Willow Tree

Qana

This is what we know about Qana:
Somewhere around 1am Israel bombed a building that had been in the area of previous missle launchings by Hezzbullah.
Prior to the bombing, Israel had warned the citizens that they area would be understrike. They allowed several days to pass, to give the citizens of Qana time to leave, before they started bombing.

We know that about 28 bodies were retrieved from the rubble. Mostly women and children. Apparently several were handicapped.

We know, if we can trust the sources, that several people managed to make it out of the building alive and that at least some were relatives of those still in the building. That there were others around who were at the very least known to those who were trapped inside the building.

We know the report came at 7am or so that the building collapsed.

We know all this.

And the point I think most people are missing is whilte it matters who brought the building down and whether the people inside were killed that day, or were planted by Hezzbullah or were killed by Hezzbullah or were deliberately forced into the building in anticipation of an attack, the scene was staged.

The photos speak volumes but they aren't telling the story many want to hear.
They are showing rescue workers who seem bent on showing the "evil" of Israel but who seem much less interested in finding the live bodies beneath the rubble.

Buildings collapse all the time. People are often trapped beneath the rubble for days and days. Yet here we have a dead baby parade. The same rescuers are seen toting children about and crying and yelling and holding them up for the cameras. Not just the person who pulled them out, but often the rescuer, dead child clasped lovingly in his arms, is accompanied by others, walking behind him or alongside him. Why? Why isn't the person back there digging or trying to help pull rubble out of the way so others can work faster? Why isn't he standing in readiness to whisk a LIVING child to the ambulance. Why are the stretchers being employed to cart the dead to the ambulance when there are still people waiting to be found, perhaps alive, when it is shown that they are able to carry the child in their arms? Why are they going along such a long road with a dead child, wearing themselves and decreasing their helpfulness and readiness to assist the living? Why were the dead bodies placed in ambulances? Why weren't they placed alongside the building to wait until the rescuers had to quit or left to be bagged and brought out by others to refrigerated cars?

Did the rescuers know there was no one alive to hurry for? Or did they not care?

That to me is the essential question.
Because if my child was trapped in the rubble and I saw Green Helmet and White T-Shirt doing the dead baby parade I would be mighty sore and Green Helmet and White T-Shirt would find themselves mighty sore as well.

Technorati Tags: Qana, War, Israel, Lebanon

Posted by Rachel Ann at August 4, 2006 06:59 AM | TrackBack