerilla force such as Hezbollah could offer any deterrence at all.)

Some new elements of this propaganda blitz are ominous in their level of dark cynicism…almost if they were designed to infuriate rather than convince. The child victims of Qana, for instance, were actually killed by Hezbollah. How so? It seems the Israelis claimed they bombed the building hours before it exploded, so Hezbollah must have done it or a Hezbollah rocket may have done it. (Of course, the world community is perfectly satisfied with another Gaza Beach self-investigation by Israel.)

Further, we are told, not only is Israel not responsible for Qana, the Israelis may not have attacked civilians at all. This is just an evil myth started by Hezbollah and “Europeans”. After all, if they did, wouldn’t there be more than a few thousand dead and wounded? But what about all that footage of blasted bridges, schools, roads, hospitals, power plants, fuel depots, etc.? “Ah, those are all doctored,” say the squids. The proof? Reuters ran two (2) photos allegedly doctored by freelance stringer Adnan Hajj that were immediately detected by 2000 sharp-eyed viewers (?!?) Therefore, throw out your “Logic 101” textbook, ALL the images of Lebanon you see are false. Remember, as with force, Israelis are allowed to use propaganda–”Hezbollah is not!

Of course, what the squids never tell us is why Reuters was forced to use a stringer it had little or no experience with, and whose submissions could not be corroborated. Could it have anything to do with the fact that the Israelis are trying to kill journalists entering Lebanon and that Reuters had no choice other than to go with what was available? Certainly, if the Israelis wished to make a permanent record of the care and consideration they are treating Lebanese noncombatants with, perhaps as a defense in future war crimes trials, they could simply allow journalists unimpeded access to the “war zone”. After all, if the attacks are so targeted, the journalists should be able to operate in perfect safety!!!

It gets even more far out. In an attempt to spur sectarian fighting between Lebanese Shiites and Sunnis, the propagandists use a Wahhabi Sunni cleric who allegedly inspired Osama to attack the U.S. World Trade Center to “prove” that Hezbollah is “the party of the devil, not God”! So, if this cleric and his fatwah are so correct, does that mean that the 911 attack by Osama was the work of God? (Apparently the Israelis detained celebrating and photographing the attack thought so! And how come the U.S. destroyed Fallujah, the birthplace of Wahhab, if it is so good?)

Like a director making a cameo appearance in his own movie, even the U.S. President has been made a part of “Operation Squid Ink”.

“Israel”, said U.S. President Bush during a much-needed vacation, is not Lebanon’s enemy, it is “Lebanon’s ‘partner in peace’.”

Israel is a strange partner, one who attacks its fellow with little justification, essentially destroying civilized life in its “partner”, and then occupying tracts of the “partner’s” land.

In fact, Israel is as much Lebanon’s “partner in peace” as a rider is his horse’s “partner”. Tel Aviv, and its U.S. proxy, wishes to turn Lebanon into an unpaid mercenary state–”preferably with foreign “peacekeepers”–whose sole function is to protect Israel from Iranian and Syrian counterattack in the event those nations become the future targets of Israeli missile and bomb attacks.

Note:

[1]. “The Jenin You Thought You Knew” (Media Monitors Network (MMN), April 23, 2002, http://167.160.86.106/tommysiewicz1.html